Bosch Tassimo T45 Joy 2 TAS4502GB Hot Drinks & Coffee Machine - Black [Energy Class A]

My wife suffers from fibromyalgia and has had carpal tunnel operations on both wrists. This means that she has very limited grip strength and limited strength in her arms.Although we both love “real” espresso and I had a very good espresso machine, my wife was struggling more and more with locking and unlocking the coffee holder/spout on the espresso machine, so we decided to look for alternatives.It seemed to me that the Tassimo machine had both the largest range of drinks available, and after checking in our local supermarkets and discount stores, the Tassimo pods were the ones that were stocked and available.This machine is simplicity to use. It does take a small amount of force to close the lid with the pod inside the chamber, but this is a downwards pressure rather than the sideways force needed to unlock an espresso machine and my wife was easily able to use this it.There is a massive range of coffee and other drinks available. The espresso is great, the Costa branded latte and cappuccino is really nice, and the Cadburys hot chocolate is delicious!”I am also really impressed with the fact that the coffee is steaming hot! I think this is because each coffee pod has a barcode that it reads to say what kind of drink is being made, and the machine adjusts the temperature and water quantity accordingly.There is also a nice range of pod holders available. I bought a lovely rotating one that can hold eight different kinds of pods and looks great next to the machine.All in all I am very pleased with my purchase. It is comparatively priced when compared to other coffee systems, it's easy to use, the pods are widely available, it makes great tasting drinks and my wife can make her morning coffee again without hurting her wrists!

No fuss, no faff, great coffee on demand.You trade getting rid of grinding beans, percolating the result somehow, and the clean up of the grinds afterwards for a couple of button presses and your done. Of course, you also trade being able to buy your coffee from where you want to, for being only able to buy the stuff tassimo makes / retails. At between 20-50p per cup ( depending on what drink you make) I have found this to be a very worthwhile trade for the convenience.You can buy the T discs on Amazon or in the supermarket as you please, and as the best price dictates.The machine itself is excellent, it just works, its easy to clean, and descaling is easy. To descale you insert a couple of tablets into the water, put in the cleaning disc, press the buttons and walk away. Descaling tends to be required (based on my usage which is fair to heavy) every 4-6 weeks. A similar, or slightly longer, duration for the water filter which you just take and and put in the new one. I cannot fault the machine.You'll love this machine, if you love the drinks it makes, and hate the messing about with other methods.So find a friend with one of these and try the drinks out!If you love the drinks (Costa coffee is great!) then the tassimo would be a great machine for you.PS generally the price increases with twiddly bits (filters etc) and also water container size. Some of the water buckets I think are daftly small ie 700ml ( or a couple of coke cans). Maybe they are good if you just drink espresso. Still I went for 1.4L capacity which I find doesn't require filling so much that its annoying.

Great product, far better than the old 1. 1 thing that is not better is the pod holder is loose and you struggle to get the pods in to position. If this happens you have a right mess on your hands as it creates a new hole and coffee/milk goes everywhere.

Absolutely love this smart looking machine from Bosch! I had a previous Bosch machine, the vivy, which did its job well for about 3 years before only dispensing half a cup. So I upgraded to this one which is toward the higher end of the Bosch/tassimo scale.Set up took only a few minutes. Wash out the tank, insert the Brita filter, dispense a couple of cups of hot water to clean out the machine. This is done by inserting the orange service disc into the machine and pressing the large button on the front.Once this is complete you are free to start making coffees!I much prefer the tassimo machines over dolce gusto, I have owned a DG machine before and there was no auto shut off facility so you had to stand by the machine and stop it manually once your drink has been dispensed. I don’t know if this has been rectified now though as this was quite a few years ago.The tassimo machines read a barcode on the coffee pod which determines how much water to dispense. You simply insert the pod and press the button and the machine does the rest. The brita filter is a nice touch but I don’t really notice any difference in the taste of my drink and it seems a bit gimmicky and will involve more expense for filters. You get one included in the box. Another thing to note is the promotional £20 webcredit from tassimo.co.uk. This is actually 2 x £10 credits redeemable on seperate orders, I find buying from this site quite pricey unless you are doing a big order as under £35 you pay for delivery. There is a fantastic range of drinks however, from brands such as kenco, costa and Cadbury.I much prefer this Joy model over the smaller vivy I had. It looks smarter and although a lot bigger, the tank holds more water so it’s more convenient if you use it more than once a day. Overall I am very happy with this machine and would recommend it highly