This is the Nespresso Variations Forest Almond and part of the Festive 2021 lineup in collaboration with Colombian fashion designer Johanna Ortiz who was inspired by the forest.

It’s a split roasted blend of fine ground South American Arabicas flavoured with almonds. The Brazilian coffee is lightly roasted, while the majority of the Colombian coffee beans are short-roasted. It doesn’t have the usual intensity rating and comes in a brown-coloured capsule with a fern motif.

The espresso was a translucent dark brown colour with a bright and sweet almond aroma, a departure from classic coffee. Prepared as a long black with a 1:1 water-to-espresso ratio, the almond notes dominated with a sweet nuttiness that came through at the head before gentle roasted coffee notes developed in the body with a balanced hint of bitterness and acidity ahead of subtle vanilla tones in the finish. The addition of milk drowned the interesting qualities of this coffee, leaving weak cereal tones in the coffee base and a vague almond presence. It was best enjoyed black.

Overall, the coffee had a light-medium body and was comparable to the 2018 limited edition Paris Macaron, also an almond-flavoured coffee, but had a more restrained and warmer almond flavour.

This Nespresso Variations Forest Almond contained 10 x 4.9 g capsules. It was produced in Switzerland and purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2022.