The Tassimo Hot Beverage System is a consumer coffee machine that prepares one-cup servings of espresso, regular coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and various other coffee drinks, notably those including milk such as latte or cappuccino. It was first introduced in France in 2004 and is now also available in Andorra, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Greece, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Tassimo machines were originally developed by Kraft foods, manufactured by Saeco and distributed by Braun. The manufacture was subsequently taken over by Bosch.
Tassimo machines used single serve coffee capsules or pods called T discs. Unlike other single serve, espresso based drinks such as Nespresso or Easy Serve Espresso (ESE) pods, the user does not need to select any options when using a Tassimo machine. The T discs have a barcode which tells the Tassimo machine how to brew the beverage ie. with more foam for a cappucino compared to a latte, or more water for an americano compared to an espresso.
Milk based beverages such as cappuccino and latte which are brewed by a Tassimo machine use UHT (long life) milk and not powdered milk.