Lavazza Espresso Maestro Classico Medium Roast Coffee Aluminum Capsules Compatible with Nespresso Original Machines, espresso, 100% Arabica, notes of grains and biscotti.(10 pack) (Packaging May Vary)

Excellent deep coffee flavor and excellent crema. So easy to use and an excellent buy. LaVazza quality is always consistent and excellent.

**Aroma and Taste: 4.7/5Great aroma, with smooth, mellow, and lightly fruity notes. It is a perfect middle of the road espresso, not too strong, not too lite.**Quality and Compatibility: 4.9/5The capsules are consistent, well packaged, and out of dozens of orders, only a single pod was damaged. Compatible with every Nespresso machine I have used.**Value for Money: 4.5/5The capsules are usually competitively priced, and every few months, they are must-buys for the price. On average, I'm getting them for about 50 cents a capsule, very well priced for good coffee. These will give you a good cup through a Gran Lungo ~5oz. anything above, will just lose too much flavor.**Overall: 4.8/5These capsules are great to keep in stock for anyone who wants a for those who enjoy light, fruity coffee and value sustainability. However, they may not meet the expectations of those seeking a more robust coffee experience.

I read a few of the negative reviews that mentioned fitment issues and coffee not coming out properly etc, but it seemed at least some of those also mentioned this was happening on their plastic pods. Well, now they switched to aluminum pods so I figured, for $.26 a pod I'll give these a shot. TLDR;There were too many issues with these and I recommend to stay away.Issue 1: Package arrived damaged in one corner. Upon opening and inspecting, two of the six 10-pack boxes where half damaged, so about 9 pods in total looked completely mutilated. OK, snapped a photo, contacted Amazon and they refunded me the purchase and recommended I either recycle these, give to a friend or donate. So I decided to donate to science.....Issue 2: As I proceeded to unpack the outer box, I came to realize that the Variety pack I ordered was no variety at all. Each of the 10-packs inside was exactly the same, namely the 5/13 strength "Lungo" flavor, which would have been the only one of the variety I actually didn't care for.Issue 3: I tried using an undamaged pod using my trusty DeLonghi, when the button was pressed, only water came out, indicating the foil wasn't properly breached. I stopped the pour, dug out the pod from the collection bin, and sure enough, no prick holes in the foil. I proceeded to massage the pod a bit, thinking maybe it was a little bent etc. put it back in the DeLonghi, tried again, still just water still no holes. Grabbed another pod, this time a slightly damaged one, put it in pressed the button and this time, the right noise was coming out AND coffee (Imagine that!!). Coffee wasn't very strong so I tired another pod (failed) and another pod (failed) ,and after the third "another pod" finally coffee came out again. Realize that at this point I'm at about $1.25 per working pod. Upon inspecting the failed pods, I noticed that the aluminum foil on those that failed was very flat and sinking into the pod, and on those that were working it seemed full and was "ballooning" out. I figured that this "ballooning" was what allowed the blades to reach the foil, so at this point, without much left to lose I proceeded to take a known failed pod from the refuse bin, and I stated to really squish its body round and round so that the foil ballooned out. Sure enough this worked on every single pod. There were a few that I over-did and they seemed to created to much back pressure on the machine, at which point no water at all came out, but it was simple enough to find the correct method.Issue 4 (The dagger to the heart): After all these admittingly enjoyable experiments, the one thing science couldn't fix (Unless I feed the grains to my cat kopi and wait for her to poop them back out) is that the coffee just didn't have good flavor. I understand this could be because it was the 5/13 roast, or that it could have been due to over or under pressure in the pods etc. but really, Lavazza, you had one job. ONE!For now, I'll stick with Nespresso originals for Decaf and a few other flavors and with L'or for the risterro. I'll throw a Peets in the cart every now and then, but those haven't impressed me much either.Good luck to all!Edit: I'm also noticing a ton of water collecting at the bottom tray and that some capsules just fall right through when dropped in.

My husband and I like the taste of this coffee. It works well in our original nespresso machine. The cost is significantly lower than nespresso capsules brand

Short summary: Lavazza's a good coffee bean/ espresso bean brand; they used to make terrible, plastic Nespresso capsules; then they started using aluminum capsules and improved a lot. Now I like their capsules but they're flawed, so I get them only if the price is low compared with others.Longer version: For many years I've bought a different Lavazza product, their super crema whole beans--a strong espresso roast-- to use in my Breville xl 870 espresso machine. I've found those beans are terrific because they're non-oily so they don't clog the Breville grinder. Having trusted Lavazza for whole beans, a couple of years ago I tried their Nespresso pods and found them atrocious. They were plastic and they wouldn't work reliably with my Original line Essenza mini. Many consumers reported similarly poor results.HOWEVER, Lavazza (to their credit) recognized the problem and switched to aluminum. They also cut prices, presumably to win back consumers who'd had bad experiences or heard bad things. I tried them again and liked their stronger (12 and 13) blends. Recently I tried this Medium Dark (11) blend on sale, and I liked the taste just fine. But there are flaws that have made me pledge to buy them only on sale. These are the flaws:1.) I bought a 6-pack (60 capsules) that arrived with about 1/3 of the capsules seriously bent and crumpled. Perhaps that's why they were on sale. They wouldn't work correctly unless I massaged them, tried to get them closer to the normal shape, and then placed them carefully in the Nespresso machine and pumped the arm when I closed it, so that the sharp machine points would gradually and fully puncture the capsules' foil.2.) The Lavazza Originaline capsules seem NOT to have a paper filter in the tapered end, as Nespresso-brand capsules do, and that's a small problem. When I insert the Lavazza capsules, most of the time clear water comes out for the first 1-2 seconds. Apparently that's because there's no paper filter. It's not the biggest deal in the world; it just dilutes the espresso a bit. Sometimes I press the button and then hold the cup away until the clear water stream has stopped and the espresso starts dispensing, and then I put the cup back quickly.It's not the biggest deal in the world but it's not seamless, not what's supposed to happen.Both of these are reasons why I'll buy and recommend these Lavazza capsules IF the price is right-- if they're maybe 50% of what I would pay for a Nespresso-branded capsule-- but not if they're anywhere close to Nespresso prices.My OriginalLine capsule ratings, in order:Nespresso (clear #1)PeetsStarbucksthen a ways down, definitely usable but only to be purchased if on sale:LavazzaL'Or