CAPMESSO Reusable Vertuo Pod Refill Kit, Faster Seal Reusable Nespresso Vertuo Pods with Fill & Press Brush,100pcs Aluminum Foil Lids for Refillable Nespresso Pods Vertuo

Yes- my title is right- it has been a journey!If you’re unsure of what style of refillable pod to get- this one is the way to go- save your money trying out all the methods we have wasted time and money on and just buy this one! See below for full details on why and what our household has tried!Since purchasing my nespresso vertuo pod coffee maker, I have been frustrated by the lack of options for pods. Anyone who has one knows this struggle. If you have a keurig, the world is nearly your oyster with options. For the nespresso vertuo machines, that isn’t the case.The other refill pod (metal style filled reusable containers) have been expensive and completely hit and miss. Out of the 4 I have purchased, 1 was consistently reliable.Our households issue with that style is, we have a lot of company- we wanted the ability to prep multiple ahead of time so people could use them as needed and we didn’t have to do it per cup and or teach each person how to use it. (Those were approx $25 per metal refill- so out of the $100 we spent on them- one worked)Plus with the metal ones, they are hot for a few mins so you can’t easily just empty it right away and refill without burning yourself a bit.After this method didn’t work for us we moved to not using our nespresso at all unless for company- and buying nespresso proprietary pods for company use only- as they are too expensive for our daily coffee consumption. For ourselves- we bought an electric kettle with a temp setting and an aeropress. Now we do love it- and it works for our daily needs- but it does use quite a bit of coffee for each cup- and it isn’t a drop a pod in and go type of process.We were still searching for a cheaper and more guest friendly option which brings us to getting this kit/system.Now- finally to this product in particular——I have seen other filling systems, but was drawn to try this kit as it came with:1. The base holder (for any size pod to sit in)2. The lid that crimps the foil on3. A tamper (which my husband has always wanted)4. 100 foils (not sure how long these will last us- but my guess is about 2-3 months with our coffee consumption)The process of making a pod:I cut the original foils off with a knife- wash and dry the bases and set them aside for refilling.Set the pod in the base- add coffee about 2 mm below the top edge (once tamped)Place the foil- add the top half of the device- I press it down and do a quarter twist.*Note the foils seem extra large when you place them- which I personally find amazing, it makes it harder to mess it up- as long as you have anything extra over the edge of the top it will seal just fine! Anything uneven from one side to the other can just be tucked below the edge.After that I remove the pod- run my finger along the edge to tuck and extra edges under the edge of lip and done!This is wonderful for me for multiple reasons that haven’t been possible with any other method.1. I can make as many ahead as bases I have. For me—I can make a week’s worth for my husband and I in about 10 mins. Which also means I can prep as many as I have available so that my houseguests can use them without any additional hassle or instruction from us.(It may sound silly but walking each person through the process of how to fill a pod and use it is a mind numbing and tiresome process)2. I can add my own extra spices to make my own unique blends- and once the foil is sealed I take a chops stick and lightly etch into the foil what it is- my husband prefers one flavor- I prefer another and now we can make all our favorites ahead!3. It uses about 30% less coffee per cup than our Aeropress- so the payoff for this system for my household will be under a month’s time.(A large size pod is about 1.5 scoops of the provided scooper)4. Additional foils are easily sold for when I do run out of these(I recommend to favorite the product so it is easy to come back and buy again or set up a subscription for delivery at the frequency you think you will go through them-be sure you set the subscription up for the foil only option as you will not need anything else additional)5. Quality coffee each and every time without the worry of tearing up your machine using one of the metal ones that are hot and inconsistent.Hope this helped you and helps save you some time and money!

Okay, so I was skeptical as to how well this would work, but for half the cost of a sleeve of pods it was worth a shot. Boy, am I surprised! This thing works great! I did end up buying a coffee scale for about $20 so that I could measure the amount of coffee (12.5g for the coffee pods), but it's already paid that back after just a couple of weeks! Oh, and if you can use a sharp knife, then don't bother buying one of those foil cutters - you are only going to need to cut away the foil the first time you empty a pod, after that the foils that you put on will just peel away. Here is some advice for anyone using this.Prepping the pods:1. Wait at least a day before recycling your pods (let the grounds dry out a bit)2. Use a very sharp knife (X-acto knife, box cutter, etc) to cut out the foil from your used pods (first time only - once you have reused a pod the foil will just peel off). Just cut away the inner part of the foil, there's no way to remove the old foil that is stuck to the flat edge of the pod.3. After you remove the foil, flip the pod over and firmly hit it on the counter to disloge the grounds, and without lifting it up, slide the upside-down pod with grounds to the edge of the counter and the grounds should just drop out and into your sink/scrap bin/waste basket/hand/floor or whatever is beneath it.4. Wash out the pods with some soapy water (I just squirt some Dawn Powerwash in them and wipe them out with my finger!) I let them dry overnightFilling the pods:1. If you use a grinder, set the grind to medium fine or Moka (halfway between Espresso and French Press). If you use ground coffe, just use a regular grind - Espresso is too fine and will make a mess and give you bitter, gritty coffee2. For the larger Coffe size pod, use no more than 12.5g of coffee per pod - a coffee scale works great for this3. Use the tamper to lightly scape the fine grounds off the sides of the funnel and into the pod and lightly tamp the surface to be level. Don't go crazy here, you are just trying to level it out4. The foil lids are the perfect size and they only stick to the rim of the pods, so you don't have to worry about stray grounds on that flat surface between the bowl and the rim. Use the curved lip on the pod holder as your guide when you are placing the foil on the pod.5. I like to "press-turn-lift" a few times to make sure that the foil is pressed in place all around the edge of the pod. It doesn't seem necessary to do anything with the tab on the foil, but I like to kind of crunch it down against the edge of the pod before putting it in my NespressoThat's it! I hope my overly-long review proves helpful to some of you who do buy this.