Pod coffee machines are a fuss-free and user-friendly way to make your morning java, but they don’t tend to offer a lot of customisation. However, this isn’t the case with Tassimo’s My Way 2, a pod coffee machine that allows you to adjust the temperature, size, and intensity of your coffee and other hot drinks.
The My Way 2 is also space-efficient and has an RRP of under £100, but does it deserve a place among the best pod coffee machines? Here’s my take.
In a nutshell
After testing the Tassimo My Way 2 for over a week, I can see why it’s called “The Personal One” of the brand’s coffee pod machines. The My Way 2 can adjust the temperature, strength, and cup size of your coffee (along with teas and hot chocolates), allowing me to create my favourite drinks in no time.
I was pleased with how easy the My Way 2 was to use — even for people who aren’t coffee aficionados. The control panel is intuitive and literally gives you a range of barista-style drinks at your fingertips.
I will admit I wasn’t so impressed with the plastic waste generated by each pod of coffee (or T-discs, as Tassimo calls them). You’re also pretty much limited to these Tassimo pods for your drinks, too. That said, their pods are diverse and come in a wide-range of beverage types, flavours, and well-known coffeehouse brands.
Product specs
- Coffee type: pod
- Control type: digital
- Water tank capacity: 1.3 litres
- Power: 1500 watts
- Power cord length: 1.2 metres
- Dimensions: H29 x W23 x D32.5 cm
- Weight: 3.6kg
- Settings: Strength, volume, personalised settings
Getting started
I was surprised how lightweight and space-efficient the machine was. I was initially concerned that it would take up a lot of counter space in my shared kitchen, but it fitted nicely in the worktop corner.
It also has a minimalistic, modern look that doesn’t stick out among my other other kitchen appliances. The machine I received came in goes-with-everything black, but the My Way 2 is also available in white or cream if your kitchen has a lighter aesthetic.
I was immediately relieved when I saw the My Way 2’s simple design. The touch control panel was intuitive, using clear icons such as a thermometer for temperature settings and different size cups for drink volume. While some of its other features weren’t so obvious, the machine comes with an at-a-glance booklet with an annotated key. From this, I discovered that the drip tray was detachable and found the brewing unit where the pods are placed.
I must say I was a little surprised the My Way 2 doesn’t come with complimentary pods to get you started right away. Tassimo does, however, throw in a voucher that gets you £10 off your first two orders when you register your machine. With that, I registered immediately and ordered some discounted pods for testing: Kenco Americano Smooth, Kenco Columbian, Costa Latte, Costa Cappuccino, Kenco Flat White, and Chai Latte. Tassimo pods are also available at a range of UK supermarkets and usually come with special offers.
First impressions
The My Way 2 comes fully assembled, so it can be plugged in straight away, but there are a lot of steps you need to go through before brewing your first coffee — and it unfortunately means you have to use the cryptic instruction manual.
I found the instruction manual hard to follow, as it’s mostly wordless and uses illustrations to dictate what to do. After reading customer reviews, which I might add are mostly positive, I discovered that I wasn’t the only one who found the diagrams unclear. Maybe they thought turning their instructions into a picture book would make them universal, but it just led me to rely on unboxing videos instead.
After ditching the manual for online tutorials, I began the set-up, which mostly involves cleaning and filling the removable water tank. The My Way 2 does not automatically rinse itself out between uses, but it does have cleaning functions to remove impurities in the water.
The tank comes with an orange service T-Disc, which cleans and descales the brewing system, and BRITA filter cartridge to prevent hard water having a long-term impact on the machine. (This process is particularly important to me as I live in a hard water area.)
Making coffee
After the tank was cleaned and descaled, then came the part I was looking forward to: using my array of shiny new coffee pods. Each pod comes with a bar code, which tells the machine what to do when it’s placed inside the brewing unit for scanning. Once the pod is in, the control panel glows to illuminate all the customisable settings. Picking out which temperature, size, and strength I wanted my coffee to be was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed experimenting with what each function could do. Once I personalised the setting, all I had to do was press the start button.
When I first pressed start, the machine made a loud thumping noise that made me think I had broken the coffee maker before I could make my first cup. However, as the coffee poured out and the thumping turned into a whirring, I realised that the thumping at the beginning was normal.
While it did seem disconcertingly loud and made me fear it was going to wake the whole flat (which consists of light sleepers) every morning, it wasn’t as loud as I thought as nobody outside the kitchen seemed to notice it was on.
The first drink I made was an Americano, a drink that afforded a lot of experimentation. The first setting I played around with was temperature, which comes in three settings: very hot, hot, and warm. The hot setting took about five minutes to cool down, while the lowest temperature setting made my coffee ready-to-drink. This setting fitted in very nicely with busy mornings, when I didn’t have time to let my coffee cool and wanted instant java.
The next setting I played with was drink size., which offers small, medium, or large drinks. There’s no clear-cut measurement for each setting, but all pods come in one of four different sizes (S, M, L, and XL). The Americano Smooth pods came in the largest XL size, so I was eager to see how much that would get me. For the large setting, it got me 300ml of coffee, 225ml for medium, and 175ml for small.
When I later tried L-size Columbian pods with each volume setting for comparison, there was only a 25ml difference between the Columbian pods and the American pods for each size, with a large Columbian coffee measuring around 200ml.
However, when I later made an L pod for a chai latte, the large setting overflowed my 250ml mug. This little spill suggests that the volume of each size setting differs between the drink type rather than pod size, so I suggest using a bigger cup than expected when trying a pod for the first time.
Each drink size took two minutes or less to make, from pressing the start button to the last drop. At medium temperature, a large Americano took just under two minutes, a regular Americano took one minute and 44 seconds, while a small Americano took one minute and 23 seconds. Obviously, the time can vary depending on temperature and the type of drink, but the fuss-free process required no supervision and allowed me to get on with my morning routine.
Next up was intensity, which again comes in three settings. When I drank my Americano coffee without milk, I definitely preferred the mildest setting. I could taste the difference between each strength, with the milder setting having a lighter crema and smoothness, while the strongest setting had darker crema and a bolder flavour with a lingering aftertaste.
For milk-based drinks such as lattes, I tended to use the medium strength setting to really bring out a balance between the milk and the espresso. While some pod coffee machines come with a separate or conjoined milk frother, the My Way 2 relies on dried or UHT milk pods for frothy cappuccinos and lattes. This means all you have to do is put a milk pod in before (or in the case of flat whites, after) the espresso shots.
Once I figured out my four favourite settings, I was then able to store them so I could speed-dial my preferences with the push of a single number. Saving the setting is easy to do: you simply hold down one of the numbered buttons once you’ve entered your preferred settings. Overriding them is simple too, as you just repeat the same process.
While the pre-use cleaning does take a lot of filling and re-filling the tank with water, I was relieved to find this isn’t a regular task that needs to be done every time you want a latte. In fact, the tank comes with a cartridge replacement indicator to remind me to repeat the process every eight weeks. There’s also a descaling symbol on the control panel which flashes around four times a year to let you know it’s time to descale the machine again.
Coffee quality
The drinks that I was most eager to make were coffee shop favorites, such as cappuccinos, lattes, and flat whites. I made a latte first (using a tall latte glass, which meant I had to detach the drip tray so it would fit under the spout) and I have to say it was satisfying to watch the glass fill with layers of milk, espresso, and foam. The latte itself tasted creamy and subtly sweet, with the espresso flavour coming through nicely.
Next up was a cappuccino. A sweet coffee-shop smell filled the air as soon as the frothy milk poured out, and the finished product had the right amount of foamy sweetness and bold espresso. Meanwhile, the flat white had a richer taste than the latte and cappuccino, but had the same cosy milkiness.
A major advantage of pod machines is that they can make other drinks beside coffee, and the My Way 2 takes tea and hot chocolate T-Discs. I decided to try a Chai Latte pod, and I was not disappointed. It had the warm aroma of cinnamon and tasted both sweet, spicy, and comforting.
Cleaning
As mentioned, there is some cleaning involved before you can make your fist drink, but you won’t need to do it again until another two or three months. However, while the machine does come with a BRITA filter and a descaling tablet, you will need to buy more once the indicator lights remind you it’s time to descale or replace the filter.
Day-to-day cleaning is easy. Whenever I miscalculated how big a cup I needed and the coffee overflowed, I was able to wipe the drip tray clean with a paper towel. Stains didn’t show up on the black exterior either, though I can’t vouch that this will be the case for the white and cream models.
I did, however, encounter some issues with splashing, though this can be chalked up to not adjusting the drip tray to the right height. The close vicinity tended to get freckled with coffee drops whenever I used a small cup, but the problem was alleviated when I moved the drip tray closer to the nozzle.
I would be remiss not to mention the plastic waste that the used coffee pods generate. While Tassimo has teamed up with the Podback recycling service, which provides special recycling bags with every box of pods ordered from the Tassimo website, the pods can’t be recycled kerbside. Instead, you have to visit your local Podback service, which in my case is located over seven miles away.
Comparisons
In general, the best bean-to-cup coffee machines offer fresher flavour and more control over your coffee preferences, even if they’re much more expensive than pods.
For instance, our budget pick in our best bean-to-cup coffee machine is the Breville Barista Max Espresso Machine, which is over £300 more expensive than the My Way 2 at RRP. Still, it does have a much larger water capacity and a myriad of easy-to-use controls, and it’s actually one of the cheaper barista-style coffee makers.
For pods, while our top pick, the Nespresso Vertuo Creatista, has an RRP of £649, there are plenty of other top pod machines under £100. The Philips L’OR Barista Sublime is £59.99 at RRP and makes two cups at once, but it does have a smaller water capacity and has no milk frother to make cappuccinos or lattes. It also doesn’t allow you to adjust the temperature or intensity of your drink like the My Way 2.
Should you buy the Tassimo My Way 2?
The My Way 2 is great for making your favourite milky coffee drinks to your liking — just be willing to keep stocking up on the pods you like. While a box of pods isn’t the cheapest and doesn’t contain a huge amount (a lot of milk-based coffee pods come in a pack of only 6), it obviously works out cheaper than visiting your local coffee chain for the same drinks.
I found the My Way 2 to be ideal for busy mornings thanks to its easy-to-use settings and mess-free set-up. It was a great time saver when all I had to do was simply stick the pod into the brewing unit, set it to a ready-to-drink temperature , and press start.
Another advantage of this pod machine is that it can make other drinks besides coffee, such as tea and hot chocolate. Considering that it’s under £100, the My Way 2 delivers great value for money with its customisation settings and an intuitive design.
The drawbacks I found were typical of pod machines and were not unique to the My Way 2. Tied to ready-made Tassimo pods, coffee connoisseurs will of course rebuff the My Way 2 for its perceived lack of freshness and complexity. Meanwhile, eco-conscious shoppers should be aware that the pods generate a lot of plastic waste and aren’t the most convenient to recycle, especially if you don’t live close to a Podback service.
However, for the time-poor and those who simply enjoy a delicious coffee without over-analysing its nuances, the My Way 2 is an excellent budget-friendly choice. Will you be tethered to Tassimo T-dics? Yes. But with the diverse range of pods on offer, you’ll love all the cafe-style drinks the My Way 2 can build just for you.
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