Have you ever wondered if your plastic coffee capsules can melt in your beloved coffee machine?
We get this question a lot, so we decided to answer it for those who have been wondering about this for a while or thinking about it right now.
The short answer is: No.
"Can coffee capsules really not melt in my machine?"
The long answer is also no but with some science and reasoning behind it. Your coffee machine should heat your water up to about 80˚C, meaning that neither the capsule nor the machine will ever get any hotter than the water inside the machine. For a coffee capsule to melt it would need to be exposed to 200˚C or above, a temperature that your coffee machine would never be able to reach.
Deformation is not the same as melting!
It is important not to confuse deformation and melting. Deformation can happen from time to time, but it is very different to melting. Even if the capsule deforms slightly, no plastic will stay behind in your machine or as a matter of fact in your coffee. "So why does a capsule deform sometimes?” you might ask. Deformation can happen to any capsule, plastic or aluminium such as the original Nespresso® capsules. That is because your coffee machine runs at 19 bar pressure. To put this into perspective, that is over 8 times higher than the pressure in your tires, so it’s a lot. So deformation does occasionally occur due to high pressure. Luckily, your coffee machine has a safety cut off that will kick in when your machine goes over a certain pressure or runs for too long.
Here is why capsules sometimes buckle
Capsules can also buckle for several other reasons. The front plate of the machine often gets clogged which can cause water pressure to struggle when going through the capsule. We recommend using the Caffenu® cleaning capsules to make sure that your machine is clean, and to ensure the washer plate is free of residue. Another common issue could be that the capsule is not inserted properly. Reinserting the capsule might help resolve the issue. This ensures also that capsule is pierced properly by the needles of the machine to ensure that the water can flow directly through the capsule to extract the coffee.
Keep deformation to a Minimum
So overall just know a capsule can never melt in your machine, but you can keep deformation to a minimum by cleaning your machine, and making sure to insert the capsule properly. It also helps to use tried and tested compatibles. Coffee Capsules Direct provides capsules that have been thoroughly tested and have been specifically designed for Nespresso® Machines. Sometimes it might feel harder to close the lever depending on the type of Nespresso® machine you have. This is to ensure correct sealing and seating of the coffee capsule in the capsule chamber, but it does not affect the actual working of the machine.
Our guarantee
We are 100% confident that using our compatible capsules will not lead to melting or machine breakages, but for your peace of mind, we even guarantee you to replace your machine should it break from using one of our products. (T's & C's apply)
So there you have it! Now you can spend less time worrying about capsules melting in your machine and more time enjoying drinking delicious coffee instead!