The Nespresso Le Cube C185 is a beautifully crafted capsule-based very 50s looking espresso machine designed by Antoine Cohen for Nespresso. The machine is capable of brewing both espresso and lungo (a single or double shot of espresso with typically twice the amount of water or a regular espresso). So with that in mind, let's have a look at how this beautiful machine performs.

Features
The Nespresso Le Cube is a streamlined machine. It has an on and off button and two pre-programmed buttons: espresso and a lungo. Don't be fooled, though the buttons are for the pre-programmed settings, if you are a control freak, by holding down either of the buttons you will be able to control the time of the brewing process. Like other capsule-based espresso machines, the Nespresso Le Cube has a water tank to pull water from. In the Le Cube's case, the water tank can hold up to one liter of water. Sadly missing on the Le Cube is the now industry standard milk frother.

Brewing with the Nespresso Le Cube
To brew a shot of espresso or lungo you lift the lever on top of the machine, place your Nespresso coffee blend capsule into the machine, pull down the lever, and press the brew button. It takes about 7 seconds from the time you press the espresso button till the last drip falls into our cup. The lungo takes roughly 14 seconds to brew. If you ever used a consumer espresso machine you are probably used to longer brew times, so the incredible speed of the Le Cube will leave you breathless.

Clean Up is Quick
Another sweet feature of the Le Cube is the used capsule container. Each time you brew an espresso, the used capsule falls into the capsule container. You can brew about 15 espresso shots before the machine alerts you to dump the the used capsules into the trash by activating a back light. At $0.49 cents a capsule however, convenience will come at a price, so if you are on a budget, you will want to keep this in mind.

The Taste Test
As of this review, Nespresso offers 12 premium coffee blends (9 espresso, 3 lungo), each one with a different taste, aroma, and richness. This means that most tastes will be satisfied. Though the coffee was rich, we found that even the strongest blend, the Ristretto, was not strong enough to satisfy our taste. Strangely enough, the less potent Arpeggio espresso blend was our favorite, perhaps because each sip was bitter-sweet (we detected a hint of cocoa). Maybe we are used to the full flavor of a typical Cuban espresso, but we wished that Nespresso would provide a stronger bodied capsule blend for those of us who like our espresso really strong.

Individuals who prefer the taste of caffe americano enjoyed the Finezzo lungo blend and the lighter espresso blends like the Volluto, but did not like the stronger espresso blends like the Roma.

The Brew is Concluded
All in all the Nespresso Le Cube is a great machine. It has a sweet minimalistic design we love and it brews coffee faster than any other consumer espresso product we've tried. And although we came away a bit disappointed at the strength of even the strongest espresso blend, Nespresso offers enough coffee variety to satisfy almost anyone.

THE GOOD
- Lighting fast brewing
- Easy clean up
- Great variety of espresso blends are available

THE BAD
- Coffee pods are on the pricey side
- The strongest espresso blend isn't strong enough
- Lacks a frother