Carte Noire Espresso Intense N°8 Senseo-compatible soft pods — Pack of 60

Yes. Carte Noire soft pods are large-format filter paper pods, the format used by soft pod machines such as Senseo (Philips): Senseo Original and Original Plus, Select, Switch, Maestro, Viva Café, Quadrante and Latte Duo, as well as other coffee machines using the same soft pod format.

Place them in the pod holder for 1 cup (one pod) or 2 cups (two pods). They are not compatible with capsule machines (Nespresso, Dolce Gusto, Tassimo, Lavazza, Delta Q, illy Iperespresso) or the 44 mm ESE portafilters of espresso machines: soft pods are much wider and are not tamped for high-pressure brewing.

Not in the strict sense. A soft pod machine operates at low pressure, far below the 9 bars of an espresso machine: it produces a long coffee topped with a light foam, not a short espresso with thick crema. The name Espresso Intense refers to the pod’s profile, a dark roast and powerful flavour, which produces the fullest-bodied coffee of the three Carte Noire options in a Senseo.

For a true espresso, you need an espresso machine and 44 mm ESE pods or capsules.

Espresso Intense N°8 is the most powerful of the three, with a dark roast and notes of cocoa and spice. Corsé N°7, which also blends Arabica and Robusta, is a little less intense, with notes of dark chocolate and dried fruit; Classique N°5, 100% Arabica, is the mildest, with fruity and chocolatey notes.

All three are prepared in the same way, in the same machine: compare them on the Carte Noire soft pods page.

Place one pod in the pod holder for 1 cup, rounded side down, close the machine and press the button for 1 cup: you will get a long coffee topped with a fine layer of foam. For a mug or two cups, put two pods in the pod holder for 2 cups and press the button for 2 cups.

Each pod can only be used once: remove it after each coffee. A pack of 60 therefore makes 60 cups or 30 mugs.

The pod is made of filter paper and ground coffee, with no aluminium or plastic shell. Carte Noire states that it is industrially compostable, certified by TÜV Austria to the EN 13432 standard: it must not go in garden compost or be discarded in the natural environment. Check with your local council whether it collects this waste, for example with food and garden waste.

Once opened, reseal the pack tightly and store it in a dry place away from heat: filter paper does not protect coffee from air as a sealed capsule does.

Carte Noire is a French brand created in 1978 by René Monnier, who had already founded Grand'Mère coffee, with an idea that was new at the time: premium pure Arabica coffee sold in supermarkets, in a flexible pack with a valve. It became part of Jacobs Suchard in 1982, then Kraft and Mondelēz, before being acquired in February 2016 by the Italian group Lavazza.

The coffee for its soft pods is roasted and packed in France, at the long-established Lavérune factory (Hérault), and the pods have been Rainforest Alliance certified since 2023. The brand also sells coffee beans, ground coffee, instant coffee and Nespresso-compatible capsules.