Nespresso coffee machines are available in a variety of models to choose from. But did you know that in addition to Nespresso Vertuo and Original variations, there are also Nespresso Professional coffee machines?
Nespresso Professional coffee pods are known to be the cheapest Nespresso pods. This leads people to wonder if they can use Professional Nespresso coffee machines at home instead of the more expensive Vertuo or Original pods.
In this post, I will explain the difference between Nespresso for Home vs Nespresso Professional, and if a home user can use a professional Nespresso machine.
What Is Nespresso Profressional?
Just like its name suggests, Nespresso Professional is a single-serve coffee machine made especially for professional use in retail places (coffee shops), offices, hotels, or shared places where the coffee machine is used by a lot of users.
Nespresso Professional coffee machines are available in several sizes and performance power. So Nespresso will help you choose the right machine for your business. But in general, here’s what sets Nespresso Professional apart from Nespresso home machines:
- Special lower cost coffee pods: they use entirely different pods than Nespresso home machines.
- High power performance
- Direct water line plumping (on select models)
Nespresso Professional Coffee Pods
The first thing I want to start with is Nespresso Professional coffee pods, which are different from Nespresso Vertuo pods or Nespresso Original pods.
Nespresso Professional pods look a lot like ESE pods. They are flat plastic pouches and they’re quite thin.
The price range of Nespresso Professional pods is between $0.69 to $0.80 per pod. Which is quite cheap when compared to Nespresso Home pods. The reason for this is because Professional pods are mostly sold in high bulk quantities. And they’re limited in variation when compared to other Nespresso pods.
Why Are Nespresso Professional Pods Different than Nespresso Pods for Home?
Professional Nespresso pods are thin disc-shaped pods. Compared to Nespresso Original or Vertuo pods, they are very compact.
While Nespresso doesn’t necessarily declare why the pods are different, here are a couple of reasons:
- Flat, compact pods are easier to ship in bulk. A small box can fit 50 Nespresso professional pods, as opposed to 10 pods per sleeve for the home version.
- The Nespresso professional pods and machines are exclusively sold to companies and businesses and are hard to buy for the home user. That way, employees are not encouraged to take coffee pods from the workplace to use at home.
Can Nespresso Professional Pods Be Used in Nespresso Vertuo or Original?
No. Nespresso Professional pods are designed to be used in Nespresso Professional machines only. The shape of these pods is completely different from home machine pods and they can’t fit in home Nespresso machines.
Where To Buy Nespresso Professional Coffee Pods
Nespresso Professional pods are available from Nespresso only. There are no alternative Nespresso Professional pods, either.
Another thing is that to buy Nespresso Professional pods, you need to have a Nespresso Business account, which is different from a personal account.
Under a Nespresso Business account, you have to register a business name, a type of business, number of employees and other business related information.
Sometimes, you’ll find Professional Nespresso pods available in stores like Amazon or eBay, which makes it easy for anyone to purchase them. But you won’t find the entire selection of pods.
Nespresso Professional Coffee Pod Variaties
All Nespresso Professional pods are sold in a set of 50 pods in each box. They are available in many varieties:
- Single Origins (Colombia – Peru – India – Guatemala – Brazil)
- Intense
- Mild
- Decaf
- Creations (Ice, Bianco, Caramello, Vanilio)
- Starbucks by Nespresso (Blonde, House Blend, Espresso Roast)
Coffee Pod Sizes
Nespresso Professional pods are all the same size. Even though some of the Professional machines can brew up to 5 sizes, they all still use the same pod size.
For larger cup sizes, Nespresso will recommend specific blends or flavors that taste better as a larger serving. But you are free to use any pod for any cup size.
The Difference Between Nespresso Professional and Nespresso Home
Now you have an idea of what Nespresso Professional is, let’s look at the difference between Nespresso Professional and Nespresso Home machines.
Nespresso Professional vs Nespresso for Home Pods
Nespresso for home machines are Nespresso Vertuo and Nespresso Original, each of these has its own line of coffee pods. The same goes for Nespresso Professional.
None of the Nespresso pods are interchangeable. Nespresso Vertuo pods can’t be used with Nespresso Original and Vice Versa. Nespresso Professional pods work with their own machines, too.
So when picking a Nespresso machine, you are committing to using its own line of coffee pods. This brings me to our next point… which line of Nespresso machines has the cheapest and most available pods.
Availability and Price
Nespresso Original Pods
Nespresso OriginalLine machines like Nespresso Essenza Mini, Inissia, Citiz, Lattissima and so on use Nespresso OriginalLine pods (the small pods).
Nespresso has lost the patent to these pods, so they are no longer exclusive to them. You can buy Nespresso Original pods from Nespresso or from so many other brands like Starbucks, Illy, Lavazza, L’or and many more.
When it comes to price, Nespresso Original pods from Nespresso cost anywhere from $0.80 and up to $1.10 for limited edition pods.
When buying Nespresso Original pods from third-party brands, you can cut your cost down to $0.60 per pod… sometimes even less. These pods are also available in-store from so many supermarkets or online shops.
So when it comes to Nespresso Original, you have a lot of options and you’re not locked to Nespresso pods or prices.
Nespresso Vertuo Pods
Nespresso Vertuo pods are exclusive to Nespresso. So you can’t buy them from alternative brands or supermarkets. You can only buy them from Nespresso boutiques, online store or their Amazon store.
Nespresso Vertuo does up to 6 brew sizes (Espresso, Double Espresso, Gran Lungo, Coffee, XL Alto Coffee and Carafe). Pricing will depend on the serving size but generally, Vertuo pods are the most expensive of all Nespresso pods.
On average, the price for a Vertuo espresso pod is $0.98, for a coffee pod it’s around $1.25, larger 12 oz pods are $1.50.
Nespresso Professional Pods
These are Nespresso’s least expensive pods, but they are hard to purchase for the home user at they require a business account.
Nespresso Professional pods are also exclusive to Nespresso only. You have to place your order through their website using a registered Business account. Which can be complicated for a home user.
Prices for Professional pods range from $0.69 to $0.80 per pod.
Serving Sizes
Nespresso Original Serving Sizes
OriginalLine machines have two basic serving sizes: Espresso 1.35 oz and Lungo 3.75 oz. For milk based coffee drinks, you can get a machine bundled with an Aeroccino milk frother, or get one with a built-in frother like a Lattissima or a Creatista.
Nespresso Vertuo Serving Sizes
Nespresso Vertuo offers the most variety when it comes to sizes. On newer Vertou machines, you can brew 6 serving sizes: Espresso, Double Espresso, Gran Lungo, Coffee, XL Coffee and Carafe.
12 oz XL coffee and cold brew pod, and Carafe are exclusive brewing sizes on models: Nespresso Vertuo Next, Vertuo Pop, Vertuo Creatista and Vertuo Lattissima.
For older models like Vertuo and Vertuo Plus, you get 4 serving sizes: Espresso, Double Espresso, Gran Lungo and Coffee.
Nespresso Professional Serving Sizes
Professional Nespresso machines can brew up to 9 oz of coffee, but it depends on the model you end up buying.
A model like Nespresso Zenius can only do ristretto, espresso and lungo. While other models like Momento and higher will give you 5 brew sizes: Ristretto, espresso, lungo, Americano and large americano.
Nespresso Machine Price
For Home Nespresso machines are more affordable and accessible than Professional Nespresso machines.
The prices range drastically from one model to another, but it only makes sense that Nespresso professional machines can cost up to thousands of dollars.
The most affordable Nespresso Professional machine is Zenius at around $600. While you can pay as little as $150 or less for a Nespresso Original or Nespresso Vertuo machine.
Nespresso Machine Availability
Nespresso Coffee Machines For Home
Whether it’s a Nespresso OriginalLine or Vertuo machine, you can easily buy your coffee machine from Nespresso directly, from Amazon, Target, Best Buy…. In-store or online. They are available anywhere and everywhere coffee machines are available.
Nespresso Professional Coffee Machines
Professional machines from Nespresso are sold through their website. A small machine like Zenius is available for direct purchase, provided you have a Professional account for Nespresso. It’s also available from Amazon.
For other Nespresso Professional machines, you have to submit a request and provide information on your business and Nespresso will get in touch with you to complete the sale.
If you don’t want to purchase your machine directly from Nespresso using a business account, your second option would be to look at a local hospitality and coffee solutions business, which will most likely have these machines in stock.
Why I Don’t Recommend Nespresso Professional Coffee Machines for Home Users
The price of Professional Nespresso pods can make you consider purchasing a Nespresso Professional machine, like Zenius for example, to use at home. That’s if you can get around the whole ‘For business’ Nespresso account.
Buying the machine from eBay or a Facebook market seller can be easy and cheap. Buying the coffee pods from similar stores is an option, too.
The problem is in maintaining a Nespresso Professional machine. They require more descaling, and fixing any problems mostly requires a professional Nespresso technician. And the fact that you did not purchase your machine directly from Nespresso means you are out of warranty.
What I Recommend Instead
The closest experience to a Nespresso Professional machine is a Nespresso OriginalLine machine. In fact, for home use, I think it’s even better.
Nespresso Original line machines are not locked into Nespresso’s ecosystem. You can purchase your coffee pods from practically anywhere and you can make any coffee drink using them.
Nespresso Original is perfect for espresso drinkers, as well as people who enjoy milk based coffee drinks. Which is exactly what Nespresso Professional machines have to offer.
Nespresso Professional Coffee Machine Models
There are several Nespresso professional coffee machines to fit every business. Each model offers a variety of features to match your needs.
Nespresso Zenius
Zenius is the smallest Nespresso Professional machine, which makes it ideal for small businesses like small office or hotel room. It looks a lot like Nespresso machines for home, but it’s more rigid and higher in performance. It also larger water capacity.
- Serving Sizes: Ristretto, Espresso and Lungo.
- Power: 1560 Watts
- Manual capsule ejection.
- Used capsule container: 25 capsules.
- Water tank capacity: 67 oz.
- No direct water connection.
Nespresso recommends this for a business of 30 employees or less. Nespresso Zenius can handle back-to-back brewing, but won’t be able to do commercial, high pace brewing.
Where To Buy Nespresso Zenius
Out of all Nespresso Professional machines, Zenius is the easiest to buy outside of Nespresso’s business accounts. These machines often pop up at Amazon or eBay and you can buy them directly without the need for providing business information.
Nespresso Momento
The second tier of Nespresso Professional machines is Nespresso Momento, which is available in three versions.
Nespresso Momento Features
- Touchscreen display to select your coffee recipe
- Brews coffee and milk-based recipes automatically
- Removable water tank or direct water connection option
Nespresso Momento 100 Features
This is the base model in the Nespresso Momento line. It’s great for a medium-size business, it’s quite easy to use.
Nespresso Momento 100 offers 5 coffee brewing sizes: Ristretto, Espresso 1.35 oz , Lungo 3.75 oz, Americano 6.5 oz and Large Americano 9 oz. This model does not do one-touch milk based coffee drinks.
The water reservoir capacity is 94 oz and the used capsule container capacity is 40 capsules.
Nespresso Momento 120 Features
The second Nespresso Momento version is twice the size of the first one, and it offers twice the capacity and features, too.
Nespresso Momento 120 offers 12 preset coffee and milk based recipes that can be prepared with a touch of a button.
Inside the machine is:
- 169 oz water reservoir
- Removable 101 oz fresh milk container – which remains refrigerated inside the machine at 4C.
Nespresso Momento 200 Features
This model works the same way as the Momento 120 model, but it has two brewing heads instead of one, which makes it perfect for double the serving sizes.
Nespresso Momento 200 does 5 servings of black coffee drinks: Ristretto, Espresso, Lungo, Americano and Large Americano.
When it comes to water, it has a 202 oz reservoir which you can fill manually, but it also has the option for a direct water line to make the job easier.
The used capsule container holds 80 used capsules.
Nespresso Agulia
This is the highest end professional Nespresso coffee machine, and it’s available in two versions.
Nespresso Agulia is made for high demand brewing in places like cafes. This model is quite complicated and can be programmed with your choice of cup sizes and recipes. It does coffees as well as milk based coffee drinks, and it uses a direct water line.
Nespresso Agulia is available in two brewing heads or four brewing heads.
