Italian Coffee Pods compatible with Verismo, CBTL (Pack of 40, Sampler)

After Starbucks pulled the rug out from under me by eliminating support for the Verismo, I took a leap of faith that a coffee company that shares my Italian heritage wouldn’t let me down. Amazing, complex flavor! I have no idea what the naysayers are talking about with this coffee. My wife and I sat down to do a serious coffee tasting of each of the four varieties in our sampler (Intenso, Brasil, Cremoso, and Ristretto), and each one delivered a complex tasting experience. From the full body of the Intenso, to the herbaceous and citrus nature of the Brasil, to the earthy and creamy Cremoso, and the dark complexity of the Ristretto, each delivered waves of flavor and acidity sip after sip, all well balanced as an espresso should be. To top it all off, the price per cup is far less than my previous Starbucks varieties, making my wallet as happy as my taste buds. As it did not feature Prime delivery, it took a solid week to get to me in Ohio, but it was well worth the wait. My wife and I couldn’t pick a favorite, so the four variety box is going on the Amazon Subscribe and Save list immediately. One quick note on the Intenso: as it is designed as a Lungo-sized portion (essentially a higher volume espresso), I found that three pulls of the espresso setting on the Verismo was optimal, with four pulls muting the subtle flavors. Using the milk pod button on the Verismo also yielded an excellent result, and while this may just be the power of suggestion from the button, I felt it delivered a thicker crema. Five stars, and you have yourself a new repeat customer!

I have a CTBL machine and CTBL coffee pods are very expensive. These are an economical and taste great. My favorite is the Cremoso which leaves a creamy smooth froth on top. Ristretto is a dark bold flavor, Lungo is a medium body, and Brasil is my least favorite, as it taste more on the bitter side. Of course I put 2T of vanilla sweet cream in my cup in order to drink it. I don’t think I could drink this coffee black. Too strong. But that is why I have this on subscription shipment, because I love this coffee’s boldness and flavor and look forward to my two cups each morning.

These pods work really well with my Verismo Coffee brewer. They are extremely affordable in comparison to the Starbucks brand pods and the taste is just as good if not better in some instances: You do have to push down harder with these than with the Starbucks pods but you get used to that and barely notice after awhile. I’ve never had one get stuck or not work and that was a problem I had with the brand pods. The only thing I’d change is that you can’t tell which pod is which because they are all packaged the same and I’d like to be able to buy packages of one kind rather than just the sampler.

Haven't tried all the flavors yet in this combo pack, but the Ristretto was a decent italian espresso. A little rougher around the edges than Starbucks but still, real espresso flavor for low money. Its hard to find ANYTHING for verismo at the moment so these are a find They tend to fall through my Verismo, so the trick is as you drop it in the slot, be pulling down the lever at the same time.

Taste good. I like the variety so depends on my mood what I pick for the day.

I bought these for my Verismo because Starbucks no longer makes their own pods (funny that they were selling the coffee makers last year...hmmm) and I’d have to pay $25-40 for one box of pods on EBay. The first one I popped in was hard to snap down and it made a loud sound but I chalked it up to being a different product and nobody is perfect, right? The coffee pod worked and tasted adequate (by my own admission I am a coffee snob, which is why I bought a Verismo in the first place). On to the second one and whoa! Snap, pop and ugh! Coffee grounds in my mouth before my eyes are fully in open in the morning is not the wake up call I’m looking for. But OK, maybe I just have to get used to the new pods (I’ve had a Verismo since 2014 so maybe I’m a novice). Nope, two weeks later and 1/3 of these babies cracked and deposited grounds into my cup. What a waste of money and my time! They don’t let you return and they make it hard to contact them to discuss the issue, so instead they get a bad review for all to see! I just bought a pour-over and love it. I miss my Verismo but sadly, because of Starbucks and companies like this that chapter is finished.

Good coffee, but the Ristretti, expresso and cremini do not work in my CBTL machine. It seems they do not work with the pressure system. Lingo works fine and I’ve bought a ton of those, but would love to have the others work in my machine.

Good coffee for a better price. Nice espresso

Tired of being held hostage by Starbucks' exorbitant pricing and limited availability for its Verismo dark roast espresso pods (also, Bed Bath and Beyond online recently discontinued the sale of Starbucks Verismo espresso pods), I was thrilled to find this compatible sample pack to try at a much more reasonable price. My husband tried Ristretto first and declared it "better than Starbucks". I have only tried Lungo so far, and found it comparable to Starbucks dark roast espresso, maybe better - smoother. The product works in our Verismo machine, no problem and the order arrived faster than the anticipated 2-day delivery I think it would be a good idea to somehow visually distinguish one flavour from another though - maybe colour-code the bottom and/or top of each pod. I dumped a second box of pods into a basket on the counter before realizing that each flavour of pod has exactly the same appearance so now I won't be able to make an assessment of which of those two flavours I like best nor will I be able to store them together outside the boxes. Otherwise, these are worth trying. Thank you very much Italian Coffee for providing this alternative to Verismo users!

I started using Italian Coffee capsules in November 2020 after dusting out my Verismo and desperately trying to find affordable capsules in Canada ( there are none...). Italian Coffee capsules are very affordable, coffee incredibly smooth and tasty (actually much better than the original Starbucks). I will keep reordering as I find those to be one of my household essentials. Thank you Import39 for this amazing Italian Coffee that brings flavor and comfort to my mornings

These generic capsules are incompatible with the Caffitaly machine; the bottom of the capsule has a "protruding bottom" while the Caffitaly original capsule is flat. Our Caffitaly machine stopped working after using the generic capsules; we initially thought that the machine needed service, so we called a technician who seemed to have fixed the problem after removing the generic capsule that became stuck inside. We went away on vacation and just returned, and the same problem happened... we called the same technician who removed once again the stuck generic capsule, but then tried an original Caffitaly capsule and the machine is now working fine. I am attaching a picture of the bottom of the capsule... the left is the generic brand with the protruding bottom and the right is Caffitaly original. What am I to do with the left overs boxes of generic capsules? These capsules are expensive... can I return them and order original Caffitaly capsules?

These are excellent pods and I am so happy to find ones in Canada that work with Verismo. The flavour is nice and some are more robust than others but they are all quite similar. I use 2 pods to make a large (12 oz) Americano. The pods do allow for running extra water through the pod if needed - meaning using the cup button rather than the espresso button. But I think the flavour is better using just the espresso button and adding boiling water. I do miss the Starbucks flavour, especially the Verona pods. But these are very good. I will be buying them again.

Works well in my discontinued Verissimo machine great espresso flavour in all the different flavours . Some of the pods fall through so I have to place them in slightly different until they catch …a bit pricy but because this size of pod is hard to find it’s worth the extra money 😊👍🏼