I’ve tried out coffee machines purported to be convenient and easy to use. Guess what? The cleaning up, the fiddly buttons and the shocking price tags never really convinced me to buy one.
That’s why The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s new single-serve machine, CBTL, is set to make my mornings a little more manageable.
Just like the more recognised Nespresso machine, you just pop in a capsule ($9.10 for ten) into the CBTL, press a button and out comes your freshly-made coffee.
Believe me, I’m not good with machines – any sort of electronic gadget I touch seems to die an unfortunate death – but having tried out the machine at the hands-on demonstration at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf’s outlet at Ion Orchard, I can say even the most tech-averse person will be able to use this one.
There are many capsule “flavours” to choose from, covering three main types – espresso, coffee and tea. The latter is what sets the CBTL apart from other single-serve machines; no other machine offers tea. Capsules can be kept for a year.
I made four drinks. The first and the easiest was the Premium Espresso – just press the button indicating the smallest serving and you get an espresso-sized drink in seconds.
Pull a lever to eject the previous capsule into a hidden drawer and you can then insert an Italian Espresso capsule to make a cappucino.
The foam was provided by a CBTL accessory – the Milk Frother. I’ve worked at a coffee joint before and frothing milk was definitely never this easy. Just pour the milk in, press a button and wait for approximately 50 seconds to get thick, whipped foam which you can pour into your coffee.
I then made an Americano (or kopi-o in coffeeshop talk) using the House Brew capsule, which is the chain’s best-selling drink. Putting in the French Deluxe Vanilla ($11.90 for eight sachets), turned the drink into a cafe vanilla. There’s also Special Dutch Chocolate sachets to make a cafe mocha.
The last beverage was the Moroccan Mint Tea. Admittedly, it’d be easier just to make this same drink using a tea bag but I’m eyeing the Chai Tea Latte capsules so I can recreate my favourite drink at home using the Milk Frother.
The best part: Rinsing, which is needed in between making coffee and tea drinks, was done by simply pressing a button.
Now, for the all-important taste factor. Safe to say, the CBTL has made me like The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s drinks. The freshly-made coffees from this machine were a lot better than those I’ve had at most places.
Plus, the company claims you can make most of the drinks on its menu with the variety of capsules and add-ons – meaning I can turn my kitchen into a cool coffee place a la Central Perk.
There are two versions of the CBTL machine – the Contata ($299) and the Kaldi ($389, pictured at top) – and they’re available online at www.coffeebean.com.sg and at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf outlets including #B1-12 ION Orchard.