Reusable K-Fee Coffee Pod (Caffitaly, Expressi)

For some years I have been trying to find reusable coffee pods for my aldi expressi machine, but they either aren't made by the manufacturers of other reusable pods, or the pods seem to make bad coffee as they have too little space for coffee, and so much metal that they draw the head from the water.

I tried a few pods, and found out that, through a quirk in incompatibility, the K-fee pods for the Caffitaly system sold by woolworths are slightly too big for the expressi K-fee machine sold by aldi, and so, the large plastic filters from the Caffitaly pods clip neatly into the top of the expressi pods.

I have finally taken enough photos that i think this will be reasonably straight forward, so here goes

Supplies

at least one aldi expressi machine, these pods may fit into the Caffitaly machine, but I have not tried it.

one packet of aldi expressi instant drink pods, any drink will do, as long as it takes the form of a dissolvable powder, as in the hot chocolate pods or the chai latte pods.

one packet of Caffitaly coffee pods, the ones with actual coffee. I assume there are other flavours, and they probably don't have the same filters in them

Step 1: Empty the Aldi Expressi Pod

This step is easier to do if the powder has been used up to make a drink, but there will be a layer of wet hot chocolate in the bottom of the pod.

Take a sharp knife, and pierce the pod cover on the inside edge of the pod.

Run the knife around the inside edge of the pod to remove the circle cleanly

If your knife is sharp enough, it should slide easily around the inside of the pod and cleanly remove a circle from the plastic label. If your knife is less sharp, you may need to saw a little to avoid leaving tags.

You will probably need to hold the mostly removed label to cut away the last strip of plastic.

The knife used to produce the pictured pod was adequately sharp, but could have been better.

The smoother the edges, the easier the pod will be to clean later.

Empty any hot chocolate powder into a cup to drink later. (not covered in this instructable)

Step 2: Empty the Woolworths Caffitaly Pod

Take the Caffitaly pod and repeat the process to remove a circle of plastic from the label.

This step may be made more difficult by using the pod first as then the filters will be stuck in a wet lump of coffee grounds. Since this is similar to the step when cleaning the reusable pod, you may wish to use the coffee pods first.

You don't need to be as careful removing the label in this step, but removing the label will be more difficult as you want to run your knife between the outside of the pod and the edge of the top filter.

If you like, you can try saving the coffee from the pod to use later.

You want the top and bottom filters in this step.

Step 3: Not Really a Step: Why I Use Hot Chocolate Pods

As you will have seen by now, the hot chocolate pod is a smooth, easy to clean high temperature plastic with few nooks and crannies.

If you take apart an aldi coffee pod, Expressi uses a plastic welded filter that would be practically impossible to clean. You can see it in the bottom of the pod in the last photo.

So that's why I'm recommending the hot chocolate, chai latte, or any other powdered instant hot drink, they contain no filters.

Step 4: Actually Putting Together the Pod

In this step, we take the filters from the Caffitaly pod and the base from the Expressi pod and make a new pod.

place the aldi pod cup upwards
place in the smaller, thicker bottom filter
fill with your preferred coffee, lightly packed
scrape the top of the coffee flat to the same level as the pod edge using some sort of flat stick
place the wider thinner top filter on top of the coffee, and press gently to clip the top filter into the edge of the aldi pod.

clean up a bit, and your new pod is ready to use immediately, of to store in an air tight container.