Tasting Table: Reprogram Your Nespresso Buttons for a Better Cup

If your Nespresso coffee tastes thin or harsh, try changing how much water each button pours, a Tasting Table piece recirculated by AOL on Nov. 4 suggests. The tip comes from Matt Woodburn-Simmonds, a former barista who runs the site Home Coffee Expert.

His reasoning is that some capsules are made to be brewed a little longer or shorter than your machine’s default, so the stock setting can over- or under-extract them. Per the article, Nespresso usually sets the espresso button to about 1.35 ounces and the lungo button to about 3.7 ounces. If you like a stronger cup, Tasting Table suggests aiming for roughly 1 ounce and 2.7 ounces instead.

Reprogramming takes a few seconds. Press and hold the button, let go when the cup reaches the amount you want, and the machine remembers that as the new volume for that button. Every machine has its own minimum and maximum. The one thing Woodburn-Simmonds warns against is stretching an espresso capsule into a big mug, which he says will taste very bitter. To go back to factory settings, the article says most machines reset if you hold the lungo button for more than five seconds while the machine is off, though the method varies by model.

Our take: this is mainly a trick for Original-line machines. Vertuo machines read the barcode on each capsule and set the volume themselves, so if you want a longer cup on Vertuo, buy a capsule made for that size. Original owners who like to experiment have a lot more capsules to play with, and our Nespresso-compatible pods guide is a good place to start.