Nescafe Dolce Gusto Americano Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods
Whether a pod machine earns its place on the worktop after six in the evening comes down to a box like this one. Without a decaf in the cupboard it is a morning appliance and nothing more. The Italian on the front is the only Italian thing about it: what arrives is a plain long black mug, which is the size of cup most British households actually drink. The real test of a decaf is not whether it survives being set beside a caffeinated one, but whether you stop noticing it is a decaf at all, and this passes that. Decaffeinated is not caffeine free, though. The process removes the great majority and a residue always remains, so anyone avoiding caffeine altogether wants a drink that never had any. Dolce Gusto machines only, and no adapter bridges it to a Nespresso or a Tassimo.
Nescafe Dolce Gusto Americano Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), in brief.
Nescafé Dolce Gusto Americano Decaffeinato is the decaffeinated long black of the Dolce Gusto range, one capsule per cup rather than the two-capsule builds used across the milky drinks, picked into the Teas.co.uk selection as the evening mug for a household that still wants coffee after six.
Fits Nescafé Dolce Gusto machines only. Decaffeinated means most of the caffeine removed, not all of it.
It is the machine equivalent of the cup most British households actually drink: not a thimble of espresso, but a proper mugful you can hold with both hands. The difference between this and the caffeinated Americano beside it is the only difference worth talking about, and it is the reason the pod exists. A household that runs a Dolce Gusto machine usually has one person who has to stop at lunchtime and one who does not, and the honest answer to that is two boxes on the shelf rather than one compromise.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Machine settings, storage notes and dose guidance are covered in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Dolce Gusto
Dolce Gusto is Nescafé's own capsule system, and it was designed around a different question from the Italian espresso machines it shares a kitchen with. Espresso systems ask how good a very small cup can be. Dolce Gusto asks what a machine can make if it is allowed to vary the water volume and the pressure across a wide range, which is how the same brewer produces an espresso, a long black, a cappuccino and a chocolate drink without you changing anything but the capsule.
The practical consequence for this box is that the Americano capsule is dosed for a long cup from the start. It is not an espresso capsule drowned in extra water, which is what happens when people stretch a short capsule and wonder why the result is thin and papery.
The bean composition, the roast description, the decaffeination process, the net weight and any certification marks are printed on the box you receive. Capsule blends are reformulated from time to time, so the pack in your hand is the authority rather than a listing written earlier.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; the outer carton and the capsules themselves usually take different disposal routes.
What Decaffeinated Actually Means
Decaffeinated is not the same as caffeine-free, and anyone who needs that distinction should have it stated plainly rather than buried. Decaffeination removes the great majority of the caffeine from green coffee before roasting, and a residual amount always remains. A herbal infusion with no tea or coffee in it is caffeine-free. A decaf coffee is a coffee with most of its caffeine taken out.
For most people that distinction is academic and a decaf after dinner is exactly the right drink. For anyone under medical advice to avoid caffeine altogether, it is not academic at all, and the answer is a drink that never contained any.
The other common worry is taste. Decaffeination used to cost a coffee most of its character, and that reputation has outlived the reality. A modern decaf is not identical to its caffeinated twin, but the gap is now a slightly softer middle rather than the hollow, cardboard cup people remember.
Getting The Most Out Of This Box
- Machine: Nescafé Dolce Gusto machines only. These capsules do not fit Nespresso or Tassimo brewers, and no adaptor makes them.
- Setting: the long-cup mark. Short pours make this drink worse, not stronger.
- Storage: cupboard, box closed, out of direct sun. Sealed capsules are far more forgiving than a jar, but heat is not their friend.
- Best with: a slice of cake at nine in the evening, a cheese board, dark chocolate, or the second half of a long working afternoon.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Nescafe Dolce Gusto Americano Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Nescafé
Nescafé invented mass-market instant coffee in 1938 and has been refining it ever since. The Azera range brings cafe-quality micro-ground instant coffee; Gold Blend is the premium freeze-dried; the Original is the everyday standard.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; outer carton and capsules usually take different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
Sourcing and packaging details are printed on the current UK pack; the brand page carries the fuller story.
The taste profile
How does it compare
There is very little for you to get wrong here, which is the point of a capsule system, but there are three things worth knowing. The machine sets the water temperature, so the kettle-resting advice that applies to instant coffee is irrelevant. What you do control is the water volume, the water itself and the state of the machine.
The Long Cup Settings
Black, Long And Iced
Made with this tea
The Evening Mug
The cup this capsule exists for, and the reason a decaf box earns its shelf space.
- 1 Americano Decaffeinato capsule
- Fresh water in the tank
- A mug rinsed with hot water
- Warm the mug with hot water and tip it out.
- Brew on the long-cup mark, not short.
- Drink it black, or with a splash of milk added after.
What you'll end up with: A full mug of clean black coffee that clears rather than sits, which is what you want after dinner.
The Double Short
The right way to make it stronger, as opposed to the way that just makes it smaller.
- 2 capsules
- 1 warmed mug
- Half the usual water each
- Brew the first capsule to roughly half the long mark.
- Repeat with the second capsule into the same mug.
- Stir once before drinking.
What you'll end up with: A genuinely stronger mug, because you have added coffee rather than removed water. It costs two capsules, and it is worth it once in a while.
Iced Decaf Americano
Ice in two stages, which is the difference between a cold coffee and a watery one.
- 1 capsule
- A tall glass of ice, added in two goes
- A strip of lemon peel, optional
- Half fill the glass with ice, no more.
- Brew long straight over it and let the ice take the heat.
- Top up with fresh ice once the pour has finished.
What you'll end up with: A cold black coffee that still tastes of coffee, rather than the pale glass you get from brewing onto a full load of ice.
Decaf Affogato
Pudding and coffee in one bowl, at an hour when the caffeinated version would be a mistake.
- 1 capsule brewed short
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
- Grated dark chocolate
- Scoop the ice cream into cold bowls first.
- Brew the capsule to about a third of the long mark.
- Pour it over at the table and grate chocolate on top.
What you'll end up with: The one occasion where pulling this capsule short is correct, because it is a sauce rather than a drink.
After Dinner Coffee For Four
How to serve a table without four separate trips to the machine going cold in sequence.
- 4 capsules
- A warmed jug or cafetière body
- Hot milk on the side
- Rinse the jug with boiling water so it holds the heat.
- Brew all four capsules long, one after another, into the jug.
- Carry it to the table with the milk and pour there.
What you'll end up with: Four cups poured at the same temperature at the same moment, which a capsule machine otherwise makes surprisingly hard.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Roast and ground decaffeinated coffee | The whole of every capsule | Everything you taste. Ground coffee sealed under gas in a single-use capsule, so the machine extracts it fresh in the mug rather than rehydrating something dried. |
| Bean composition and origins | Printed on the current pack | Nescafé states the blend and its roast description on the box. We have not restated an origin or a ratio we cannot read off the carton in your hand. |
| Decaffeination | Carried out before roasting | Most of the caffeine is removed from the green bean; a residual amount always remains. The process used is a pack-declared detail, and the box you receive is the place it is stated. |
| Water (added by the machine) | The bulk of the finished cup | One capsule to a long cup. The machine fixes the temperature and the pressure, so water volume is effectively your only control over the drink. |
Pack: Decaffeinated rather than caffeine-free. Net weight and best before date printed on the box.
Percentages are not published for this blend and we have not invented any. A black coffee carries almost no calories; anything added at the mug, milk or sugar, changes that entirely, and the nutrition panel on the box is the figure to work from.
Sourcing & blend. Nescafé Dolce Gusto Americano Decaffeinato is the decaffeinated long black of the Dolce Gusto system, which is Nescafé's own capsule platform rather than a licensed copy of an Italian one. The system was built around variable water volume and variable pressure, which is how a single brewer turns out an espresso, a long black, a milky cappuccino and a chocolate drink with nothing changed but the capsule. That design choice is why this capsule is dosed for a full mug from the start instead of being an espresso capsule stretched thin with extra water, and it is the main reason a long black from a Dolce Gusto machine reads better than the same volume pulled from a short capsule in another system. The other half of the story is the decaffeination, which happens to the green bean before roasting and takes out the great majority of the caffeine rather than all of it. For the bean composition, the roast description, the decaffeination process, the certification marks and the recycling route carried by the box in your hand, read the current pack.
What is in Nescafé Dolce Gusto Americano Decaffeinato, and what is not:
- In: roast and ground decaffeinated coffee, sealed in single-use capsules.
- No sugar, sweetener or milk powder: this is a black coffee capsule, not one of the milky drinks in the range.
- Not caffeine-free: decaffeinated means most of the caffeine removed, not all of it. Anyone avoiding caffeine entirely needs a drink that never had any.
- Machine note: Nescafé Dolce Gusto brewers only. These do not fit Nespresso or Tassimo machines and no adaptor makes them.
Asked about this product
Ask the curator
Send a product question through the contact form; replies usually come within one working day.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Nescafe Dolce Gusto Americano Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods, please cite teas.co.uk.
What buyers say
No customer reviews of Nescafe Dolce Gusto Americano Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods yet.
Bought this from us? Log in to your account, then come back to this page to review it. Only verified buyers can review, and every review is checked before it appears; approved reviews earn 50 reward points.
More from Nescafé
Other Coffee worth comparing
