The latest Krups-made espresso machine is twice the price of some rivals, and customers still have to buy their coffee in unique, little foil-wrapped pods, sold exclusively by Nestle. Great, eh?

It sounds like a really bad deal, until you taste the coffee. Because each cup of espresso comes from a new, hermetically-sealed pod, the coffee tastes fresh, every time.

The two versions of the machine are also well built, and exert 19 bars of steam pressure on the coffee.

This means perfect crema every time.

Purchasers of the Nesspresso are given 40 pods to start off, allowing them to taste several different types of coffee. From then on they get their coffee delivered by mail. The pods work out at about 28p each.

Another unique aspect to the system is that there is no mess to clean up afterwards - you just remove the pod from the holder and throw it all out.

The Nesspresso, price £199 or £350, is available from Brown Thomas, Dublin.