I love latte’s from Starbucks – they were always a big treat for me when I went into town and once I got into a regular habit I found I was unable to drink the coffee I was making at home. I had become a coffee snob.

We bought a Philips Senseo which my husband was very happy with, being much less fussy than I am, (and a bit of a cheapskate). I found the amount of coffee to be irritatingly small, too cold and had trouble fitting our cups under the dispenser. It soon ended up that I had reverted to finding excuses to pass a Starbucks so the hunt was on again.

I assumed I would have to get a barista style coffee machine in order to replicate that perfect latte and was dreading having dregs of coffee all over the place – until I discovered….Nespresso. The marketing team at Nespresso are fabulous – from the very first advert I saw, I was hooked. It’s sexy, sophisticated and will look very pretty in my kitchen.

The Nespresso machines use capsules encased in foil with the perfect amount of coffee for one shot of espresso contained inside. You can only buy these capsules direct from Nespresso, either over the phone or on the web – they do not sell them in shops. This seems to be a major downside to some people but I order everything I can off the internet anyhow so I count it as a positive if anything. There are about sixteen different varieties and strengths of coffee and Nespresso bring out special ones every so often.

In choosing a machine I was very much restricted by my budget. As my goal was the perfect latte, I needed one with a milk steamer. The cheapest machine with a milk steamer is the M200 manual at £139. I liked the look of the machine and the reviews were relatively good so we took the plunge. Nespresso usually do a £30 cashback promotion around Christmas and when I mailed them they told me which date it would start so I waited for that.

It was beautifully packaged with a presentation case containing one espresso cup and saucer and one lungo (twice as big) cup and saucer. It also contained a starter selection of coffees. The instructions were terrible and even though I am usually a stickler for following the manual to the letter, we fairly quickly had to abandon the confusing pictures and get stuck in . When you do you realise that there’s actually not that much you need to know and after a couple of days I was making cappuccinos and latte’s like a pro. The milk steamer is wonderful. My little boy goes mad for hot chocolate made with steamed milk – it’s so much yummier than microwaved.

This machine is now my pride and joy. The latte’s are just as good, if not better, than Starbucks and I have actually now developed a love of espresso that I never expected. I am the envy of my friends and we always end up back at mine for coffee. With the milk included I think a large latte probably works out about 35p which compared to Starbucks is still ridiculously cheap. I very much doubt I will ever be without a Nespresso machine again.