Kiss The Hippo – Carbon-Negative Coffee Pods | Organic Single Origin Decaf | 100% Compostable | Notes of Dark Chocolate, Toffee, Brazil Nut | Pack of 30

Kiss The Hippo – Carbon-Negative Coffee Pods | Organic Single Origin Decaf | 100% Compostable | Notes of Dark Chocolate, Toffee, Brazil Nut | Pack of 30Pros for me:It’s naturally decaffeinated with sparkling water - the healthy way.It’s organic.It works perfectly with my nespresso machine.It’s eco friendly in pretty much all the ways it can be (100% compostible, carbon neutral etc) which is hugely important to me.The tasting notes are great. You can understand what you’re drinking and where it’s been grown and roasted.The box and design etc is very appealing.It makes a nice crema and tastes pretty good to me if drunk as an espresso.Cons for me:If I try to make a flat white like I do with my usual official brand coffee capsules, it doesn’t taste great to me. Just not a rich coffee flavour at all. (I’m used to expressing it in terms of intensity ratings and I’d personally guess this was around 4, nothing like the 9 I would normally choose.)However, as I enjoyed it as a straight espresso, I will continue to drink it black instead. It has quite a lively flavour, which is nice for a decaff, as it fools my brain into perking up, thinking it might be caffeine!All in all a great buy if it’s the flavour you’re looking for. But at the top end price (currently £16.50 for 30), for my personal taste, I would feel I was paying for the eco and other credentials more than for the flavour.

Well, if you like very mild coffee these might be to your liking, but my wife and I found this coffee to be very weak and almost tasteless. Making the coffee as we would normally, with milk, it was insipid. Setting the machine to espresso, and using two pods per cup (ie two espresso plus milk per cup) the drink was more acceptable, and some flavour detectable, but that makes for rather expensive cups of coffee. Taken black it is a title better, but still very mild.

The media could not be loaded.  This is a great idea for nespresso machines, in principle. That being that this is sustainable coffee in sustainable packaging. Unfortunately in practicethis didn't work (for me).The pods themselves are OK, made of paper and card. So a big tick sustainability wise. Unfortunately they just do not perform properly in my nespresso machine. Once you put the pod in, it doesn't build any pressure at all and coffee starts dispensing straightaway. This is where aluminium pods works well in that due to their increased strength they build up a head of pressure which allows for a proper dispensing of the coffee and also gives a proper crema layer to the coffee. You will see from the attached video that coffee dispenses immediately and quickly when you push the button. I time-lapsed the video but in real time a normal dispense takes about 44 seconds in machine, with these pods dispensing is done in 30 seconds. This means that the coffee is not fully brewed and water passes through the coffee granules too quickly.The coffee itself just does not actually taste very good. It feels weak flavoured and this is mostly down to the pods brewing too quickly, along with maybe a poor coffee blend.If this coffee actually tasted good, then I would have easily given this 4 stars as the ethics of the company are admirable. Having said that, coffee preference is very personal.

This is easily the best decaf coffee I have ever tried.Kiss The Hippo offer here a Carbon-Negative coffee experience. Carbon-Negative simply means that whilst making this product, Kiss The Hippo emit less than zero carbon dioxide. How this works is that they offset the carbon they do produce by supporting international reforestation initiatives. I really value this and I think in 2022 when we see and hear so much about climate change and habitat loss, it's massively important to support companies engaging in such practices if it's something you believe in too.The coffee pods are made of compostable materials rather than the typical plastic or aluminum. Interestingly, some Kiss The Hippo pods haven't worked very well in my Nespresso Krups machines. However, I had no problem with these. I'm not sure if they've changed the blend they use to make the pods or maybe it's to do with how densely packed this type of coffee is compared to other types I've had from them, but I had a 100% success ratio with these pods, compared to about an 80-90% ratio with another type of Kiss The Hippo coffee.The coffee itself is lovely. As you can see from the photo it has a lovely thick, frothy crema. The coffee itself I'd describe as a smooth roast, which is nice as you can drink it in the evenings (as it is caffeine-free) and really enjoy it as a post-dinner coffee. That said, the chocolatey, nutty taste is enjoyable whatever time of day and so if you're just looking to reduce your caffeine consumption but worried about missing your morning coffee then this is a great choice for that too.Overall, I think these coffees deliver on that coffeeshop experience, which is probably why you picked up your coffee machine. Bonus points awarded for the company being carbon-negative.