CitiZ with Aeroccino (EN267BAE)

I’ve owned the CitiZ & Milk for over two years now totally blends into my morning routine. milk frother gives creamy lattes like a cafe and the crema holds up even when I stretch shots. If both espresso and milk drinks are your thing, the Original line like CitiZ nails the flavour and crema more than the Vertuo. Vertuo is awesome for larger coffees but the crema’s different more frothy than dense. On a tighter budget. Essenza or Pixie do the job just add a good frother. What really makes a difference though is regular cleaning & descaling. Also stick with one pod type to avoid confusion. If I needed to buy another now, I’d still go with CitiZ & Milk solid all rounder.

If you like black coffee and also want the espresso shot for your weekend mocha, an Original Line Nespresso (like a Citiz & Milk or Pixie/Essenza Mini + Aeroccino frother) is often the best bet.

I have the Breville Barista Express, plus a Philips 4x00 lattego, plus a Nespresso Cities and Milk. The Breville makes the best coffee out of the 3, the Nespresso the most convenient, and the Philips is in-between and gets used the most. Even given the price, the Breville still takes "tuning" as the outcome is very sensitive to beans (type, roast, roaster, age, etc. all need different settings) Get a Gaggia classic and one of the white box grinders (DF64) for a good starting point. Espresso often turns into a hobby bordering on obsession, so be warned. :D

We just bought our first super automatic, the Jura Z10 after about 12 years with a Nespresso Citiz with Milk machine (which served us really well). No regrets so far. The Z10 is a big leap in terms of expense and complication - it’s been set up for a few days now and we are learning how to get what we want out of it, which has been fun. The drinks taste great and we’ll get it dialed in. We also bought Jura’s Milk Cooler. Having a machine produce the foam has required us changing the milk we use. Chobani Vanilla creamer worked great in the Nespresso whisk thing, but is too thick for the Z10 to pour nicely, it sputters a lot. Skim milk works great in the Z10. Cleaning the Z10 is easy, we had to clean the Nespresso milk thing daily too so that’s not really a big deal. I love how you can customize drinks in the Jura…everyone in the family now has a drink of their own that they are getting just right.

Fully second the CitiZ and milk and I’ve been using mine for 3-4 years. I prefer espresso/americanos while my partner likes lattes so it was nice to not feel like we were paying a premium for a “higher-end” milk steamer/frother. Plus, the vanilla soy milk from Costco foams up incredibly well so it’s perfect. I also feel like an aeropress is marginally more work for better coffee than a capsule machine could ever make so that’s my go-to when I want larger volume. Can’t make the same case for most espresso machines so that’s something to consider!

We have a Pop and I am looking for an OL myself, I liked the espresso that we got from the OL capsules in the Yammi machine we bought when we couldn't get Vertuo pods anywhere (I bought the Pop not having done any research). Anyhow, I don't see any OL machines that have connectivity features, and the Citiz only looks like it has a slightly larger reservoir and a longer auto shut off duration, so probably intended for multiple users in the morning a bit more than the Pixie? If your budget is 400 and you like milk drinks and use cow's milk, I would go for the DeLonghi Gran Lattissima Fresh Vitality. That model has an easy rinse cleaning system, whereas the lesser models require the user to break down the machine. Unfortunately, they don't have a link to that model's manual on the Nespresso or DeLonghi site, but based on the feature blurb and the Latissima One manual cleaning instructions and warning about using cow's milk only (which rules it out for us, but we have a good frother already), I am confident in my assessment. You would need to contact Nespresso or Delonghi to confirm the milk restrictions on the Gran model. The Vertuo Lattissima Matte Black & Glossy DeLonghi does indicate that it supports plant-based milk, and has a rinse feature. The manual can be found on the DeLonghi site if you choose English (US) from the dropdown. It also has the standard Wifi connectivity. For the other Vertuo machines that don't have milk, the Up seems to be recommended, but I don't see a real compelling reason to upgrade from the Pop. The extra button just eliminates the next for a double click on the Pop for the same result. Hope that helps

As a CitiZ user, is it really a $300 upgrade though? It seems like a small workstation. I Have the Nespresso Barista Recipe maker that heats and froths multiple textures but doesn’t steam. I wonder if steam is simply the mechanism to heat the milk or if steam changes the taste of milk. This is the only reason I would feel I needed the built in steamer. The textures I am pulling from the barista recipe maker are phenomenal. It makes frappes, it melts chocolate, I can do latte art or dryer cappuccino foam. And it’s one touch of a button. Does the Pro have recipes to make the milk different textures for different styles of drinks? I don’t want thick hot milk in an iced latte for example, but I do want to whip it around with ice first.

The Plus is no longer being made. Get yourself a back up while you still can. I purchased a second hand one for whenever I may need one. I also have the CitiZ and it’s perfect.