Updated · Capsule
Coffee with zero decisions to make, 5.6 in wide.
Computed from published specifications — not a taste test. We do not brew or physically test machines.
Prices are the manufacturer's published list price plus any snapshots we have tracked; confirm on the retailer's page before buying. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases — this never affects rankings, which are computed from specifications.
Put plainly: the Nespresso Vertuo Plus suits you if you want coffee with no decisions and no clean-up beyond a capsule bin, and if counter width is tight — it needs 5.6 inches.
It is the wrong machine if you care what each drink costs or want to choose the beans, or if you drink cappuccinos or lattes at all. None of that is a defect — it is what Nespresso chose to build, and choosing against it is how you avoid an expensive mismatch.
Everything else follows from how much of your morning this should occupy. About thirty seconds, start to finish, and no decisions inside it. Buyers who answer that honestly stay happy with modest machines; buyers who answer aspirationally end up with capable ones gathering dust.
Nespresso publishes no bar figure for this machine, and that is not an omission — it extracts by centrifusion rather than by pressure. The capsule is spun at high speed and a barcode on its rim tells the machine the volume, rotation speed and temperature to use.
That matters for two reasons. The first is that borrowed specifications are meaningless here: the "19 bar" quoted for the Original line describes different hardware and does not apply. The second is that the capsule carries the recipe, so the machine has nothing to tune and neither do you.
What you are buying is repeatability and speed, and what you are giving up is every variable plus a running cost several times higher per drink than grinding your own.
Nespresso does not publish the heating system for this model, which is the specification that most determines temperature stability.
Nespresso does not state whether temperature is PID-controlled.
There is no milk system on this machine at all. It makes black coffee, and a separate frother would be an additional purchase with no way to integrate it.
It measures 5.6 in wide, 16.7 in deep, 12.8 in tall, which is narrow enough for most apartment counters.
The 1.8 litre tank is roughly 9 drinks between refills at typical volumes.
Noise goes unrated here for lack of any published measurement. The mechanical facts: the pump is vibratory, audible for the length of the extraction.
Electrically it is 120V, 1300 W — a standard US outlet, though it is worth not sharing a circuit with a kettle or toaster you use at the same moment.
Descaling is on its own schedule — every one to three months depending on your water hardness, using Nespresso's approved solution rather than vinegar.
Neglect announces itself in two disguises. A bitter, stale note that follows you across different bags is almost always oils in the group rather than the beans. A shot that has crept slower over months at the same setting is almost always scale rather than the grinder. Detergent fixes the first, an acid descaler the second.
A capsule machine is a sealed consumer appliance: there is no group, no gasket and no user-serviceable brew path, so a failed pump or thermoblock is a replacement rather than a repair.
Capsule machines are sealed consumer appliances: there is no group, no gasket and no user-serviceable brew path. Maintenance is descaling and rinsing only, and a failed pump or thermoblock is generally a replacement rather than a repair.
There is no manufacturer-published US list price for this model, so we do not compute a total cost of ownership — the purchase price is the largest term, and estimating it would make every other number decorative.
What can be said is where the money goes afterwards — coffee first by a wide margin, then maintenance consumables and a small electricity line.
The Nespresso Vertuo Plus is a coherent machine with one main compromise: that the capsule fixes every variable and the running cost is several times higher per drink. Whether that matters is a question about you rather than about the machine.
If it is a problem, the Breville Barista Express ($700) is the alternative worth reading next.
The number is a ranking within a cohort, not a grade. It answers "how does this compare to machines built for the same job" and says nothing about what the coffee tastes like, which no specification can.
Everything above is derived from Nespresso's published specification and our scoring methodology. We have not brewed with this machine and make no claim about how it tastes.
Chosen from this machine's own specification — not a generic bundle. The Nespresso Vertuo Plus needs these because of what it does and does not include.
Scale, not use, is what ends most espresso machines. Use the manufacturer-approved solution, never vinegar.
The one maintenance job a capsule machine still needs.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. These are category searches rather than specific product endorsements — we have not tested accessories any more than we have tested machines.
Transcribed from Nespresso's official spec sheet. An em dash means the manufacturer does not publish that figure — we never estimate one in.
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Machine type | Capsule |
| Automation level | Capsule |
| Status | Current model |
| Release year | — |
| Suggested daily volume | 1-2 drinks/day |
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Heating system | — |
| Heating circuits | — |
| Boiler material | — |
| PID temperature control | — |
| Heat-up time | — |
| Pump pressure (marketing) | — |
| Brew pressure at the puck | ~9 bar — the figure that matters |
| Pump type | — |
| Pressure profiling | — |
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Built-in grinder | No |
| Burr type | — |
| Grind settings | — |
| Bean hopper | — |
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Portafilter size | — |
| Portafilter type | — |
| Group type | capsule |
| Milk system | No milk system |
| Automatic milk texturing | No |
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Water tank | 1.8 L |
| Dimensions | 5.6 × 16.7 × 12.8 in (W×D×H) |
| Width | 5.6 in |
| Weight | 10 lb (4.6 kg) |
| Voltage | 120V |
| Wattage | 1300 W |
| Plumbable | No |
| Made in | — |
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Descaling required | Yes |
| Automatic rinse / self-clean | — |
| Removable brew group | — |
| Backflushable (3-way valve) | No |
Consumables are estimates for roughly two drinks a day; electricity is computed from the manufacturer's published wattage. Full two-year calculator · how we calculate this
Percentile-ranked against other capsule machines — machines bought for the same reasons, not every machine of the same type. A component with no published inputs is dropped, not scored zero.
Same machine type, similar price, ordered by score.
The only Original-line machine with a real automatic steam wand — capsule convenience with milk you can actually pour.
Published side-by-side comparisons involving this machine.
Position on each list this machine qualifies for. Each list ranks its own members, so these placings say more than any single score does.
We publish Nespresso's error codes and display messages transcribed from Nespresso's own manuals, with what each one means and the user-serviceable fix.
Every specification on this page was transcribed from Nespresso's official product page for the Nespresso Vertuo Plus. Figures the manufacturer does not publish are stored as null and rendered as an em dash. Scores are computed by our published methodology and are not a taste test.