What else goes in a capsule machine: tea, chocolate and chai

A capsule machine will make drinks other than coffee — but not every machine and not in every system. Hot chocolate, chai latte, cocoa for the children or tea all exist as ready-made capsules, except that the choice differs so sharply from one system to the next that it matters more when you are picking a machine than the taste of the coffee does. Dolce Gusto has dozens of non-coffee capsules, Nespresso Original has virtually none, and a paper pod cannot hold any drink but coffee by its very design. This article sums up what you can actually buy in each system, what it works out at per drink and where the limits are — because “it fits the machine” and “it tastes good” are not the same thing.

How anything other than coffee gets into a capsule

A capsule is a sealed, measured dose, and the machine does one single thing with it: it forces hot water through. The machine never examines what is inside — to a pump and a heating element, chocolate powder is the same filling as ground coffee. That is exactly why makers can pack cocoa, spices or milk powder into the same capsule shape, and the drink comes out at the same push of a button.

Technically, though, something quite different is happening inside the capsule. With coffee it is extraction — water has to pass through a bed of ground coffee under pressure and pull the soluble compounds out of it. With most non-coffee capsules it is dissolving and mixing: the capsule holds instant powder, milk powder, sugar and stabilisers, and the hot water only dissolves it and froths it up. That has three practical consequences.

First, a non-coffee drink from a capsule is always a drink made from instant powder, not from brewed leaves or from melted chocolate. Second, the capsule is full of sugar and a milk component, so it leaves more residue behind in the holder and the spout than coffee does. And third, the recommended volume of water often changes with non-coffee capsules — chocolate and chai want a longer drink than espresso, otherwise they come out unpleasantly syrupy.

Tassimo is the exception that reads what is in the capsule

One system really does recognise its own filling. Tassimo machines read a barcode off the T-Disc and set the water volume and the brewing time from it themselves. For non-coffee drinks that has two consequences: the drink is made exactly the way the maker intended, but at the same time an unofficial non-coffee capsule cannot exist — without a valid code the machine will not start the drink. The choice of non-coffee T-Discs is therefore limited to what the owner of the system and its licensing partners produce. We go through that mechanism in more detail in our article on Tassimo and its barcode.

Which systems have non-coffee capsules at all

This is the main decision table of the whole article. If you are still choosing a machine and you know you want chocolate or tea as well, decide by this column rather than by the coffee — coffee can be bought for every system, non-coffee drinks cannot.

The difference between the first and the last row of the table is fundamental, and hardly anyone expects it. Dolce Gusto is the only system where the non-coffee choice is genuinely wide — it has whole lines of its own for drinks for children, chai latte and iced drinks for the summer. The reason is technical: the Dolce Gusto capsule is large, so it has room for the drink component along with milk powder and sugar. How the system works and what else belongs in it, we go through in our article on Dolce Gusto: how the system works.

If you are not sure which system you have at home, do not start by hunting for non-coffee capsules — start by identifying the system. There are instructions for that in our guide to how to choose coffee capsules, which also has an overview of how to tell the individual capsule shapes apart.

Hot chocolate and cocoa from a capsule

Chocolate is the most widespread non-coffee drink in capsules, because it sits well with the way a capsule machine works: the powder dissolves, the milk component froths and the drink comes out warm and thicker than coffee. You can buy it in three systems.

In Dolce Gusto the textbook example is Dolce Vita White Chocolate for Dolce Gusto — a pack of twelve capsules for $5.93, which is $0.49 a drink, because one Dolce Gusto capsule gives you one drink. The brand Dolce Vita Italfoods has a whole run of flavoured and chocolate capsules, and you will find them in the Dolce Vita for Dolce Gusto category.

In Tassimo, chocolate is represented by licensed T-Discs such as Tassimo Milka at $9.38 for eight capsules. Watch out here for one thing you cannot ignore with Tassimo: milk coffee drinks need two capsules for a single cup, but chocolate is a one-capsule drink. So eight capsules really are eight drinks — $1.17 each. That is noticeably more per cup than the same drink costs you in Dolce Gusto.

Chocolate exists for Lavazza A Modo Mio too, for instance Dolce Vita White Chocolate capsules for Lavazza A Modo Mio at $5.93 for sixteen capsules, so $0.37 a drink. It tends to be the cheapest capsule chocolate of the three, with the one caveat that the choice here is far narrower than with Dolce Gusto — it is an add-on to a coffee line, not a range in its own right.

Where capsule chocolate falls short

Chocolate from a capsule is sweet and thinner than chocolate cooked up from powder in hot milk. The capsule works with water, not with milk — the milk component inside it is dried, so the result has the consistency of cocoa rather than of proper Italian chocolate. Anyone who wants a drink thick enough to stand a spoon in will be disappointed by a capsule and is better served by classic hot chocolates and cocoa or by a thick hot chocolate you stir up yourself. A capsule is about convenience and an exact dose, not about a gastronomic experience.

The second thing is cleaning. Sugar and milk powder leave a sticky residue in the holder and the spout that coffee never leaves. After every chocolate or milk drink, run one cycle through with water only — it takes a few seconds and it is the only reliable way to stop your next espresso tasting of vanilla.

Tea and herbal drinks in capsules

Tea in capsules does exist, but it is tied to one system. The strongest choice belongs to Tchibo Cafissimo and Caffitaly machines, for which you can buy Twinings tea capsules — black, green and fruit tea — and alongside them Ricola herbal capsules. That is no accident: the Cafissimo and Caffitaly capsule has a filter inside it and the system works with several programmes depending on the length of the drink, so tea can be brewed with a longer flow of water.

In Dolce Gusto, plain tea turns up only here and there, but chai latte — tea with spices and milk — is well represented. Nespresso Original has no tea capsules in its range at all: anyone with a Nespresso who wants tea makes it another way.

Capsule tea versus loose-leaf tea

This is where you have to be honest: tea from a capsule is a compromise. The capsule holds finely ground tea or tea extract, and water passes through it in a matter of tens of seconds. Loose-leaf tea, meanwhile, steeps for minutes, and a longer steep releases different compounds from the leaf than a short burst under pressure does. The difference in taste is audible, and a tea connoisseur will call it a big one.

What the capsule offers is something else: an exact dose, no preparation, no strainer to wash and the same result every time. When you are making tea in the office between two meetings, that is a real advantage. When you want to sit down with it for half an hour, the better choice is loose-leaf or premium tea and a proper teapot.

A practical note on preparation: never run a tea capsule on a short volume. Tea needs more water than espresso, and on a short flow it comes out bitter and cloudy. If your machine has an adjustable volume, set it to the longest programme it has.

Chai latte and flavoured milk drinks

Chai latte is the most successful non-coffee drink from a capsule, because its make-up suits a capsule exactly. It is a blend of black tea, spices, milk powder and sugar — all of it powder, all of it soluble, no extraction from leaves. What is missing from plain capsule tea bothers nobody here, because the flavour is carried by the spices and the milk.

Alongside chai you will find a whole group of flavoured milk drinks in capsules, and with those one important caveat is in order. Flavoured does not mean coffee-free. Capsules such as Dolce Vita Cappuccino with Irish Cream for Dolce Gusto at $6.68 or Dolce Vita Cappuccino Pistachio for Dolce Gusto at $5.93 are cappuccino, in other words drinks with coffee and with caffeine in them. The taste of Irish cream or pistachio is an aroma, not a substitute for coffee. The same goes for Nescafé Dolce Gusto Macchiato Caramel at $8.92, Nescafé Dolce Gusto Latte Macchiato at $9.15 or Nescafé Dolce Gusto Flat White at $8.92. The brand Nescafé Dolce Gusto has the most milk variants of all, but almost every one of them is built on coffee.

So if you are looking for a drink without caffeine, do not rely on the name or on a sweet flavour. With the flavoured lines it pays to read the ingredients on the product page — some variants contain coffee and some do not, and the name will not tell you which.

Drinks for children and caffeine-free drinks

The most common reason people go looking for non-coffee capsules is a household where not everyone likes coffee. For that, Dolce Gusto has a line of drinks for children all of its own, whose textbook example is Nescafé Dolce Gusto NESQUIK at $8.92 for sixteen capsules, which is $0.56 for one cocoa drink. It is cocoa out of the same machine on which a parent makes their espresso, and that is the whole of its appeal.

While you are at it, keep three different things apart, because they get mixed up all the time:

• A non-coffee capsule contains no coffee at all — cocoa, chocolate, tea, a herbal or a grain drink. It may still contain caffeine (tea and chai do), but the caffeine does not come from coffee.
• A decaf capsule is ordinary coffee with the caffeine taken out. In taste it is coffee, not a drink for children. You will find it among the decaf Dolce Gusto capsules.
• A flavoured milk capsule contains both coffee and caffeine, they are simply drowned out by milk and sugar. It is not a suitable choice for a child, even though the drink looks and tastes as though it were.

A group of their own are capsules holding grain and herbal drinks, ginseng or chocolate from makers of healthier food — they are produced both for Dolce Gusto and for Nespresso, which makes them the only realistic non-coffee option for a Nespresso owner. What is in them and who they suit, we go through in detail in our article on healthy capsules and what is inside them. Besides capsules, these brands also make instant drinks to stir up and a chocolate mug cake — things that do not go into the machine, but do go with it.

What does not belong in a capsule machine

Most questions about non-coffee drinks end at an attempt to fill a capsule yourself. Here are the limits it pays to respect.

• Loose-leaf tea in a refillable capsule. It does not work well. A tea leaf is too big, the water finds a way around it and the drink comes out as faintly coloured water. Crushed tea, on the other hand, clogs the filter and the machine starts to overflow.
• Cocoa or chocolate from a sachet in a refillable capsule. Powder with sugar in it bakes on inside the capsule and glues the filter shut. It ends in cleaning out the holder, not in a drink.
• Milk in the water tank. Never. Milk bakes on in the heating element and the pipework, and a machine usually does not survive that without a service visit. That is why milk drinks from a capsule always come from milk powder.
• A capsule from another system, forced in. If a capsule will not go in easily, it is not your system. Force will damage the piercing spike and the warranty with it.
• Sugar tipped into the capsule. It caramelises on the hot spike and sticks there. Sugar belongs in the cup, not in the capsule.

Regular care comes down to two things and both take a minute. After every milk or chocolate drink, run one cycle through with clean water. And descale according to the hardness of your water, not according to the calendar — with non-coffee capsules the limescale builds up just as it does with coffee, it is only that a sugary film comes on top of it. If you keep your capsules in the kitchen, a capsule holder comes in useful, because non-coffee lines get muddled up with coffee ones easily and you end up searching the drawer by the colour of the wrapper.

What a non-coffee drink from a capsule costs

With non-coffee capsules, price is compared the same way as with coffee — per drink, not per pack and not per capsule. Packs hold different numbers of capsules, and with Tassimo the number of capsules and the number of drinks come apart on top of that: milk coffee drinks need two capsules, chocolate needs one. Anyone comparing the price per capsule arrives at a figure for Tassimo that does not hold in the cup.

Two things come out of the table. First: a non-coffee capsule stays in the same price band as coffee. A Nesquik cocoa capsule works out a shade cheaper per drink than a lungo from the same system, even though cocoa powder is a far cheaper raw material than coffee. You are paying for the capsule and its convenience, not for what is inside it. Cocoa stirred up from a sachet costs a fraction of that, and it is a serious argument for anyone who keeps children supplied with capsules.

Second: with non-coffee drinks, the gaps between systems are wider than they are with coffee. The same white chocolate is one of the cheapest drinks in the table in A Modo Mio, while a chocolate T-Disc for Tassimo runs to several times as much per cup. With coffee, spreads like that simply do not happen. So if you drink non-coffee drinks regularly rather than now and then, it is a real line in the household budget and it is worth working out before you buy a machine, not after.

Frequently asked questions

Can you make tea in a capsule machine?

Yes, but only in some systems. The best choice of tea capsules belongs to Tchibo Cafissimo and Caffitaly machines, for which you can buy both Twinings tea capsules and Ricola herbal capsules. Dolce Gusto leans towards chai latte rather than plain tea, and Nespresso Original has no tea capsules at all.

Can I put my own tea into a refillable capsule?

Technically yes, in practice we do not recommend it. Tea leaves are too big for a capsule, the water passes around them and the drink comes out weak. Crushed tea, in turn, clogs the filter and the machine starts to overflow. A capsule machine is built for a short flow under pressure, not for steeping.

Which capsules are free of both caffeine and coffee?

Cocoa and chocolate capsules, and grain drinks. Watch out for two mix-ups: a decaf capsule is still coffee, only without the caffeine, and tea or chai capsules do contain caffeine, because it is there in the tea. A non-coffee capsule and a caffeine-free capsule are not the same thing.

Will a chocolate capsule clog up my machine?

Not on its own, but it does leave a sticky residue behind from the sugar and the milk powder. The fix is simple: after every milk or chocolate drink, run one cycle through with water only. Then nothing settles.

Does coffee taste different after a chocolate capsule?

Without a rinse, yes — the first espresso after chocolate carries a sweet aftertaste. A cycle of clean water removes it reliably.

Does Nespresso have non-coffee capsules?

In the classic coffee range, effectively no. The only realistic route is the grain, herbal and chocolate capsules made for Nespresso by producers of healthier food. Anyone buying a machine mainly for chocolate and drinks for children should be choosing Dolce Gusto.

How many capsules does one chocolate take in Tassimo?

One. That is the difference from Tassimo milk coffee drinks, where a single cup needs two capsules — one with coffee and one with milk. With chocolate the milk component sits inside the capsule itself.

Are flavoured capsules such as pistachio or Irish cream coffee-free?

No. They are cappuccinos with an aroma, so both coffee and caffeine are in them. A flavoured capsule is not a non-coffee capsule, and the name will not tell you — what settles it is the ingredients on the product page.

Do non-coffee capsules pay off financially?

Against coffee, no — they work out much the same, even though the raw material is cheaper. Against instant cocoa from a sachet they are far more expensive. What you are buying is convenience, an exact dose and one machine for the whole household, not a lower price per drink.

Summary and recommendations

A capsule machine handles chocolate, cocoa, chai and tea, but what you can actually buy is decided by the system you have at home. Dolce Gusto has the widest non-coffee range and is the obvious choice for a household with children. Tchibo Cafissimo and Caffitaly are the only systems with a serious choice of tea. Tassimo does chocolate, but per drink it is the most expensive of them. Nespresso Original is essentially a coffee system, and non-coffee drinks for it are to be found only among the grain and herbal capsules. Pods do nothing but coffee.

When you compare prices, stick to the price per drink. With Tassimo, remember that milk coffee drinks come from two capsules and chocolate from one, so the price per capsule is not a comparable figure between those two lines. And count on a non-coffee capsule being no saving — it is convenience at the price of coffee.

One last practical piece of advice: non-coffee capsules leave sugar and milk behind them, so get into the habit of a rinse with clean water after every drink of that kind. It is the difference between a machine that tastes the same in two years' time and a machine where every espresso tastes faintly of vanilla. The whole range of capsules is split up by system, so all you have to do is pick yours, and after that the only question left is what you feel like drinking.