Dolce Gusto coffee pods are an expensive way to drink coffee. If you already own a Dolce Gusto coffee machine then there are several things you can do to make the cost of the pods cheaper and the coffee they produce better tasting.
We will show you some tips and tricks that you can use with your existing machine that Dolce Gusto would rather you don’t know because it means they make less money and it works out better for you.
Dolce Gusto coffee machines are extremely cheap. You can pick them up for pretty much the price of a large pizza.
It’s the business model that Dolce Gusto uses. They virtually give away the coffee machine so that they can then sell you expensive coffee pods for a number of years before you decide to try something else.
A coffee machine is a bit like a kettle. It’s one of those kitchen appliances that you tend to keep for a long time and don’t bother changing it until it breaks or looks super manky from limescale.
Whichever Dolce Gusto coffee machine you have we’ll explain why you should never use the milk pods that they sell and why.
You don’t have to buy the expensive Dolce Gusto branded pods. We’ll explain the options available to you and some alternative choices for you to consider as well.
Just how expensive are Dolce Gusto coffee pods?
Amongst the most popular Dolce Gusto drinks are latte and cappuccino. Pricing does vary very slightly but in the main, you are looking at £3.99 for a pack of 12 Starbuck cappuccino or Starbucks latte pods.
If the pack of 12 produced 12 cups of coffee then I still wouldn’t be particularly happy with a price of 33p per cup but you don’t get 12 cups of coffee in a pack that cost £3.99, you get 6 cups.
For milk-based drinks like cappuccino and latte, you need to use 2 pods per drink. One for the coffee and one for the milk. At 33p per pod, you are going to pay 66p per drink. That’s a LOT.
66p per drink is very expensive compared to any other method of making a good cup of coffee.
For example, if you choose an espresso machine instead of a pod machine you can get a decent 1kg bag of coffee beans for £15 and that will make about 60 cups of coffee and that works out at 25p a cup and when you add milk it comes to about 30p.
Making coffee with an espresso machine or a bean to cup coffee machine isn’t complicated and it doesn’t have to be expensive.
Here are a few articles that go into detail on some alternatives worth considering:
What is the best coffee machine?
How expensive are Dolce Gusto milk pods?
Some packs of coffee contain 12 pods for 6 drinks in total and some contain 16 pods for 8 drinks in total (one coffee and one milk pod per drink)
Whether you get 6 or 8 drinks from each pack doesn’t really matter because either way it works out super expensive and on top of that the milk quality is really poor.
If you are paying around 30p for a pod that only adds milk to your coffee then it should be really good. The cost of adding fresh milk to a milk-based coffee drink like a cappuccino is about 5p and even a large latte works out about 10p.
So for 30p you should be getting something that is about 3 times as good as fresh milk.
What you actually get for 30p per milk pod with Dolce Gusto is powdered milk.
Powdered milk tastes nothing like fresh milk. In my opinion, using powdered milk actually ruins the taste when added to coffee. If you want a good tasting cup of coffee you should always use fresh milk.
You can pay 30p for a powdered milk pod or you can use fresh milk that cost’s 5p. That way you pay much less for a much better tasting coffee.
If you have a Dolce Gusto coffee machine and you enjoy milk-based drinks such as cappuccino or latte then our recommendation would be to stop buying packs of pods that contain powdered milk capsules and use fresh milk instead.
How to make cappuccinos and latte’s without milk pods
A cappuccino or latte is nothing more than an espresso with milk added. You add more milk to create a latte and less for a cappuccino but the starting point is always a double espresso.
This article explains cappuccino’s and latte’s in detail:
Difference between a cappuccino and a latte
The way to get the best tasting coffee with your Dolce Gusto coffee machine is to buy packs of espresso pods and create your own cappuccino or latte with fresh milk from the fridge.
That way you get 16 pods for £3.99 which is 24p per pod and then about 5p or 6p more for the milk makes it around 30p for the entire drink.
That’s about half the price you would pay if you bought a pack of Dolce Gusto Starbucks latte.
Not only do you pay half the price but the flavour of your coffee will be hugely improved by using fresh milk.
The powdered milk pods also tend to have sugar in them so you don’t have control if you take your coffee without sugar for example or perhaps you add more sugar without realising they already have sugar.
What about heating the milk up though? A small investment is required if you want to create nice frothy textured milk for the perfect cappuccino or latte.
You don’t have to spend any money if you don’t want to. Just add the required amount of milk into your cup first and put into the microwave for about 60 seconds.
Then add a Dolce Gusto espresso pod and you have a great flat white.
If you want proper textured, frothy milk then it best to invest a small amount of money in a milk frother.
It can be manual or automatic. If you go for an automatic milk frother you just add the milk, press one button and by the time you have used the coffee machine to deliver an espresso, the milk will be ready for you to add.
It’s completely hassle-free and the cost of the milk frother will be recovered in no time at all from the savings you will make on not buying the milk pods.
Here are some options for milk frothers for you to consider:
You can also save money on the coffee pods as well.
How to buy cheaper Dolce Gusto coffee pods
Just because you have a Dolce Gusto coffee machine doesn’t mean you have to buy the pods that are made by Dolce Gusto, you can use any pods that fit.
There are plenty of compatible alternatives out there that cost a lot less than the original ones and cost a lot less as well.
The only thing you need to be slightly wary of is the quality of the coffee. If you don’t choose wisely then the benefit of saving money is offset by the lack of flavour from the alternative pods.
The best advice is to stay away from the super cheap ones and go for ones that cost less but not so much that the quality of the coffee is poor.
We have tried a bunch of different types and found some that we don’t think you could tell the difference in a blind tasting.
Here are some option for you to consider:
The best compatible coffee pods
What are the benefits of a Dolce Gusto coffee machine?
The biggest benefit by far with Dolce Gusto compared to cheaper ways of making a cup of coffee is convenience.
Pop in the pod and 60 seconds later your coffee is delivered. If you are willing to pay the premium for the convenience then it’s a great pain-free way to enjoy coffee.
What are the best Dolce Gusto coffee machines?
If you don’t already own a Dolce Gusto coffee machine then explore other options by comparing the cost of a cup of coffee with other coffee machines that take ground coffee.
If you love the convenience that a pod machine offers or you know someone that has one and they think it is the best thing since sliced bread then we would recommend going for one of the cheaper models.
They all make coffee using 15 bars of pressure so it doesn’t matter how much you pay, they all produce the same quality of coffee in your cup.
What you pay extra for is Design and features with the more costly models.
Here are some Dolce Gusto machines for you to consider and also an article on the best pod machines on the market:
