Review: Community Coffee Nespresso Capsules Signature Espresso

I’ve been a fan of the Nespresso Dharkan capsules (Original line) and have recently been enjoying the Intenso capsules (Vertuo line)–you can guess from the names that I prefer a bolder cup of coffee. I recently decided to try a third-party capsule compatible with the Nespresso Original Line of machines, the Community Coffee Private Reserve Signature Espresso Nespresso capsules, and here are my thoughts. Again, note that these are coffee capsules for the Original Nespresso machines, not the Vertuo machines.

Whereas the Nespresso capsules arrive in a sleeve of capsules, the Community Coffee capsules arrived in a rectangular box, and there were 20 capsules in the box. While the Nespresso capsule body and top are both made of aluminum, these Community Coffee capsules have a plastic body and foil top, which was a slight disappointment. A few times when inserting a new capsule the capsule dropped completely through the machine into the used capsule bin–the specifications on these third-party capsule containers are not quite up to Nespresso standards.

One thing I liked about the coffee made from these Community Coffee capsules is the strong aroma–the roast smell is quite nice. The crema is present, though not particularly thick. The taste is also quite strong–in fact, I would almost say there is a touch of an over-roasted bean. To me there is a slight bitter aftertaste. But that is really subjective and it is more of what sort of flavor profile you are looking for. The Dharkan and Intenso flavors are smoother to me than the Community Coffee Signature Espresso, but with an “Intensity” level of 7, assuming Community Coffee uses the same intensity scale as Nespresso, the boldness flavor is up there with the Dharkan (Intensity level of 11) and Intenso (Intensity level of 9).

Overall, I would say this is a fine third-party Nespresso capsule flavor. However, the capsules are plastic, don’t always fit correctly in the coffee machine, and actually cost more than most of the Nespresso Original line of capsules. But the Community Coffee Private Reserve Signature Espresso Nespresso capsules might be your preferred choice because of the intense, bold flavor or because you want to purchase a smaller number of capsules at a time[1].

Availability and Pricing on Amazon: Community Coffee Private Reserve Signature Espresso Nespresso capsules (aff)