The Americano pods divided opinion right down the middle, with half of our tasters preferring Dolce Gusto and the other half choosing Aldi as their favourite. Overall, they found that all the drinks came out too weak and suggested making a smaller coffee to give a stronger taste. But some options fared better than others. Dolce Gusto's Americano was considered to have a more rounded flavour by those who rated it as their favourite, with one person describing it as 'richer with a fuller flavour' - but others found the taste too bitter. Our tasters noted some big differences between the two though. The Dolce Gusto cappuccino was described as having a rich, strong coffee taste, while the Aldi version was considered much sweeter and creamier. Some people felt it had a weaker coffee taste, with one taster describing it as 'a bit bland'.

While not the cheapest we found available, Aldi's own range of Dolce Gusto-compatible coffee pods still retails for around half the price of official Dolce Gusto pods. We made each coffee using a Best Buy Dolce Gusto machine and asked our experts to taste them both with and without milk. Opinions were split on this one, with slightly more people preferring the taste of the Dolce Gusto pod, but no clear favourite. Over the past few years, more and more supermarket own-brands have been releasing Dolce Gusto-compatible coffee pods, which tend to be cheaper than the official Dolce Gusto range. Our tasters thought it had a nice layer of froth on top and a good, strong coffee taste. They liked the smooth and creamy texture too. One person said they 'wouldn't know it was pod coffee'.Mike Nunn – head of training at Monmouth Coffee Co, which has been roasting and selling coffee since 1978. But a great price means little if the flavour isn't right. In a 2019 taste test, we asked 22 coffee drinkers to blind-sample both Dolce Gusto and Aldi's pods to see which one they preferred. Read on for the results. Aldi vs Dolce Gusto latte macchiato

Colin Smith – artisan coffee roaster and former president of the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe

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