Nespresso Vertuo Creatista review: The most premium pod machine around

The Nespresso Vertuo Creatista is possibly one of the most desirable coffee pod machines on the market right now. But with a price tag of over £600, it is going to take a seriously special cup of coffee to justify the purchase. Coffee pod machines can be picked up from as little as £40 and while they might not have the functionality or style of the more expensive machines, often the coffee is near-identical.

So, is the Nespresso Vertuo Creatista able to live up to the hype? With Sage behind the wheels for the design of this machine and David Beckham known to be a fan of the model, the signs look good. Having tested countless coffee machines over the last decade, I installed the Nespresso Vertuo Creatista into my test kitchen to give you my verdict; read on for my review.

Nespresso Vertuo Creatista review: What do you get for your money?

When unboxing the Nespresso Vertuo Creatista I breathed a sigh of relief. The machine is well packaged, albeit with rather too much plastic, and practically set up ready to use – which is not always a given. All you have to do is attach and fill the water tank and go through a quick rinse cycle before you’re ready to enjoy your new toy.

This Nespresso machine has been created in partnership with Sage, and the build is everything I would expect from the premium kitchen brand. It’s sleek yet sturdy, looks really swish and is well made; from the magnetic drip tray to the light on the side that alerts you when the capsule bin needs to be emptied. One niggle: I’d have liked a handle on the water tank to help lift it out for refilling.

The big selling point of this machine is the innovative milk frothing. For too long pod machines have fallen at the milk hurdle, with sub-par milky coffee capsules often delivering coffee akin to a hospital vending machine or attempting complicated integrated milk systems that are messy, impossible to clean and ultimately just a bit gross. It is pleasing then to see that Nespresso have incorporated a milk steamer, and an automated one at that. With three presets for temperature and three for texture, it should be easy to enjoy cappuccino, latte, macchiato and more at the touch of a button – no barista training required. So, is it?

Nespresso Vertuo Creatista review: What’s it like to use?

The instruction manual is very keen for you to download the Nespresso app, but I found this to be unnecessary and it did not add anything of value. There’s very little you need to do to familiarise yourself with the machine; simply pop a pod of your choice in and you’re good to go. You can choose pods ranging in size from single espresso up to a whopping 535ml of coffee with the Carafe pod.

I really liked the adjustable cup height, meaning you can insert a tall travel mug – often an irritating niggle with coffee machines. The milk preparation is seamless, too. The Nespresso Vertuo Creatista comes complete with a stainless-steel milk jug, which is simply inserted underneath the steam wand onto a scale. The scale cleverly weighs your milk to calculate how long to steam it for – a genius idea – and then runs it to your chosen temperature and texture settings. This takes very little time, is pretty quiet and the results are impressive.

Maintenance-wise, there are automated cleaning cycles which the machine will remind you to run, and the wand delivers a self-cleaning spurt of steam after each use, so all you need to do is wipe the external wand down.

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Nespresso Vertuo Creatista review: What could be better?

As with all pod machines, the limitation is that there is only so far you can go with coffee quality if it’s not fresh. However, these pods taste good and if you’re usually satisfied with the taste of Nespresso capsules, then these will continue to please. The addition of fresh milk – or oat, coconut, whatever you prefer – is also a huge bonus when it comes to improving the overall taste of pod coffee.

While I can’t sing the milk steamer’s praises enough, if I were to suggest one tiny tweak, it would be to have a manual option for any frustrated baristas who would prefer the option to personalise their milk a bit more.

Another improvement – though not one Nespresso is likely to take on board – would be for the machine to be compatible with a range of different pods. Vertuo coffee is perfectly nice, but I find the descriptions vague in terms of taste (unless we’re talking flavoured coffees). This means it can take time and money wading through various pods trying to find the kind of coffee you prefer. Vertuo pods go for around £0.50 – £0.80 each, so take this into consideration before shelling out for a machine. I’d also love to see Vertuo improve the sustainability of the pods; they are still not the easiest to recycle and it would be amazing to be able to use refillable pods

Nespresso Vertuo Creatista Review: Should you buy it?

I think so – with a few caveats. I would not pay full price for this machine but if you can bag it for around half retail, then go for it. It’s well made, looks lovely on the worktop and makes decent coffee, particularly if you’re a latte or cappuccino fan. It’s also a big step up from most pod machines.

However, if you’re going from an espresso machine and think this will deliver similar results just because of its high price point, I’d urge you to look elsewhere and stick to a manual machine or a bean-to-cup machine.