> French press + grinder is straightforward and has little maintenance

And even that comparison is unfair, as with that you're getting fresh ground coffee which is much better. Pod coffees are preground minimum months before you're brewing with them.

Don’t they pack them in a nitrogen atmosphere so they don’t oxidize during storage?

Yes! Every spring we open up our summer place and I have some Nespresso pods left over from the previous year. I always expect it to be terrible but find I can't tell the difference to fresh. Still, regardless of age it's just not that good to begin with, unfortunately. I get it for myself when I'm in a hurry or others who don't seem to care.

Oxidation is only one component of flavour degradation - that said, its the dominant one. So while the pods would be much better than a months-opened canister of folgers, certainly (as sealed canisters are also generally nitrogen or CO2 flushed), there are other aging processes that come into play. Pods also just don't have the best beans - and if you're grinding your beans fresh, you're probably also buying fresh beans, of better quality, from a smaller roaster.

That's still much more work than a pod machine. With a pod machine you just pop a pod in, put a cup under, press a button, come back 1 minute later and you're done. With your setup you have to pour out beans, wait for it to grind, start boiling water, wait for it to brew, and then clean everything up.

As another commenter said, if you don’t care for quality, you can get pre-ground. Then, you just boil water and brew, which is a few cups of coffee, so potentially less amortized work.

Cleanup is fair but it’s on the order of putting your hands in the grounds and throwing them in the trash. I suspect people think machines are easier because they don’t mind mold or scale building in their unclean tank.

Yep it's a lot more work. I think the "wait until it kinda looks like it might be ready before you press down" part is the most annoying step of the french press.

That is the best price/quality approach. However, if you love frothed milk a good little $200 espresso machine is good. And of course learning to make your own espresso is a fun little hobby, too. I have a strange fetish for Illy capaccino cups. My kids particularly love frothed chocolate milk! (What's really cool is that the chocolate milk can easily triple in volume, so the kids think they're drinking much more hot chocolate than they really are.) Try doing that in a French press!

I make espresso, too. The problem is the espresso machine cost and quality impact the final product significantly. A high-ish grade machine is $700 or more. You can froth milk with less, but the coffee extraction usually is subpar. And actually, people who are snobby about espresso roast their own beans so it’s hardly comparable in effort. Espresso is basically the hot-rod of coffee.

Or just get a super automatic espresso machine. More convenient than a Nespresso, better taste, essentially zero waste. Higher initial investment (~300 EUR), lower running costs.

Get a Delonghi Dedica ec685, you can find it at ~150€. It's the cheapest good machine I can think of.

It comes with a pressurised filter so you can throw whatever ground coffee you buy in the supermarket and it will make a decent espresso.

If you want to take it to the next level you should buy a non pressurised filter, good fresh coffee in beans and an extra 300 for a good electric grinder.

That's pretty much the cheapest setup I can think of to make a good espresso.

Where do you get a fully automatic espresso machine for 300 EUR?

Europe, I suppose. For example, the De'Longhi Magnifica S ECAM 22.110 is an entry-level machine for 279 EUR (routinely available for <250 EUR).

Here's a review: https://coffeeblog.co.uk/delonghi-magnifica-s/

https://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich/OffersOfProduct/2416409...

Unless you have high cholesterol. In that case you want filtered coffee.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/well/eat/filtered-coffee-...

Fresh press has more and messier cleanup than other options.