Another small issue I found with the Sublime is that the matte parts of the machine were prone to picking up fingerprints. As with all Nespresso machines, most people over extract their pods and get bitter weak espressos as a result – this machine doesn’t change this – but where it gets interesting is in its ability to use the large pods and thereby achieve more traditional brew ratios of 2 or 3-1,’ says Philip.

It’s not an ugly machine by any means but it’s not exactly cool looking either, and certainly not in the same ball park as the stylish Grind One. Failing that, make sure to budget for a separate milk frother – you can read our guide to the best milk frothers here.There aren’t a lot of parts to assemble and the water tank lifts off easily so you can fill it up at the sink ready for use. We haven’t found many pod machines that offer the option of a Ristretto – which is shorter and more intense than an espresso – so this added to the novelty of this design. Granted, you’ll get more coffee in your mug if you use the contents of the larger capsule for just one mug, but we usually had a recently boiled kettle on standby to top up our drinks with boiling water. For instance, if you select a standard pod and tap the espresso button, it will dispense enough coffee to fill three quarters of a standard espresso cup.

In addition to this unique feature, the Sublime has a sophisticated, compact design, customisable drink lengths and a huge range of pod options due to it being Nespresso capsule compatible. Though the ease of this process is impressive, we should note that making your morning brew won’t be entirely hands-free, as there are no automatic features for manual tasks such as loading the pods or filling the water tank.You’ll receive the latest news, events and offers from Saga, our associated brands and carefully chosen partners. The coffee machine arrives with nine capsule samples, which is plenty to get going; we would have welcomed a few more decaf options, though. When we first plugged it in and waited for it to light up, we were a little surprised to see that there is no on/off or indicator button to let you know that the machine is ready to use. There’s a fast seven-second heat-up time and it only takes 30 seconds to pour a single shot or 45 seconds for a double.