Cinnamon Caramel Latte and Tassimo Review
As a sleep deprived mum and coffee addict, I was delighted when Tassimo asked me if I would review one of their machines. They sent me the T20 machine and some Twinnings tea and Carte Noire espresso T-Discs to try. I also bought some Costa latte and americano T-Discs.
My 4 year old loves pressing the 'big' button and is constantly saying 'mummy, you look very thirsty, how about a nice cup of coffee?' In fact, it's easy enough for a 4 year old to use, supervised of course! Just pop in the T-Disk, press the button, and hey presto, a delicious hot beverage of your choosing! The clever Tassimo machine reads a bar code on the T-Disk which tells it what to do depending on the drink.
Reasons I love my Tassimo:
- There's over 35 drink varieties available including every type of coffee you could wish for, tea, hot chocolate, chai latte and more. They are all good brands too such as Costa, Cadburys etc.
- The coffee is very good quality, it smells and tastes really good. You get a lovely foam on the top of the coffee, even without milk. The Costa latte is incredible, my favourite so far.
- It's super quick and easy to operate. Simply fill the back tank with water and clip it back into the machine. Pop in the T-Disk, put a mug on the drip tray and press a button. Done.
- There's no washing up. The only thing you need to wash up is the cup you drink out of. The drip tray and splash back is very easy to remove and clean if it gets splashed.
- There's a clever button which allows you to manually top up your drink if you prefer a milder / longer drink.
- It's neat and compact and does not take over the whole kitchen work top. Also there's no extra 'bits' which come off and get lost.
- It dispenses just hot water as well, and is much quicker than a kettle.
Any niggles?
The T-Disks don't come cheap. The Costa Latte T-Disks I bought were £4.99 for 8 drinks and the americano £4.29 for 16 drinks. That does work out quite pricey when you compare it to cafetiere coffee, but the quality is much better. If you compare it to a latte or americano out in Costa then of course it's much cheaper.
Personally, I love coffee and I really love the Costa coffee from the machine. I probably won't buy the tea again, it's nice but I can live with tea bags. We found the Carte Noire espresso quite strong, so we get two drinks out of one espresso T-Disk.
There are better deals for the T-Disks online than in the shops, but I do think it's something you need to take into consideration if you're thinking of investing in a Tassimo machine, fabulous as they are.
Tassimo asked me to create an exciting hot drink by adding a few extra ingredients to one of their delicious hot beverages. Inspired by my favourite coffee shop treat stroopwafel, or caramel waffles, I devised a cinnamon caramel latte using a Tassimo espresso pod, hot milk, caramel sauce and ground cinnamon.
Cinnamon Caramel Latte: Serves 2:
- 1 x Tassimo Carte Noire espresso (or 2 if you like very strong coffee)
- 400ml milk, very hot but not boiling (I used skimmed)
- 2 teaspoons caramel sauce (plus extra for drizzling)
- Good pinch of cinnamon (plus extra to decorate)
Whisk everything together really well until the caramel sauce disolves. Pour into two glasses and spoon some of the foam from the milk onto the top of the coffee. Drizzle with extra caramel sauce and sprinkle with cinnamon to serve if you like.
Disclaimer: I was sent a Tassimo T20 machine, two packets of T-discs and some extra toppings in return for an honest review and a coffee recipe. Opinions are my own.
