Using coffee capsules without a coffee machine is nothing new, being as old as the coffee capsule itself. Because among so many millions of coffee users worldwide, rarely does someone come up with a “crazy idea” to experiment with different coffee formats.
Why would anyone want to make coffee with coffee capsules without a machine? Many capsule coffee machine owners have battered and dented coffee capsules, ultimately unusable for the coffee machine. Why not make use of this coffee?
The coffee is ground and ready to be brewed inside the capsule if you think about it. All that is needed to enjoy the drink is to pass hot water through it. Well, we have decided to try it so that if you want to do it, it will be much easier for you to do it.
Why do we want to make coffee capsules without a machine?
Brewing coffee capsules without a machine can be many and varied. Still, the two main ones are 1- To experiment and not limit ourselves to a specific brand of coffee machines, and 2- For those who have coffee capsules with a physical deformation, they can still use the coffee inside them.
Imagine you have a Dolce Gusto coffee machine at home, but you want to try a specific variety of coffee that only exists in Nespresso. What do you do if you don’t have a multi-capsule machine? That’s what you do: you try to make your coffee. Although in this particular case, it would be easier to buy a Nespresso to Dolce Gusto capsule adapter.
When you accumulate capsules of different varieties and brands, you put them all together in the same place, and when you try to find the desired coffee capsule, you can end up damaging the shape of others. Or, during cleaning and moving, coffee capsules get crushed. Never throw away the pods if this happens because you will learn to use the coffee inside the capsule without the machine.
Related: How many grams are in a coffee capsule?
Four easy and proven methods to make capsule coffee without a machine
It’s not complicated, but you need a bit of preparation beforehand. You can make capsule coffee without a coffee machine, although you will need a few other items for each method. Of course, you need hot water (Kettle) and coffee capsules.
- First method: Use of teabags. Teabags are very inexpensive, costing less than 5 cents each. You can also make your teabag with a cloth or paper filter, sealing it tightly so that the ground coffee does not escape.
- Second method: Use of a French press. Almost everyone has a French press at home, either for making coffee or tea.
- Third method: Use of a Moka pot. This type of coffee maker is very common in many homes, so you can easily make capsule coffee if you have one of these.
- Fourth method: Use of a cloth filter. Fabric filters are very common in certain parts of the world, such as Latin America. If you have one of these filters, you are in luck.
If you prefer to watch a video summary before reading on, we have prepared one for you here.
First method. Using tea bags to brew capsule coffee
You need a sachet to store the ground coffee from the capsule for this method. Remember that capsule coffee has a very fine grind, and therefore, the bag you use or make must have very small holes or else the ground coffee will leak out when the bag is immersed.
1- Open the capsule.
2- Pour the ground coffee inside the teabag.
3- Close the teabag tightly. If you use your tea bag, make sure it is very tightly closed.
4- Place the teabag in the cup and pour the water over it.
5- Stir for two minutes and leave for another minute.
6- Remove the bag, and your coffee is ready to drink.
Second method. Using a french press to brew capsule coffee
The French press is ideal for preparing capsule coffee because, like tea bags, French presses have a filter mesh with very fine holes. It means that there are hardly any coffee grounds in the cup. This method is one of the simplest, cleanest and quickest methods of preparing capsule coffee without a machine.
1- Open the capsule.
2- Pour the ground coffee into the French press.
3- Add hot water.
4- Place the piston and the lid and wait 2 minutes.
5- Slowly press the piston until all the coffee is extracted.
6- Serve the coffee.
Third method. Using a Moka pot to brew capsule coffee
The case of Moka pots is one of the least efficient methods. On the one hand, the filter of these coffee pots has quite large holes through which the ground coffee could fall into the water tank and then fall into our cup. On the other hand, the filter is quite large compared to the ground coffee inside a capsule, so the resulting coffee could have little body.
1- Add water to the Moka pot (add little water if you have only one or two capsules and cannot fill the entire filter).
2- Open the capsule.
3- Pour the ground coffee into the filter of the Moka pot.
4- Close the coffee maker.
5- Boil the water on the hob.
6- Serve the coffee.
Fourth method. Using a cloth filter to brew capsule coffee
Of all the methods, this is undoubtedly the fastest and perhaps the cheapest because you only need a cloth filter and water. The coffee will be made as fast as the water filters through the cloth.
1- Open the coffee capsule.
2- Pour the ground coffee into the cloth filter.
3- Pour the water over the coffee (little by little).
4- Remove the filter, and the coffee is ready.
What does coffee in capsules prepared without a coffee maker taste like?
Surely you are curious to know what coffee in capsules tastes like without a coffee maker. If you have paid attention to the instructions on preparing coffee in capsules without a coffee maker, you will have noticed that the coffee is gently filtered in each method. In other words, no pressure is applied.
And this means that the resulting beverage will not be an espresso (even if the particular capsule we have chosen on that occasion is of the espresso variety). Remember that to obtain an espresso coffee and hot water, pressure is required during the passage of the hot water through the ground coffee.
The resulting coffee will be infused even though, in the case of the Moka pot, a certain pressure (1-2 bars) is exerted when passing the water through the ground coffee. To be strict, a pressure of 19 bars is needed to obtain an authentic espresso.
