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Grind Coffee Pods (My Honest Review)
Want to try Grind Coffee but not sure if it’s worth it? My review will tell you everything you need to know! I tried Grind Coffee Pods for 20 days and I’m spilling all the beans…
Plus, if you want a Grind Coffee discount code of up to 40% off, I’ll show you how below – I use this trick all the time!
I brought Grind Compostable Coffee Pods (with my own money) and here’s my review…
If there’s anything you need to know about me, it is that I LOVE coffee. When I saw Grind offering home-compostable, organic and ethically sourced coffee, I just had to give it a try.
The truth is, I’m quite happy with my Nespresso pods, I use my Nespresso Atelier machine and I wasn’t quite sure if I needed a switch.
However, their bold claim that their coffee is ‘better than Nespresso’s own pods‘ made me put it to the test. After all, there’s nothing like drinking coffee and helping the environment.
In a nutshell, I really do like it! The coffee is smooth, fresh and reasonably priced. However, within this review I share everything you need to know and most importantly, if it’s worth it.
What Is Grind Coffee?
Grind Coffee is a London based coffee company with cafes, food trucks and coffee shops all over London. It first opened in Shoreditch in 2011 but due to lockdown, they started selling their coffee online.
It seems to be very popular (especially on social media) but until I saw a poster on the tube, I had never heard of them. They sell coffee beans, ground coffee and alternative Nespresso pods which are home-compostable.
I tried Grind’s Coffee Pods in ‘house blend’ (intensity 8). I like the light pink packaging: the tin is compact, easy on the eye and doesn’t take up much space. Also, if you’re buying more coffee, you don’t need to buy another tin. They sell replacement coffee pods in recyclable cardboard packaging.
What I Like
- Works with my Nespresso machine (here’s my Nespresso Atelier review)
- Perfect level of intensity for me
- Environmentally friendly coffee pods
- Stylish packaging (can reuse the tin)
- Quick Delivery (can get next day delivery when ordering before 12am)
- Supporting a small business (and the planet)
- Certified organic by the Soil Association
What I Dislike
- You can only mix pods from different blends in their subscription service (you can mix and match different blends with Nespresso)
- A limited range of flavours and coffee intensities
- Their coffee machine is very pricy
Grind Coffee Pods & My Nespresso Machine
I made a latte macchiato in the video below, you can see how easily Grind’s pods fit within my Nespresso machine.
Grind Coffee Products & Flavours
I brought Grind’s signature house blend flavour, which is designed to make the perfect flat white. As I do like lattes and making mochas, I thought this blend would be best suited to me. It has notes of almonds, milk chocolate, cacao nibs and walnuts.
If you’re wondering if Grind coffee tastes nice, my honest review is that it does! It’s like having barista style coffee in the comfort of your own home.
They have other coffee blends available and you can see which Nespresso pods it’s similar to in taste. This way, if you’re making a swap from Nespresso pods to Grind, you can easily identify which blends you’ll like best.
Not only does Grind sell coffee pods but they also sell whole beans and ground coffee too.
Grind’s product range includes:
- 1kg Bag Of Grind Coffee Beans
- Tin Of Grind Coffee
- Refills Of Whole Bean & Ground Coffee
- 227g Bag Of Coffee
What Makes Grind Coffee Different?
Grind coffee is specialty-grade, organic and quite frankly great tasting. But, what’s even better, is that their coffee is ethically sourced from sustainable farms, their pods are free from plastic and you can easily compost the coffee pods in your own home (they’re environmentally friendly coffee pods).
This is why Grind is so unique, they are able to marry delicious coffee with being environmentally friendly. Grind also captures the Nespresso market, by providing compatible Nespresso alternative coffee pods.
Is Grind Coffee Strong?
Grind coffee house blend is perfect for me, it has the right level of coffee intensity for my pallet and I would say it’s around the medium mark. However, I did research on Trustpilot (where they score 4.5) and I saw very few comments saying that the coffee was slightly weak for them.
As with all things food and drink, people have different preferences. Despite the fact that I LOVED it, it’s possible that it might not be as strong or intense for you (or the opposite being too strong).
Are Grind Coffee Pods Really Compostable?
Grind Coffee Pods are certified home-compostable (making this brand very sustainable), this helps protect the environment by reducing the amount of plastic pods that end up in landfill.
Their pods are completely plastic free, it’s actually made from a micro bacterial fermentation (PHA) – meaning they are completely organic and fully biodegradable.
To compost these pods, simply throw it into your compost. However, if you don’t have a home compost, you can chuck them in the bin (it’s still far better for the environment than plastic and aluminium alternative pods).
It takes on average 26 weeks for Grind Coffee pods to fully decompose, that’s nearly half a year. It’s one of the first in this industry to use this technology and quite frankly I think it’s impressive.
You can find more information on Grind’s charitable foundation and what they’re doing for the environment on their Better Coffee Foundation page.
How Much Is Grind Coffee?
They offer a subscription service or you can buy one-off coffee as and when you like.
Grind Subscription Service
Grind Subscription Service allows you to build your own monthly coffee plan that comes straight to your door (or your workplace). You get to choose what type of coffee you want, how much coffee you want, the packaging and blend (or mix of blends). This really tailors your coffee experience to you and your daily life habits.
You can pause, skip or cancel at any time – there’s no commitment. Plus, the delivery is carbon-friendly and letterbox-friendly, so you don’t need to be at home to receive it.
You save money using their subscription service and you can get 40% OFF your first order (I share how below).
Check out thier most recent prices. As it stands, Grind’s subscription service is a lot cheaper than Nespresso’s subscription service. Making Grind coffee pods a less expensive alternative to Nespresso.
One-Off Purchases
If you don’t want to sign up to their subscription service, you can make one-off purchases. Though, they do tend to be more pricey than their subscription service.
This might work better for you if you’re buying coffee as a gift or present for someone. Along with their varieties of coffees, they do sell other products like their Grind One Coffee Machine, gift sets, bags, cups and accessories.
You can check out their online shop to see the full range of products on offer.
Grind Coffee Promotion & Discount Codes
I lOVE a discount code, and I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that there are discount codes available for Grind Coffee purchases, especially on your first purchase!
All you have to do is sign up to their email list to receive a discount code worth £5 OFF your first three deliveries or 10% OFF your first order.
Sign up for SMS to get 40% OFF your first three coffee deliveries or 20% OFF your first order!
Plus, there’s more! They also have discounts for the following groups of people:
There’s nothing like trying a new brand for the first time and getting up to 40% OFF, it’s definitely worth the try just for that alone! I can’t imagine they’ll be giving 40% OFF for too long.
Does Grind Work With Nespresso?
Yes, it’s Nespresso alternative pods!
Grind claims their coffee pods are compatible with Nespresso machines. It works with my Nespresso Atelier machine which uses original Nespresso pods.
On Grind’s website, it states that their Coffee Pods are designed to work across all original Nespresso machines. However, it’s not compatible with the Nespresso machines listed below:
- Nespresso Vertuo
- Dolce Gusto
- Lavazza
- Tassimo machines
Check out their FAQ page for more information on this.
Is Grind Coffee for you?
If you’re passionate or interested in sustainability, biodegradability, the health of our environment and of course coffee. Then this brand is definitely suited to you! Especially if you drink coffee regularly.
Currently, it’s cheaper than Nespresso subscriptions and does a lot more for the environment. As their coffee pods are compatible with Nespresso machines, they make it really easy for you to make the swap.
In terms of taste, if you like super strong coffee then you might want to try their stronger blends like their dark roast (an old-school dark roast, packing loads of bittersweetness).
Grind Coffee Pods Review (Final Summary)
Here my Grind Coffee review comes to an end, to summarise, I really enjoyed their house blend coffee. It was smooth and had the perfect intensity for me. I don’t like super strong coffee, so I was utterly satisfied with the taste.
I think Grind is definitely worth trying, especially due to their sustainability and environmental efforts. It’s obvious the health of our environment is extremely important to this brand, hence why it’s ‘the planet’s favourite coffee pods’.
If you care about the environment and love coffee, then you have to give Grind Coffee a try – don’t forget the discounts!
So, is Grind Coffee worth it? Absolutely Yes! Are Grind’s environmentally friendly coffee pods better than Nespresso pods? Well, for the mere fact that it’s better for the planet… Yes.
P Patel
Great review. I’ve been a subscriber of Grind coffee pods for ~6 months.
Unfortunately Grind have slowly (and quietly) stepped away from using organic coffee for the pods, citing the same reasons they use for their whole bean coffee. They’ve slowly started removing any mention of it on their website and also confirmed it to me via email.
I’ve since stopped my subscription and I’m looking at alternatives.