The Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast was the only unanimous favorite in our testing lineup. It’s a versatile espresso that stands up well to any style of drink, and its robust yet bright profile should appeal to lovers of light and dark roasts alike (although Starbucks classifies it as a blonde roast, it’s not the same light roast that you’d expect from a third-wave roaster).

The espresso is mild but rich and has a pleasant, chocolate-like bitterness balanced by acidity and a brown sugar sweetness. It has a creamy body for a Nespresso shot and a toasty, if slightly sharp, finish. Our tasters found it on par with Nespresso’s Volluto pods (a light-roast variety we like), and one panelist even preferred it.

Starbucks pods are the only third-party pods we tested that are actually manufactured by Nespresso, which might have some advantages (video). But they’re not all great—we had tried another option from Starbucks, the Pike Place Roast, during Nespresso machine testing, and it tasted burnt and thin.

Peet’s Ricchezza Espresso Capsules were promising from the start, with a thick, flecked crema and a sweet, almond-like aroma. The espresso tastes sweet, too, with hints of brown sugar that verge on caramelized and a faint dried-fruit flavor. It has a rounded, layered quality that stands out from often flat-tasting prepackaged coffee, and it’s more complex than our other picks. One taster found the Ricchezza espresso surprisingly tart and deemed it “more modern” in its acidic and fruit-forward profile. This espresso can certainly stand on its own, and if you don’t mind a slightly acidic drink, it can also handle milk. But if you like a more classic, dark-roasted espresso for your latte, you may prefer Peet’s Ristretto Espresso Capsules.

Most of our panelists agreed that Peet’s Crema Scura Espresso Capsules (meaning “dark crema”) made a simple but satisfying espresso. With its smooth mouthfeel and inviting flavors, this is an easygoing shot that will please those who like a warm and mellow medium roast. But though similarly versatile, the Crema Scura espresso is less bold and memorable than the Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast.

The promised crema was indeed dark, but it was also thin and overly airy, and it didn’t add much to the overall experience. The espresso itself, however, was rich and full-bodied, with a nutty, aromatic sweetness that one taster likened to frangipane. Another taster picked up on a papery aftertaste, but it didn’t linger long.

Peet’s Ristretto Espresso Capsules are a good choice for coffee drinkers who relish a textbook dark-roast flavor profile. The shot has a smooth nuttiness, with notes of malt and caramel, and it’s bitter without being acrid. Though it’s not as full-bodied as Peet’s Crema Scura pods (the mouthfeel is still closer to that of coffee than true espresso), it’s rich for an espresso pod. One taster noted a hint of brown spice, and as it cooled, overripe fruit. It tasted like cocoa powder to me: deep and intense, but lacking the fattiness to take it into chocolate territory. It’s a great candidate for the addition of milk, making for a robust latte.

The Whole Foods Market Forte Espresso Coffee Capsules have a solid, approachable espresso with decent body and straightforward flavors. It’s not as punchy as our other dark-roast picks, but the dominant white sugar sweetness and nutty notes are pleasant. Like most of the dark-roast pods we tried, Forte is more akin to filter coffee than a true espresso, with a thinner mouthfeel and less depth of flavor. But it still offers rich notes of grain and some faint florals. As it cooled, the sweetness intensified and a paperiness crept in. At about 70¢ per pod, Forte is the least expensive of our picks, which otherwise tend to be at least 80¢ per pod. We also tried two other Whole Foods capsules, but we didn’t like them much.

Nespresso machines rely on small doses of encapsulated coffee, which are brewed under high pressure to quickly produce an espresso shot. Nespresso is one of the largest producers of these espresso pods but only sells them online or in Nespresso boutiques. And since Nespresso has only a handful of those boutiques in the US, having pods shipped has long been the primary method for obtaining them. But although online ordering may be the norm now, it’s not ideal when you’re down to your last pod and your next caffeine boost is two to three business days away. So we made it our mission to find the best Nespresso capsules that you can buy in major grocery stores.

We scoured our local supermarkets and department stores and found that although Nespresso-compatible pods are starting to appear on store shelves, they’re mostly limited to large chains. Nespresso’s patent on these capsules expired in 2012, but it took a few years of growth in the American market before coffee giants and grocery store chains started to produce their own versions, so variety is still somewhat restricted.

We selected pods for testing with a few factors and criteria in mind:

Available in nationwide stores: We looked for pods that people could reliably find at major stores in their area and settled on a few prominent brands: Good & Gather (Target’s house brand), Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Peet’s, and Starbucks.

Compatible with Nespresso’s Original line: We limited our search to Nespresso Original line capsules, mostly by default—they’ve been reproduced by numerous companies since Nespresso’s patents on the line expired in 2012 and are the Nespresso-compatible pod you’re most likely to find at major retailers.

Vertuo pods, which work with Nespresso’s newer system, are still under patent protection and aren’t made by third-party producers. Because of that, the Vertuo pod selection outside of Nespresso boutiques is extremely limited—you’ll only find the pods made by Nespresso with Starbucks.

Roast variety: We aimed to taste pods across a range of roasts but veered away from the darkest roast offerings, since Nespresso machines tend to accentuate bitter notes. We tasted three light roasts, five medium roasts, and three dark roasts.

Price: We set out on our search in the hopes of finding a delicious espresso pod with a lower price than Nespresso’s own capsules (which, on average, cost about 80¢ per capsule). It turns out that most third-party pods hover around that price, but they do have the advantage of occasionally going on sale.

Material: We did not restrict our testing to aluminum capsules, as availability took precedence over materials. But most of the capsules we tested were aluminum. Unlike plastic, aluminum is infinitely recyclable, but there’s no guarantee that you will be able to recycle pods through your local recycling system. While Nespresso offers a recycling program for its pods, as does Peet’s, these programs may not accept pods from other companies.

We tasted 11 Nespresso-compatible pods with four members of Wirecutter’s kitchen team. (For three of the tasters, the test was brand-concealed). We brewed each capsule as a 1.35-ounce espresso with the Essenza Mini, our top-pick Nespresso machine. Moving from light to dark roasts, we brewed each drink, evaluating the crema atop each before tasting. After we finalized our picks, I tasted each espresso with warm, frothed milk to see how compatible they were.

We included the Nespresso Volluto pods, which we also used in our Nespresso machine testing, as a baseline in this taste test. Volluto is a balanced, light-roast espresso that we knew we liked, and it’s versatile enough to drink black or with milk. Tasting the Volluto pod alongside the third-party pods helped us align our expectations appropriately, priming us for what a good espresso from a Nespresso machine should taste like. While most of our picks were not apples to apples with the Volluto pods in terms of roast and flavor profile, they were of comparable quality.

Nespresso pods do have some advantages over third-party pods, partly due to Nespresso’s unrivaled grinder technology (video) and partly due to the build of the machines themselves—the proprietary pods may brew faster and are less likely to leak. But we didn’t notice any issues with our picks.

As we tasted, we paid attention to these key components:

Aroma: The sense of smell plays an outsize role in our perception of flavor. We took a moment to smell each espresso before tasting it. Though some notes in the aroma may not have been detectable in the taste, they still contributed to the overall experience of the espresso’s flavor. Our favorites were aromatic and inviting from the start.

Taste: While Nespresso shots are not as complex as authentic espresso, they can still taste great. During tasting, we looked for desirable flavors, such as spice, cocoa, fruit, and florals, using the Specialty Coffee Association’s flavor wheel as our guide. We looked for balance among the five basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami) and kept an eye out for any off-notes, such as rubber or mold.

When sampling the range of roasts, we kept an open mind but approached them with some basic expectations: Lighter roasts tend to be more acidic and complex, whereas darker roasts tend to be more bitter and rich.

Body: Shots from a Nespresso machine have a lighter mouthfeel than the full, syrupy texture of a shot pulled from an espresso machine. But the espresso’s body still varies depending on the pods used. We looked for rich espressos that provide a tactile sensation of creaminess.

Crema: Distinctive to espresso, this layer of bitter foam that sits atop your shot is often touted as an indicator of quality. This isn’t entirely true, but it can hint to the freshness of your coffee, as well as the strength of your espresso. We took notes on the appearance of each espresso’s crema, and favored thick, flecked, golden foams, which make for a visually appealing shot (regardless of whether you plan to skim it off).

While working on our Nespresso machine guide, I tasted dozens of espresso shots pulled from a wide variety of machines and pods. In the process of testing, I’ve gained an intimate familiarity with the espressos they produce (as well as the human limit for caffeine consumption).

Our tasting panel for this guide included myself, senior editor Marguerite Preston, supervising editor Marilyn Ong, and updates writer Abigail Bailey. Marguerite, Marilyn, and I took a sensory course at Coffee Project New York to better understand how to taste and evaluate coffee.

Light roast

The Whole Foods Market Ricco Espresso Coffee Capsules made an insipid cup that drew comparisons to “decent diner coffee,” though as one panelist pointed out, it may appeal to those unaccustomed to the intensity of espresso.

The Good & Gather Signature Colombian Espresso Capsules are excessively watery and lacking in almost every flavor save for bitterness.

Medium roast

Whole Foods Market Classico Espresso Coffee Capsules are mellow, rich, and toasty, with a nutty sweetness followed by a drying astringency. It’s a decent medium-roast option if that’s all you can find, but we wouldn’t seek it out.

Trader Joe’s Ristretto is thin and weak, and it received a solid “bleh” rating from our tasters. And the capsules are made of plastic.

The Good & Gather Signature Festoso Espresso Capsules immediately overwhelmed some of our tasters with a toxic rubber flavor. One taster, who found the Festoso espresso decent while hot, also detected tires as it cooled.

We used Starbucks Pike Place Roast during our latest round of Nespresso machine testing. It tasted bitter, burnt, and thin, and we didn’t include it in our tasting lineup for this guide.

Dark roast

The initial sweetness of the Good & Gather Signature Altissimo Espresso Capsules is overtaken by burnt and musty flavors. Like the Whole Foods Market Forte Espresso Coffee Capsules, they reminded us of a dark-roast filter coffee, but with a fishy aftertaste, according to one taster.

This article was edited by Gabriella Gershenson and Marguerite Preston.