Nespresso Essenza Mini by Breville

In the world of Nespresso, there are two types of machines for brewing coffee; the Vertuo and the Original lines. It seems most people lean towards the Vertuo because it has so many different sizes of pods to choose from and can brew an espresso shot as well as a normal 8 ounce cup of coffee. But the Vertuo lineup only exposes you to half of the available coffee offered by Nespresso. Lucky for us, a friend bought us the Essenza Mini as a wedding gift and this opened us up to a whole new world of coffee.

After unboxing the Essenza Mini and placing it on the counter next to our Vertuoline, the first thing you notice is how much smaller and sleeker the Essenza looks in comparison. The Essenza Mini by Breville has a piano black finish and looks like a premium quality machine. The water tank is a lot smaller on the Essenza Mini than the Vertuoline, granted the pods are much smaller and require less water for extraction.

The main differences between the Original and Vertuo machines are how they brew coffee and the types of pods they use. We're familiar with the dome shaped pods on the vertuoline, but we love the look of the bullet shaped original pods. There are no barcodes on the original pods. This is because the Original Line machines use high pressure extraction to brew a more traditional espresso and as a result. The Vertuoline machines use centrifusion technology, where the capsules are spun at high speeds. The barcodes signify how much hot water to inject. Because of the high speed spinning, the Vertuo machines produce a thicker body coffee with richer taste. To us, each machine produces a great cup of coffee and we wouldn't say one tastes better than the other and one's preference is entirely subjective.

The Essenza machine is very simple to operate. Press either of the 2 buttons on top to turn it on. The buttons will flash as the machine heats up and eventually turn solid. Load an original pod in the chamber and pull the lever down to lock it in place. There are 2 brew options with 2 corresponding buttons: espresso on the left and lungo on the right. We just call the buttons "single" or "double." The single button will make a standard 1.35 oz espresso shot while the double button will do 3.7 ounces. If you want to make an americano, simply press the single button after brewing a double. When brewing is complete, lift the lever up to release the used pod. To keep the machine clean, we always run a quick rinse after every cup we brew. To do this, put an empty glass under the spout and press the single button to run hot water through the machine. Lift the lever to dump the excess water. It's quick and easy and doesn't take long to do.

The only negative things to note, is that the used pod chamber fills up pretty quick. This isn't really that big of a deal, but you do have to empty it after every 4 or 5 pods. We definitely fill the water tank more frequently than our Vertuo machine, but this is only because the Essenza Mini is so much smaller. Again, not a big deal, but something to note.

As far as actual brew time is concerned, the Essenza Mini blows the Vertuo out of the water. For a single 1.35 ounce shot of espresso, the Essenza finishes in about 25 seconds while the Vertuo takes about 45 seconds. The Essenza is also much quieter when running compared to the Vertuoline, which makes sense as there are way less moving parts in the Original line machines.

So far, our favorite pods on the original line are Roma, Arpeggio, Ristretto and Vaniglia. The original pods are also much cheaper than the vertuo pods which is an added bonus. The Essenza Mini is simple and a lot less versatile than our Vertuoline, but it's faster at making great tasting coffee. If you're like us and need a quick cup of coffee in the morning, the Essenza Mini will be the choice for most Nespresso fans.

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