I purchased my first machine in 2002 and haven't looked back. Prior, I too went through the ritual of purchasing beans, grinding them manually etc, but found it took too much time/mess etc.

Someone in the industry told me that a nice feesh kilo of Arabica/Robusta blend (60:40) will be fresh for about 5 days after the bag is unsealed. After that, the natural oils in the beans become rancid. No problems in our office where we use ca. 2kg per day.

But at home, I might only have one cup or two max on a weekend. So the Nespresso system is ideal. Fresh coffee, high quality, no mess to prepare, and the capsules are delivered on the 3rd working day (Australia). Yes, the cup is expensive, but still cheaper than going out.

The Vienna nespresso shop/bar only gives out coffee to those with intention to purchase and upon presentation of membership card. Pity really, I know of a few people who used to hold business meetings upstairs because of the coffee...

By the way, the commercial Nespresso Gemini system uses flat pods rather than capsules, and contains a couple of grams more of coffee... Really cool action as it sucks in the pod a bit like a CD into the slot.

NG1Fan