What is Kenco Pure Colombian?
A single-origin Colombian T Disc for Tassimo machines, in packs of 16.
Kenco is a JDE brand, and this is the plain black coffee in its Tassimo range: Colombian, single origin, brewed as a 215ml cup.
£5.70 for 16 discs on Tassimo's own UK store, which converts to roughly $7.24 and about 45 cents a cup.
Every price on this page is converted from pounds at a static rate and is an estimate rather than a quote. Neither maker sells these to the United States: the only storefront either runs is a UK one, and that is where the figure comes from.
Which machines does it fit?
Tassimo machines only, and only T Discs made by JDE.
T Discs carry a barcode the machine reads to set the water volume, the temperature and the brew time. That is genuinely clever and it is also a total lock: no other roaster can make a disc the machine will brew, because the machine will not brew anything it cannot read.
It is worth being blunt about buying these in the US. Tassimo's only storefront is tassimo.com/gb and the machines and discs are not sold here by the maker. What reaches American shelves is imported, at whatever price the importer sets.
What is in the capsule
Single-origin Colombian coffee, and not much else is published.
Single origin is the notable part. Almost every capsule on this site is a blend, and of the three that are not, this is one. Kenco names Colombia and stops there: no region, no farm, no processing method.
No dose in grams is published either. Tassimo's nutrition table is per 100g of product rather than per disc, which is a different measurement and cannot be turned into the one we want. So this is one of the capsules with no price per kilo.
What a cup costs
About 45 cents, converted from £5.70 for 16.
That is genuinely cheap for a capsule. The Nespresso Original range is 90 cents and Vertuo is $1.40, so on the face of it this is a third of the price.
Every price on this page is converted from pounds at a static rate and is an estimate rather than a quote. Neither maker sells these to the United States: the only storefront either runs is a UK one, and that is where the figure comes from.
And the deeper problem is availability rather than arithmetic. Tassimo does not sell to the United States. What appears on American marketplaces is imported stock at importer prices, which can be several times the UK shelf price. The 45 cents is what a British buyer pays.
What happens to the capsule afterwards
Podback, a UK scheme Tassimo co-founded rather than joined.
Bags come with orders from tassimo.com and are collected or dropped off. Being a founding partner rather than a participant is a real distinction: it is infrastructure the company paid to build.
It is also entirely a UK scheme. Outside the UK there is no take-back route for these discs at all, which is the other half of the availability problem.
Kenco Pure Colombian vs Master Origin Colombia
Two single-origin Colombians, one at 45 cents and one at a dollar.
Nespresso's Master Origin Colombia names the country and the harvest practice, publishes a full taste panel, and costs a dollar. Kenco names the country and gives you almost nothing else, at 45 cents.
If the price held everywhere this would be an easy recommendation. It does not: the Nespresso is a US price you can act on and the Kenco is a UK one converted for orientation.
Is Kenco Pure Colombian worth it?
In the UK, yes, obviously. Anywhere else the question is whether you can buy it at all.
The coffee is single origin and the price is a third of Nespresso's. On the numbers it is the best value capsule in this catalogue.
The numbers are the easy part. This is a closed system with no third-party discs, no US distribution, and a recycling scheme that stops at the Channel. Buying into Tassimo outside the UK means accepting all three.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
UK Tassimo owners who drink black coffee.
Buy it if you own a Tassimo and are in the UK, where the price is real and Podback works.
Do not buy a Tassimo machine on the strength of this price if you are in the US, because you will not pay it. Do not expect third-party discs to ever bring the cost down, because the barcode prevents them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I buy Tassimo T Discs in the US?
Not from Tassimo. Its only storefront is tassimo.com/gb, and the machines and discs are not sold in the United States by the maker. What appears on American marketplaces is imported, usually at considerably more than the UK shelf price this page converts from.
Why is the price shown in dollars if it is a UK product?
Because this site prices everything in one currency. The figure is converted from £5.70 at a static rate and is an estimate for orientation, not a quote, and the page says so wherever it appears.
Can other roasters make T Discs?
No. The barcode on each disc tells the machine the water volume, temperature and brew time, and the machine will not brew a disc it cannot read. That is a harder lock than Nespresso Vertuo's, because it controls the brew as well as the size.
Is it really single origin?
Kenco names Colombia and describes it as pure Colombian. No region, farm or processing method is published, so it is single origin at the country level and no more specific than that.
What is Podback?
A UK coffee pod recycling scheme that Tassimo co-founded. Bags are included with orders from its own store and are collected with your recycling or dropped off. It operates in the UK only.
