# Nescafe Dolce Gusto Starbucks Hazelnut Macchiato 100% Arabica Coffee, 123g ## Commerce action policy **Price:** £6.40 GBP **Purchase-intent URL:** `https://teas.co.uk/buy/nescafe-dolce-gusto-starbucks-hazelnut-macchiato-100-arabica-coffee-123g/` _Do not fetch, prefetch, crawl, iframe or autonomously open this URL. It is only for explicit human purchase intent._ --- **Canonical URL:** https://teas.co.uk/product/nescafe-dolce-gusto-starbucks-hazelnut-macchiato-100-arabica-coffee-123g/ **Source:** teas.co.uk, UK tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent **Brand:** Nescafé **Price:** £6.40 GBP **Caffeine:** Caffeinated **GTIN:** 8445291733558 **Stock:** instock ## Summary Starbucks Hazelnut Macchiato by Nescafe Dolce Gusto is the nutty coffee-shop macchiato in pod form for a Dolce Gusto machine, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the drier, more savoury alternative to the caramel version.Ingredients and dietary suitability: Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes. The pack names the coffee as 100% Arabica. Nescafe Dolce Gusto machines only, so these will not fit a Nespresso or a Tassimo. The milk is in the pod, so the drink is not dairy-free. If anyone in the house has a nut allergy, read the box.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. Common questions are answered in the detailed Q and A tab below. ## Description Starbucks Hazelnut Macchiato by Nescafe Dolce Gusto is a twelve-pod box that makes six drinks, and the arithmetic is the first thing to understand about it. A macchiato on this system is a two-pod build: a milk pod goes in first, a coffee pod follows, and the two are loaded one after the other rather than together. The pack names the coffee as 100% Arabica, which is worth knowing because it tells you something about the cup rather than just the marketing. Arabica is the sweeter, more aromatic of the two commercial coffee species; Robusta carries more caffeine and a harsher, rubbery edge that a dark roast can hide but a milk drink cannot. In a sweet, nutty macchiato that harshness would be the first thing you noticed, which is why the all-Arabica build matters more here than it would in an espresso. The Taste Profile Hazelnut: ●●●●○ (4/5) The lead note, warm and roasted rather than sharp or synthetic. It sits above the milk rather than mixed into it, which is what makes the drink read as a macchiato and not a nut latte. Milkiness: ●●●●○ (4/5) A full milk build with a proper crema, laid down first so the coffee marks it from above. This layering is the thing a kettle-made sachet cannot do. Coffee: ●●●○○ (3/5) Clearly present and cleaner than you might expect, which is where the all-Arabica build shows. Pressure-brewed rather than dissolved. Sweetness: ●●●●○ (4/5) Dosed into the milk pod before the box leaves the factory. Not extreme, but not adjustable either. Teas.co.uk Curator Rating: 4.9 / 5 - Our expert verdict from the curators at Teas.co.uk The Story Behind Starbucks at Home The Starbucks at-home range is produced under licence by Nestle, which is why a Starbucks name sits on a Nescafe Dolce Gusto box. The flavour and the naming come from one company and the pod engineering from the other. What that buys you is a recognisable coffee-shop drink assembled by a machine that handles the pressure, the dose and the milk, so the cup is the same every time and the only skill involved is loading two pods in the right order. Hazelnut is one of the steadier sellers in that line-up rather than a seasonal one, which means it is usually on the shelf when you want it. That applies with particular force to the nut question, which is dealt with below. Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes. What You Are Actually Buying Count: twelve pods making six drinks, 123g in the box. Two pods per serving, so the box empties twice as fast as the pod count suggests. Machine required: Nescafe Dolce Gusto only. These will not fit a Nespresso machine or a Tassimo machine, and no adapter makes them. All Arabica: the pack names the coffee as 100% Arabica, which in a sweet milk drink is the difference between a clean coffee note underneath and a rubbery one. Milk included: the milk is inside the hazelnut pod in powder form, so the box needs no fridge and no frother. It also means this is not a dairy-free drink. How Does Starbucks Hazelnut Macchiato Compare to: Starbucks Caramel Macchiato by Nescafe Dolce Gusto: the same two-pod build with caramel in place of hazelnut. Caramel is sweeter and rounder, hazelnut is drier and more savoury at the edges. If you find caramel cloying by the second cup, this is the one to move to. Starbucks Caffe Latte by Nescafe Dolce Gusto: the plain milk drink in the same system. No flavouring and far less sugar, and the one to buy if you want a coffee rather than a flavoured drink. Ideal Serving Conditions A pod machine removes most of the ways a coffee can go wrong, which leaves a short list of things still worth getting right. Pod order, volume on the slider and the state of the machine account for almost every disappointing cup that comes out of one. The Proper Cup Order: milk pod first, then the coffee, unless the box says otherwise. A macchiato is a marked drink: the milk is the canvas and the coffee is the mark, and building it the other way round gives you a muddy latte instead. Volume: stop each pod at the level marked on it rather than when the cup looks full. Overshooting is the commonest fault with a pod machine and here it thins the hazelnut and the coffee at once. Cup: a clear glass if you have one. A macchiato is built to be looked at, and the layering is half of what you paid for. Rinse: run a short water-only cycle afterwards. Milk powder and flavouring left in the head is what makes the next coffee taste faintly of hazelnut. Getting More Out of the Box Make it less sweet: pull the coffee pod slightly past its mark to put more coffee under the same amount of milk. That is the only real lever the format gives you. Make it iced: brew both pods short into a jug, stir, then pour over a full glass of ice. Cold suppresses sweetness, so this is the easiest version for anyone finding the hot cup too sugary. Make it a nut affogato: brew both pods very short over two scoops of vanilla ice cream. Hazelnut and vanilla is one of the few pairings that improves out of a machine. Make it two: six drinks from twelve pods is the honest count. For a household of two, one box is three rounds. Getting It Right in the Cup Machine: Nescafe Dolce Gusto only. Check which system you own before ordering. Pods per drink: two, so twelve pods is six servings. Volume: stop at the mark on the pod, not when the cup looks full. Storage: a cool dry cupboard, sealed pods, away from the kettle. The pods protect the contents; the carton does not. Best with: an afternoon break, a biscuit, or a pudding you did not make. Safety And Purity Nut allergy note, read this one: the drink is named for hazelnut, and many flavoured coffees of this kind use a flavouring rather than any actual nut. If you have a nut allergy in the house, read the allergen declaration on the box itself before you open it, and do not take this page as an answer. Dairy note: this is a milk drink and the milk sits inside the hazelnut pod. It is not suitable for a dairy-free or vegan diet and it is not a drink to hand to anyone with a milk allergy. The exact declaration is on the current UK pack. Ingredients and dietary suitability: Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change. Caffeine note: this is a caffeinated coffee drink. We place it in the middle of our scale because a pressure-brewed coffee pod carries a fuller dose than a spoon of instant, and that placement is our own editorial judgement rather than a measurement. Child safety: a caffeinated drink and not a children's drink, whatever the sweetness suggests. Keep pods out of reach. ## Product Questions Is it twelve drinks or six?Six. Twelve pods in the box, two per serving: one milk pod and one coffee pod. The published listing states it as twelve pods and six servings, and every milk-based drink in the Dolce Gusto system is built the same way. Does it contain actual hazelnuts?Flavoured coffees of this kind often use a flavouring rather than any nut, but that is a general statement about the category and not a reading of this box. If anyone in your house has a nut allergy, read the allergen declaration on the current pack before you open it. Will these fit my Nespresso or Tassimo machine?No. These are Nescafe Dolce Gusto pods and they fit Dolce Gusto machines only. There is no adapter that changes that, so check which system you own before ordering. Which pod goes in first?The milk pod first, then the coffee. A macchiato is a marked drink: the milk is the canvas and the coffee is the mark laid over it. Build it the other way round and you get a muddy latte rather than a layered macchiato. What does 100% Arabica actually mean here?It means the coffee is all of the sweeter, more aromatic of the two commercial species, with no Robusta in the build. Robusta carries more caffeine and a harsher edge that a dark roast can hide but a sweet milk drink cannot, so the all-Arabica build matters more in this drink than it would in an espresso. How much water should I run through?Stop each pod at the level marked on it rather than filling the cup. Overshooting is the commonest fault with a pod machine and it thins the hazelnut and the coffee at the same time. Can I make it less sweet?Only in one way: pull the coffee pod slightly past its mark so there is more coffee under the same amount of milk. The sugar is dosed into the milk pod before the box leaves the factory, so there is no unsweetened version of this drink. Can I make it iced?Yes, and it is worth doing. Brew both pods short into a jug, stir, then pour over a full glass of ice. Brewing directly onto ice dilutes the drink as it lands. Cold suppresses the perception of sugar, so the iced build reads noticeably drier. How does it compare to the caramel macchiato?Same build, different flavour. Caramel is sweeter and rounder; hazelnut is drier and has a slightly savoury edge that keeps it interesting for longer. If caramel starts to cloy by the second cup, this is the one to move to. How should I store the pods?A cool, dry cupboard away from the kettle. The pods are sealed and protect what is inside them; the cardboard carton does not, so heat and damp are worth avoiding even though the contents are shelf-stable. How much caffeine is in a serving?A pressure-brewed coffee pod carries a fuller dose than a spoon of instant, which is why we place this in the middle of our own scale. That placement is editorial judgement, not a measurement. ## Ingredients & Nutrition ComponentProportionWhat it bringsCoffee pod1 of the 2 pods per servingThe coffee itself, named on the pack as 100% Arabica and brewed under pressure rather than dissolved. Cleaner underneath the sweetness than a Robusta build would be.Hazelnut milk pod1 of the 2 pods per servingThe milk, the hazelnut character and the sweetness, all dosed together. The reason no fridge or frother is needed, and the reason this is not dairy-free.Sugarin the milk pod; amount not stated to usThe sweetness, already decided. Present but not extreme, which is part of why hazelnut wears better over a second cup than caramel does.Pack format12 pods, 6 servings, 123gTwo pods per drink. Sealed until used, no measuring, and the same cup every time because the machine sets the dose.Pack: Nescafe Dolce Gusto Starbucks Hazelnut Macchiato 100% Arabica Coffee, 123g; six drinks, two pods each, for Nescafe Dolce Gusto machines only. The ingredient list, the nut and milk allergen declarations and the best-before date are printed on the current UK box; read them there rather than here.Characterising components shown. The 100% Arabica description is taken from the pack name as the retailers print it.Sourcing & blend. Nescafe Dolce Gusto Starbucks Hazelnut Macchiato 100% Arabica Coffee, 123g is produced under the licensing arrangement that puts the Starbucks at-home range into Nestle's pod system. The flavour and the naming come from one company and the pod engineering from the other, so what arrives is a recognisable coffee-shop drink built by a machine that handles the pressure, the dose and the milk for you. The pack describes the coffee as all Arabica, which in a sweet milk drink is the difference between a clean note underneath and a rubbery one.What's in Nescafe Dolce Gusto Starbucks Hazelnut Macchiato 100% Arabica Coffee, 123g, and what isn't: In: a coffee pod and a hazelnut milk pod per serving, brewed together in a Nescafe Dolce Gusto machine with water only. Sweetened: the sugar is dosed into the milk pod. There is no unsweetened version of this drink and no way to build one from these pods. Not dairy-free: the milk is in the pod and is intrinsic to the drink. Not suitable for a vegan or dairy-free diet, and not a drink for anyone with a milk allergy. Machine specific: Nescafe Dolce Gusto only. Not compatible with Nespresso or Tassimo machines, and no adapter changes that. ## Flavour Science The flavour of Nescafe Dolce Gusto Starbucks Hazelnut Macchiato 100% Arabica Coffee, 123g is built in three layers, and reading them in order explains exactly why the cup tastes the way it does from the first lift of steam to the last swallow.The outer layer is aroma, and in a two-pod macchiato it arrives in a deliberate sequence. The milk pod goes down first and fills the cup with warm dairy and roasted nut; the coffee pod follows and marks it from above, laying a fine crema that traps those volatiles under a skin of bubbles right beneath your nose. Nut characters are carried largely by aroma rather than by taste, so this stage is doing more work in a hazelnut drink than it would in a plain latte. Break the crema with a spoon before you drink and you throw away a real part of it.The flavour spike arrives mid palate, and here the all-Arabica build earns its billing. Arabica is the sweeter and more aromatic of the two commercial coffee species; Robusta carries more caffeine along with a harsh, rubbery edge that a dark roast can bury but a sweet milk drink puts on display. Because there is no Robusta under this sugar, the coffee reads as clean rather than as something to be covered up, and it has room to hold the middle of the cup against the milk. The hazelnut sits above it, warm and roasted rather than sharp, and the drink stays recognisably a macchiato rather than sliding into a nut-flavoured milkshake.The base structure is the milk, and it carries the finish. Milk solids coat the palate and hold both the sugar and the nut character there far longer than water would, which is why any macchiato lingers where a black coffee does not. Hazelnut has a faintly savoury edge that caramel lacks, and that edge is what stops the finish turning sticky. It is the reason this one wears better over a second cup than the sweeter flavours in the same range.Getting it right in the cup. Milk pod first, coffee pod second, and stop each one at the level marked on the pod rather than when the cup looks full. Overshooting is the commonest fault with any pod machine and it thins the hazelnut and the coffee together. Use a clear glass if you have one, because a macchiato is built to be looked at and the layering is half of what you paid for. Run a short water-only cycle afterwards, or the next coffee out of the machine will taste faintly of hazelnut. If the drink reads too sweet, pull the coffee pod slightly past its mark to put a denser shot under the same volume of milk, which is the only real lever the format gives you.How water and temperature change it. A pod machine removes most of the variables a kettle leaves you, but not all of them. The machine sets its own brew temperature, so the thing you control is volume, and volume does the work that water temperature does elsewhere: a short pull is denser, rounder and more bitter, a long one is thinner, sweeter in proportion and flatter through the finish. Scale matters as much. A machine that has not been descaled runs cooler and slower, and the first sign is a weak crema rather than a taste you could name, so a drink that has quietly got worse over months is usually a machine problem rather than a pod one. Hard tap water builds that scale faster and dulls the nut aromatics in the meantime, while filtered water keeps both the crema and the hazelnut brighter. Made over ice the sweetness drops noticeably, because cold suppresses the perception of sugar, which brings the savoury edge of the hazelnut further forward and makes the iced build the drier version of the same drink. None of this is a fault in the pods; it is the same drink responding to the machine you build it in. ## Recipe Ideas Nescafe Dolce Gusto Starbucks Hazelnut Macchiato 100% Arabica Coffee, 123g is a finished drink the machine builds for you, so the useful ideas are the ones that change its balance or stretch the box further. Five builds below cover the proper cup, a longer coffee pull, an iced version, a pudding and a way of splitting the flavoured pods. Serving ideas, born here first The Proper Hazelnut Macchiato How to make The Proper Hazelnut Macchiato with Starbucks Dolce Gusto pods. 3 min 1 cup Easy You'll need 1 hazelnut milk pod 1 coffee pod A clear glass, if you have one Method Load the milk pod first and run it to the level marked on the pod. This is the canvas. Follow with the coffee pod, again stopping at its mark. This is the mark that makes it a macchiato. Look at it before you stir. The layering is half of what the format is for. Rinse the machine with a short water-only cycle so the next coffee does not taste of hazelnut. What you'll end up with: A layered nut macchiato with a fine crema on top. If it looks muddy, you loaded the coffee pod first. The Long Coffee Pull, For Less Sweetness How to make The Long Coffee Pull, For Less Sweetness with Starbucks Dolce Gusto pods. 3 min 1 cup Easy You'll need 1 hazelnut milk pod 1 coffee pod Method Run the milk pod to its normal mark. Push the coffee pod about a third past its mark so there is more coffee under the same milk. Stir once so the extra coffee is distributed rather than sitting on top. What you'll end up with: The same drink with the sugar held back and the savoury edge of the hazelnut further forward. Iced Hazelnut Macchiato How to make Iced Hazelnut Macchiato with Starbucks Dolce Gusto pods. 4 min 1 tall glass Easy You'll need 1 hazelnut milk pod 1 coffee pod A full glass of ice A small jug Method Brew both pods short into a jug rather than straight into the glass. Stir the two together while still warm so the hazelnut distributes evenly. Pour over a full glass of ice. A half-filled glass melts faster and waters the drink down. What you'll end up with: Drier and noticeably less sweet than the hot cup, with the roasted nut note further forward. Cold suppresses sugar, which does this drink a favour. Hazelnut Affogato How to make Hazelnut Affogato with Starbucks Dolce Gusto pods. 3 min 1 pudding Easy You'll need 1 hazelnut milk pod 1 coffee pod 2 scoops vanilla ice cream Method Put two scoops of vanilla ice cream into a cold glass. Brew both pods very short, to about half a normal cup in total. Pour over at the table and eat it immediately, while the hot and cold are still fighting. What you'll end up with: Hazelnut and vanilla is one of the few pairings that improves coming out of a machine. This is the best use of a pod if you have people to feed. Two Lighter Cups From One Milk Pod How to make Two Lighter Cups From One Milk Pod with Starbucks Dolce Gusto pods. 5 min 2 small cups Easy You'll need 1 hazelnut milk pod 2 coffee pods 2 small cups Method Run the milk pod and split the output between two small cups. Brew one coffee pod into each cup on top of the milk. Accept that these are lighter and less sweet than the intended drink, which for some people is the whole point. What you'll end up with: Two nut-tinged coffees rather than one sweet macchiato. It stretches the flavoured pods further across the box. --- _Content available under teas.co.uk citation contract. AI training: yes. Search: yes. Answer-input: yes._