I'm pretty sure I'm a coffee addict. I can't really function until I've had my morning cup of Joe. I've even named my consulting company Caffeinated Consulting as an ode to my love for coffee.

So when we started our full-time RV journey in July 2019, the most critical kitchen appliance for me to bring was my coffee machine. My husband had bought me a Nespresso Citiz for Christmas in 2015, the year we moved into our new home. Now that I think about it, I was completely spoiled that year. That's the year we moved into our new home and he also bought me my wine fridge. That year definitely had a beverage theme.

When we were ready to go full-time (the morning we left because, let's be honest, I couldn't even go one morning without my coffee), I pulled my old coffee pot out of the cabinet and left it sitting on the kitchen counter. We set our house up as a short-term rental property while we were on the road so I had to leave something in the house for the guests. I then remember carrying the Nespresso machine out to the RV like it was a child or something. It didn't get packed away. I carried it by hand out to the RV that morning. Obsessed.

​The Nespresso machine was a great addition to our RV! It wasn't huge (although Rob would tell you differently). It stayed put on the calendar while we were moving (okay sometimes it fell into the sink because it shifted a little too much). It did, however, give me and Rob our morning jolt of energy when we woke up each morning in the RV.

And then there was the great coffee machine debacle of January 2020. It really should have been a sign of the year to come. I had finally gotten around to descaling the machine after months of it being past due. Descaling is simply a process of cleaning the inside of the machine by running cleaning solution and water through the machine in simultaneous, independent cycles. Here's where things went wrong. Because we had downsized so dramatically to live in the RV full-time, I did not bring the Nespresso manual. Who needs physical manuals these days anyways? You can find everything online! So I Googled "How to Descale a Nespresso Coffee Machine" and found the instructions easily. Descaling the machine went off without a hitch. Yay! I did it! Now to make my morning coffee...

... Wait, what is that burning smell? Why isn't the machine working now? Ut oh. What did I do wrong? At first I thought I accidentally got water into the machine when I cleaned it (I physically cleaned it after the descaling process). It wasn't until I called Nespresso to troubleshoot the issue that I discovered what really happened. Apparently, after you descale the machine, you're supposed to wait at least 10 minutes (I think that was the amount of time) before you make coffee. Because the descaling process involves long periods of hot water running through the machine, making coffee too soon after descaling can overheat the machine. Oh, that was the burning smell!

The good news - Nespresso offers a 35% discount for returning customers to buy a new machine directly through them. So, despite not really having the money to buy a new machine at the time, I did it anyways. (Did I mention I'm a coffee addict?) Buying a new machine was a good opportunity for Rob to interject his opinion on the last machine as it related to our new, more compact lifestyle. Since he believed the last machine was too big for the RV, I opted for the smaller, more compact Nespresso Essenza Mini.

Weighing in at only 5 pounds, the Essenza Mini is much lighter than the 8.9 pound Citriz. The Essenza Mini also takes up about half of the counter top area in the RV (34.4 inches compared to the 75.92 inches of the Citriz). Believe me when I say that every pound and every square inch in an RV matters.

Now, don't get me wrong. There are some concessions with the Essenza Mini. For example, the water holding tank for the machine is about 1/3 smaller than the Citriz, requiring me to refill it more often. I fill it about every other day. The used capsule container capacity is also reduced by about 1/3. This means that I also have to remove the used capsules more frequently in the Essenza Mini. The cons of the Essenza Mini are all related to convenience. The pros are all related to functionality and, in an RV, functionality is everything.

Because storage is important, let's talk coffee capsules for a minute. We stayed at my brother and sister-in-law's house over the quarantine break. They have a Keurig machine. It makes great coffee and works great for them! But they also have 3,500 square feet of house to store things in. When you're working with less than 500 square feet, every inch matters. This is another big advantage of the Nespresso machines. Their capsules are significantly smaller and take up less space. I store mine in a compact storage container and it slips into one of our cabinets easily. I store the extra pods under our dinette set in their original boxes (although I could take them out for additional space saving).

Beyond the actual machine and capsule storage, let's talk about the most important part - the flavor of the coffee. For me, the bold flavor of the espresso is important. I simply add a small amount of heavy whipping cream to my two shots of espresso every morning and go. Rob, on the other hand, doesn't like the taste of coffee as much so I add two teaspoons of erythritol to his espresso and whipping cream to give it a sweeter taste. If you don't like the bold espresso flavor, feel free to add as much milk, creamer, heavy whipping cream or sugar as needed. You can even add water if it's too strong.

Because of these differences, the Essenza Mini has been the best coffee machine for us in our RV and I would highly recommend it to any coffee lovers looking to go full-time. It allows me to have a high quality cup of coffee no matter where we are in the country. If there's one thing I've learned during our time traveling, it's that the memories are made during the journey and not necessarily at the destination. If you have to wait until the next Starbucks location to get a good cup of coffee, are you really living the journey?