Starbucks by Nespresso House Blend Lungo Coffee, 10 Pods
Most of this country grew up drinking coffee out of a mug. Then capsule machines arrived offering thimblefuls, and the lungo is where those two habits meet. What makes this one work at the longer volume is the blend behind it: a medium house roast with nothing sharp or fruity in it, so the extra water has nothing to expose. A brighter, lighter coffee stretched to the same length would thin out and turn sour at the back; this one stays rounded and finishes clean enough that you are happy to reach for the cup again once it has cooled a little. Morning or mid-afternoon, black or with a splash. It fits Nespresso original-line machines only, and Vertuo, Dolce Gusto and Tassimo all take a different capsule.
Starbucks by Nespresso House Blend Lungo Coffee, in brief.
Starbucks House Blend Lungo by Nespresso is the long-cup capsule in the Starbucks at-home range, made for Nespresso original-line machines, picked into the Teas.co.uk selection as the everyday capsule for people who want a cup to sit with rather than a two-mouthful espresso.
Machine fit: Nespresso original-line capsules. Not Vertuo, not Dolce Gusto, not Tassimo. Check the current UK pack against your machine before buying.
A ten capsule box. Lungo is a volume rather than a strength: about 110ml instead of an espresso's 40ml, and a capsule built for that length rather than an espresso stretched to reach it.
That distinction matters more than it sounds, because a lungo capsule is not an espresso capsule with a bigger button pressed. The capsule is built around the longer pour from the start. Pull an espresso capsule to lungo length and you keep extracting after the good part has finished, which is why the result goes thin, papery and slightly bitter at the end. Buy the capsule designed for the volume you actually drink and that problem disappears.
The other half of the name is House Blend, which in any coffee company's range is the one it puts its name on when it has nothing to prove. This is the ten capsule box of it.
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.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
Lungo Is A Volume, Not A Strength
Three separate ideas get bundled into the way people talk about coffee strength, and separating them makes this capsule much easier to buy well. The first is roast colour, which is how dark the beans were taken. The second is concentration, which is how much coffee ends up in how much water. The third is caffeine, which is a property of the bean and the dose rather than of the roast.
A lungo sits at a lower concentration than an espresso by design, because the same coffee is meeting more water. That is not weakness, it is a different drink, and it is the drink most British households actually want: something you can sit with rather than something you knock back in two mouthfuls. If you have been buying espresso capsules and then pressing the big button, this is the capsule you should have been buying all along.
Machine fit: these are capsules for Nespresso original-line machines. They are not Vertuo capsules, and they are not Dolce Gusto or Tassimo pods, which are different systems entirely. Check the pack against your own machine before buying.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; the capsules, the card outer and any film can each require a different disposal route, and some capsule ranges run their own return schemes.
What A House Blend Is For
A house blend is the least glamorous product any roaster makes and usually the most revealing. There is no origin story to lean on and no limited run to hide behind; it simply has to be good on a Tuesday, taste the same in March as it did in October, and work black and with milk. Reading one tells you what a company actually thinks a cup of coffee should be.
Blending is also what makes that possible. A roaster working to a fixed house target can move the components as crops change and still land the same cup year after year, which no single origin can promise.
Getting a Consistent Cup
- Descale on schedule: scale drops the brewing temperature, and an under-extracted cup reads sour rather than weak.
- Blank shot first: if the machine has stood overnight, run 50ml of plain water through it before the first capsule.
- Filter the water: in a hard water area a filter jug does more for the cup than changing brand.
- Do not stretch it: if you want more coffee, use more coffee. Volume is not strength.
- Iced: two capsules pulled at espresso length over a glass packed with ice, then cold water or milk.
- Best with: buttered toast, a plain croissant, a mid-morning biscuit, or on its own after lunch.
Ingredients And Suitability
What is in it: roasted and ground coffee, and nothing else. No added flavourings, sweeteners or preservatives.
Pack weight: printed on the current UK pack.
Ingredients and dietary suitability: The published ingredient list for this barcode names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Caffeine: contains caffeine. Worth moderating late in the evening if you are sensitive, and during pregnancy in line with current NHS guidance.
Child Safety: Keep capsules and the machine out of reach of children.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Starbucks by Nespresso House Blend Lungo Coffee, 10 Pods, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Starbucks
Starbucks needs no introduction. Their at-home retail range covers the cafe-style favourites: Toffee Nut Latte sachets, instant coffee, and the wider iced and hot drink format. Particularly strong on flavoured latte sachets.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; the capsules, the card outer and any film can each require a different disposal route, and some capsule ranges run their own return schemes.
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 capsule machine takes most of the variables away, which leaves four that still matter: the volume you pull, the state of the machine, the water in the tank and the temperature of the cup.
The Lungo As Intended
The Proper Mug
Made with this tea
The Lungo As Intended
How to make The Lungo As Intended with Starbucks House Blend Lungo by Nespresso.
- 1 capsule Starbucks House Blend Lungo
- Fresh filtered water in the tank
- A warmed 150ml cup
- Warm the cup with a blank shot of hot water and tip it away.
- Extract one capsule on the lungo setting, around 110ml.
- Drink it black first, before deciding whether it needs anything.
What you'll end up with: The cup the capsule was built for: rounded, medium bodied and clean, without the papery end a stretched espresso gives you. This is the baseline everything else here is judged against.
The Proper Mug
How to make The Proper Mug with Starbucks House Blend Lungo by Nespresso.
- 2 capsules Starbucks House Blend Lungo
- Hot water, optional
- A warmed 300ml mug
- Run two lungos into the same warmed mug rather than pushing one capsule to 300ml.
- Or pull one lungo and top it with hot water to taste, which is a long black.
- Do not stretch a single capsule. Volume is not strength.
What you'll end up with: A mug-sized coffee that still has body. The two routes taste slightly different, so try both: two capsules gives more weight, dilution gives a cleaner, lighter cup.
The Lungo Latte
How to make The Lungo Latte with Starbucks House Blend Lungo by Nespresso.
- 2 capsules Starbucks House Blend Lungo
- 150ml milk, dairy or oat
- A warmed tall glass
- Extract two capsules on the espresso setting rather than one on lungo, so the coffee is concentrated enough to survive milk.
- Heat the milk to steaming and texture it to a smooth microfoam.
- Pour slowly so the milk sits on the coffee rather than punching through it.
What you'll end up with: A milk coffee where the coffee is still audible. A single lungo under this much milk reads as milky water; two short shots is the fix, and it is the same trick a cafe uses.
Iced Lungo
How to make Iced Lungo with Starbucks House Blend Lungo by Nespresso.
- 2 capsules Starbucks House Blend Lungo
- A glass packed to the top with ice
- 100ml cold water or milk
- Pack a tall glass to the top with ice. Three cubes is not enough.
- Extract two capsules on the espresso setting straight over the ice.
- Top with cold water or milk and stir once.
What you'll end up with: A clean iced coffee at proper strength. Pulling a lungo over ice gives you a long drink diluted twice, which is how most home iced coffee ends up tasting of nothing.
Coffee Ice Cubes
How to make Coffee Ice Cubes with Starbucks House Blend Lungo by Nespresso.
- 3 capsules Starbucks House Blend Lungo
- An ice cube tray
- Extract three lungos into a jug and let them cool completely.
- Pour into an ice cube tray and freeze.
- Use in place of ordinary ice in any iced coffee.
What you'll end up with: Iced coffee that gets stronger as it melts instead of weaker. This is the single best use for the last few capsules in a box, and it costs nothing but freezer space.
Brewing the perfect cup
Inside the pack
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Roasted and ground coffee | 100% | The only thing in the capsule. No added flavouring, no sweetener, no preservative, no filler. |
| Cup volume | Lungo, about 110ml | The capsule is ground and dosed for the longer pour rather than being an espresso stretched to reach it. |
| Roast level | Stated on the pack | A house blend reading rather than a blonde or a dark extreme, but the precise level is printed on the pack rather than known to us. |
| Bean composition | Stated on the pack | The origin split and the Arabica proportion are the manufacturer's to state; read the current UK pack rather than take a figure from us. |
Ingredients and allergens. The published ingredient list for this barcode names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Ingredients, as published for this barcode: roasted and ground coffee.
Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The pack in your hands is the final word.
Pack: Starbucks by Nespresso House Blend Lungo Coffee, 10 Pods; caffeinated capsules for Nespresso original-line machines. Go by the best before date printed on the pack.
Sourcing & blend. Starbucks by Nespresso House Blend Lungo Coffee, 10 Pods is made under the at-home partnership between Starbucks and Nespresso, so it is an official original-line capsule rather than a third-party compatible. A house blend is the least glamorous product a roaster makes and the most revealing: it has to be good on a weekday, work black and under milk, and taste the same next year. Blending is what makes that promise keepable, because a roaster building to a fixed target can adjust the components as crops change in a way no single origin can.
What's in Starbucks by Nespresso House Blend Lungo Coffee, 10 Pods, and what isn't:
- In: roasted and ground coffee, ground and dosed for a 110ml lungo extraction. Nothing else.
- No artificial flavourings, colours, preservatives or added sugar: any sweetness in the cup is the coffee's own.
- Not decaffeinated: this is a regular caffeinated coffee. A decaf capsule is sold separately in the same range.
- Original line only: not Vertuo, not Dolce Gusto, not Tassimo.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Starbucks by Nespresso House Blend Lungo Coffee, 10 Pods, please cite teas.co.uk.
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