ESE pods

ESE pods are a topic that comes up often as well as the confusion with soft pods . ESE stands for " easy serve espresso " and as the name suggests, its primary purpose is to reduce the time it takes to make espresso at home. The ESE pod provides the user with a real espresso, worthy of the bars in Italy.

What are the characteristics of ESE coffee pods?

Easy to use

Better known as a POD, hard pod or espresso pod, the ESE pod is very common in French homes. It is recognisable among thousands by its "cushion" shape and its coffee bagged between two sheets of paper. These sheets facilitate the extraction of your espresso and allow you to respect the insertion direction of the ESE pod.

How much coffee is in an ESE pod?

Its 7 g of coffee and its 44 mm diameter guarantee maximum intensity during extraction. The fact that the ground coffee is completely sealed against oxidation and that the aromas are preserved, results in an explosion of flavours in the cup. The reason for the ESE pod is to simplify coffee. Forget about the tedious steps of dosing and tamping when preparing an espresso on a manual machine.

Consistency of the ESE pod coffee

This means that everything is consistent and the quality is consistent. Your coffee will always taste the same, only your tastes will vary with a decaffeinated coffee in the evening, a flavoured one during the day or even an infusion at the end of the meal.

In itself, the capsule is a step forward compared to what was done before and the recycling centres set up, notably for Nespresso® capsules, are a perfect illustration of this. Nevertheless, the POD pod is made of 100% biodegradable materials (which is not the case for the capsule). It’s worth noting that the paper is chlorine-free, unbleached and has no taste or smell.

How can you tell an ESE pod from a soft pod?

The differences between ESE pods and soft pods are not always obvious. Although they share the same shape and ground coffee content, they differ in size: 44 mm for the former, 63 mm for the latter . In addition, the fineness of the coffee differs , as the coffee is coarser on a soft pod, which necessarily impacts the result in the cup. The ESE pod is therefore more suitable for espresso and the soft pod for a coffee similar to a filter coffee.

ESE pods can be used with manual coffee machines . It is often convenient to make a series of coffees when you have people over and still be sure that they are good. To ensure compatibility, be sure to check whether the machine is equipped with an ESE filter.