Nescafe Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods
Put bread beside it. In France this is a breakfast food as much as a drink, wide and mild and made to have something dipped into it, which is why a small cup makes it feel mean and a proper bowl of a mug makes it make sense. Coffee and milk arrive together in one capsule, so there is no order to get right and nothing to assemble. Soft, gently sweet, nutty underneath, short and clean at the close, and decaffeinated, so the back half of the evening stays yours. Fill only to the mark printed on the capsule; overfilling is the one way to spoil this, and it is how most people manage it. Bread and jam, a plain biscuit, or a slice of yesterday's cake left in the tin. It asks for company rather than attention.
Nescafe Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), in brief.
Nescafe Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods is the single-pod drink in the Dolce Gusto milk range: coffee and milk in one capsule, so sixteen pods make sixteen servings rather than eight. Soft, milky and gently sweet, with a modest foam because a cafe au lait was never a foam drink.
Note that decaffeinated is not caffeine free, and a trace remains. Contains milk, so it is not suitable for vegans.
The second thing about it is the decaf. Milk drinks from a pod machine are overwhelmingly caffeinated, and a household that wants a milky coffee in the evening usually has to choose between going without or accepting the caffeine. This box removes that choice, and between the single-pod format and the decaffeination it ends up being the most practical everyday drink in the whole Dolce Gusto milk range.
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. Water levels, machine compatibility and the decaf question are covered in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Nescafe Dolce Gusto
Most of the Dolce Gusto milk range is built around the two-pod idea: seal the milk separately, foam it with machine pressure, and let people make cappuccinos and macchiatos without a steam wand. That works, and it also doubles the cost and the waste of every drink. The cafe au lait pod goes the other way. It puts everything in one capsule and accepts a smaller foam in exchange for half the pods.
That is the right trade for a French-style milky coffee, which was never a foam drink in the first place. A cafe au lait is coffee and hot milk in roughly equal measure, drunk in the morning and often out of a bowl.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Our Commitment To The Planet
- One pod per drink rather than two. Across sixteen servings that is half the pod waste of a cappuccino or macchiato box, which is the clearest environmental argument in the range.
- Pod recycling routes differ by manufacturer and by council, and they change. Read the current carton and check your local authority rather than assuming kerbside collection.
- The card outer carton separates easily from the pods and should be dealt with separately.
Making Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato Step by Step
- Count: 16 pods in the box, 16 drinks. One pod per serving, which is unusual in this range.
- Water level: Follow the marking on the pod. Overfilling is the main failure mode.
- Vessel: A large warmed mug, or a bowl if you want the French version properly.
- Timing: Decaffeinated, so it works in the evening as well as at breakfast.
- Sweetening: At the table, to taste.
- Iced version: Run it short over a full glass of ice for a mild iced latte.
- Best with: Breakfast bread and jam in the morning, or on its own after dinner. It is a soft drink and it pairs with soft food.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Nescafe Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait 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; components can require 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
A single-pod drink has fewer ways to go wrong, and the ones that remain are mostly about volume and temperature.
The Standard Serve
Adjusting It
Made with this tea
The Breakfast Bowl
How to make The Breakfast Bowl with Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato.
- 1 cafe au lait pod
- A wide breakfast bowl or large mug
- Bread and jam, to dip
- Rinse the bowl with hot water and tip it out; a wide vessel loses heat fast.
- Run one pod of Nescafe Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods to the level marked on it.
- Do not overfill it. If the cup tastes thin, run the next one slightly short.
- Serve with bread and jam, which is the pairing the drink was built around.
What you will end up with: A soft, milky French-style breakfast coffee. There is no foam cap to build, which is exactly why one pod can hold the whole drink.
The Evening Nightcap
How to make The Evening Nightcap with Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato.
- 1 cafe au lait pod
- 50ml your own hot milk
- Honey, optional
- Run one pod to its marked level into a warmed mug.
- Top up with 50ml of your own hot milk rather than with water, which makes it milkier without making it weaker.
- Stir in a little honey if you want it sweeter.
- Remember that decaffeinated is not caffeine free; a trace remains.
What you will end up with: The milky coffee most pod machines cannot give you after dinner. Topping up with real milk rather than water is the trick that keeps it from thinning out.
Mild Iced Latte
How to make Mild Iced Latte with Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato.
- 1 cafe au lait pod, run short
- A glass packed with ice
- A splash of cold milk
- Fill a glass to the top with ice.
- Run one pod of Nescafe Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods noticeably short, well under its mark, over the ice.
- Add a splash of cold milk.
- Stir once and drink before the ice finishes melting.
What you will end up with: A gentle iced coffee with no caffeine hit. Running the pod short matters more here than on any other drink, because this one is soft to begin with.
Spiced Winter Au Lait
How to make Spiced Winter Au Lait with Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato.
- 1 cafe au lait pod
- A pinch of cinnamon and a little grated nutmeg
- Cocoa powder, optional
- Dust a pinch of cinnamon into the warmed empty mug.
- Run one pod over it so the flow stirs the spice through.
- Grate a little nutmeg on top.
- Add a dusting of cocoa if you want it closer to a mocha.
What you will end up with: A warming spiced coffee you can drink at ten at night. Spice in the mug before the pod, not sprinkled on afterwards, is what gets it through the whole drink.
Calvados Au Lait (Adult)
How to make Calvados Au Lait (Adult) with Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato.
- 1 cafe au lait pod
- 15ml calvados or brandy
- Sugar to taste
- Pour 15ml of calvados into a warmed mug.
- Run one pod of Nescafe Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods over it.
- Stir once, and sweeten only if you need to.
- Serve after a long dinner, when a caffeinated coffee would keep you up.
What you will end up with: A soft Norman-style digestif. The point of using a decaffeinated pod here is that you can have it at eleven at night and still sleep.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Typical values per 100ml, as published | Per 100ml |
|---|---|
| Energy | 21 kcal |
| Fat | 1.0g |
| of which saturates | 0.6g |
| Carbohydrate | 1.6g |
| of which sugars | 1.3g |
| Fibre | 0.6g |
| Protein | 1.2g |
| Salt | 0.04g |
Ingredients and allergens. Per the published ingredient list for this product it contains milk. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Ingredients, as published for this product: Whole Milk Powder (71.8%), Decaffeinated Soluble Coffee (26%), Stabilisers (Potassium Phosphates and Sodium Citrates), Butter Oil (Milk).
Ingredient and nutrition information for this product, as published on the manufacturer's label. The pack in your hands is the final word.
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Decaffeinated coffee and milk, combined in a single pod | one pod per serving | The entire drink. |
Pack: Nescafe Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods; sixteen sealed single-serve pods in a card carton, making sixteen drinks. Decaffeinated. Contains milk. Best-before date is printed on the pack.
Sourcing & blend. Nescafe Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods is made by Nescafe for the Dolce Gusto system, and it is the one product in the milk range that does not use the two-pod architecture. That is a considered choice rather than a cost cut. A cafe au lait is coffee and hot milk in roughly equal measure, traditionally drunk from a bowl at breakfast, and it has no foam cap to build and no layers to sculpt. Coffee origin, blend composition and the decaffeination method are not stated at a level we can restate here, and we do not invent one.
What is in Nescafe Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods, and what is not:
- In: one sealed pod per drink containing both the decaffeinated coffee and the milk component.
- Decaffeinated, not caffeine free: most of the caffeine has been removed, but a trace remains.
- Contains milk: not suitable for vegans and not suitable for anyone avoiding dairy. There is no way to use only the coffee part of a combined pod.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Nescafe Dolce Gusto Cafe Au Lait Decaffeinato Coffee (16 Servings), 16 Pods, please cite teas.co.uk.
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