HiLine Coffee

We had some problems a while back and they responded in a good way. Since then we’ve tried their pods and really enjoyed them. Would recommend them to anyone looking for another option for the Nespresso machines.

I was very excited to come across this company as I wanted pod options for my Nepresso pixie. The pods arrived quickly and are different from Nepresso (plastic vs metal). I purchased Wall Street and Times Sq. I am a Peet’s Coffee lover and love the caffeine jolt and I received that from Wall Street. My complaint is that 1 out of 4 pods don’t work in the machine, will either produce nothing or a few drops. So, while you save on the initial purchase, you throw away a few which brings down the cost efficiency. I wish I knew it was a one time flaw as I would order a pack of every flavor! May order a Soho to see if this was a one time flaw with Wall Street and Times Square.

I’ve been getting HiLine pods for my Nespresso Pixie for about three years and am enthusiastic about the great flavors, speedy delivery, and customer service. My sole problem — a subscription issue — was handled so graciously that I felt compelled to write my praises for the company.

I bought some HiLine nespresso pods and pods directly from Nespresso to use in my new machine. I was a little tentative after some of the reviews on here and got the Nespresso pods to do a side-​by-​side comparison. The HiLine pods looked cheaper, but once they were in the machine i couldn’t even tell a difference. They worked perfectly! I got a couple varieties and have liked them all!
Nespresso certainly has more options, but for making a morning latte and the occasional espresso I really don’t need that many choices and am more than happy with what HiLine offers.
I had a great customer service experience as well. I got a quick response about the status of my package, and they even gave me a promo code to apologize for an expected delay in shipping. My package ended up arriving exactly when originally estimated. Clearly they have been stepping up their customer service game. I will definitely continue to buy HiLine pods instead of getting ripped off by Nespresso on their pods.

Owner contacted me via Unilocal,after reading my review and simply said: «Please contact customer service» I did, and nothing was resolved through them, which is why I posted the review. I certainly wouldn’t post a negative review without first trying to get their side of the story. Still no answer on the last few emails to them. If I ran my business this way, I wouldn’t have one. I really urge you to find another coffee company. Bestpresso and Rosso café make great pods and have TOP NOTCH customer service 100% of the time and are sold on amazon.

I wished I read these reviews before ordering online. I haven’t tried it yet and I don’t know when ill get to. I ordered last March 12 and I can’t seem to track it. I sent them an email but I didn’t get any response yet. Their website says around 2 days delivery if within the East coast but it’s been almost 5 days and still no coffee pods. Next time, ill just stick to nespresso!

After my previous Unilocal review, I have been contacted by a member of HiLine Coffee customer support team. They have apologized for the sub-​par quality of the coffee that has been delivered to me and offered either a full refund or a free replacement. As I was very excited about trying HiLine Coffee, I opted for the latter.
In a matter of a week, I have received a brand new two bags of Nespresso pods: Brooklyn and Soho. These pods are *substantially* better than the ones I have received previously. The coffee has a darker, oilier crema. There is more flavor in the brew and the aftertaste is more complex and lingering. Out of the two, I am more in favor of Soho — but both are really, really good.
If not for the first false start, I would have given HiLine a five star rating. After I am done with my pods, I will most probably order some more, hoping for my coffee to come from the source that gave me the second shipment, instead of the first one (could it be a difference between single order and a subscription?).

STAY AWAY FROM THIS BUSINESS.
Good coffee. Bad company. These people need to get their customer service and delivery act together. I’ve had a subscription for the past 4 months, they are quick to take your money on the first of the month but then fail to deliver. Every month it seems that they «run out of coffee» when I have to email them asking where it is (like again this month for instance). Save yourself the hassle of working with these people. There are some new really great artisan coffee companies out there who are making Nespresso compatible pods.

I had never previously heard of HiLine Coffee, as I live in Austin, TX. I noticed a promo they were doing through Instagram which offered a free coffee mug. As such, I logged onto the website and went to order my mug. However, I could not get the promo code to work, and accidentally finalized my transaction before I was able to go back and make edits (operator error as I checked out through PayPal). I sent customer service an email inquiring about the issue, to which they promptly replied indicating that the promo only worked with the purchase of coffee beans. Regardless, they went ahead and refunded my purchase price and STILL sent me the mug! What excellent customer service given it was my own, personal screw up! Thanks so much, HiLine! You guys are awesome! Also, it doesn’t hurt that my mug says «There’s a chance this is wine.» All of my friends now want one. ;)

While their coffee is good, their Nespresso caps are junk. Most of the caps are so tightly packed that the water can barely push through, after about a minute of trying my machine just stops trying and shuts off. Once you release the pod the foil cover pops open, shooting coffee grounds into the used capsule container.
Also, the foil seal on the top of the caps sometimes is loose. Its so loose that when I pop a cap into the machine, holes wont punch through the foil resulting in my machine shutting down.
I ordered 4 different types of coffee and each bag has the same issue. When a cap actually does work, the coffee is delicious. However I’m afraid that the back pressure being caused by the caps is damaging my Nespresso machine.
Naturally I emailed customer service to find out if maybe I had a bad lot, no response. With this experience I wouldn’t order from HiLine again. Ill just stick with the original Nespresso capsules. Remember, in some cases you get what you pay for.

BUYER BEWARE !!! Customer service is NON EXISTENT! My girlfriend tagged me in a Instagram post a few weeks regarding a promotion they had going. I ordered a coffee pack and I got the «free» cup. Low and behold it is now 3 weeks and no coffee or cup. I checked online and the package wasn’t even notified of being shipping. Great. I check tracking and it seems that it took a 3 week all expense paid trip around the US on my dime. After NUMEROUS emails I finally get a 10 dollar credit on my card. Great. my order was 24 $. I asked if they are going to reship my order and I get a generic response that it takes 10 days to process refunds. I DON’T WANT A REFUND UNLESS ITS THE WHOLE ENCHILADA.
I found a corporate phone number for them (212) 951‑0695 so please call and leave as many voicemails as you can as they probably wont check them. They also blocked my girlfriend from Instagram — REAL PROFESSIONAL .
I am at the point where I want to contact the BBB for shady business practices. I would love to review the coffee but unfortunately, I cant smell, look or taste as it just returned from an all inclusive trip with my cup.

Ok coffee.
Non-​existent customer service.
#BuyerBeware
HiLine might get shut down due to their «theft» of Nespresso’s intellectual property.

Recently had the pleasure of ordering their very fresh made to order Italian Nespresso original line coffee pods for my Nespresso Pro and their product is not only amazing but about half priced what everyone else charges for pods that have sat around for weeks and weeks! Their business model is simple, they are an online company only, they don’t make the pods until you order them, if you live on the east coast from order to at your door is about two days, if you are on the west coast it’s about six days, less for the mid west! I’m amazed and excited as this brings the Nespresso users much closer to a customized coffee product! I ordered some extremely dark and lighter expressos, some darker lungos (more like regular coffee but with a much more delicious Italian twist) plus some restattos (more intense than expressos experience) and you can get on their subscription program for delivery every 30 days with free shipping, or order as you go and $ 50 orders or more come with free shipping, or order smaller amounts with an unchanging flat shipping charge of $ 5. If you have not tried the Italian Nespresso pods yet, what are you waiting for!!! Lots better than the watery Keurig machines that taste like dirty gym socks boiled for a week (after you go Italian). Yes Keurig is an elephant in the coffee machine market here in the US but no where else in the world and Nespresso is rapidly closing the gap! HiLine has a great return policy, no questions asked, simply send them an email requesting a return label, they’ll send you the label and refund your product price PLUS your shipping paid! What are you waiting for? Get on
email list and enjoy 10% off your first order. Ok I’ve just about entirely used the first fifty pods I ordered and not one single pod caused me any problems, not one single pod got stuck in the machine, not one single pod did not produce a full beverage as advertised. The dark pod they sell with the darkest espresso flavor they sell is absolutely delicious! That’s it… I’m setting up a regular automatic order. Hiline coffee original line Nespresso compatible pods are the
!!

Coffee is so good, specifically the Exchange (dark roast). Very yummy! Their online specials (where they send a free item such as a bag or tote) are a bit disappointing though. My bag is only a couple of months old and has a big hole (seams coming undone) and the cup had a quote on both sides but one side was very smudged. Free items for purchasing online coffee, but still.
Long overdue update (January 2016): my bag was replaced free of charge which I find considerate!

The coffee tastes mediocre.
Additionally, they send you an unbelievable amount of spam if they get your email. They also keep sending you coffee and charging your credit card whether you want it or not. All in all not a trustworthy company.

Unlike other reviewers I had no problems using their pods with my old (2011) Nespresso Pixie. The packaging is high quality and the branding of HiLine capsules is terrific. To the impatient coffee drinkers here, it took maybe 6 days for them to send me the generous sampler pack of 20 pods, for just a $ 5 shipping charge. They roast your coffee fresh to order, so have a little patience, will ya?!
The coffee flavor, to me, is like Nespresso meets New York. The names of the pods are apt in that way. Wall Street like you’d get from your favorite Lower Manhattan barista before riding up the elevator 75 stories. Greenwich Village like you’d sip in the coffeehouse working on your novel, or sending out your resumes. Chelsea like you grab with a donut on the way to the studio. Brooklyn for a rainy work-​at-​home day in peace.
If you are a Nespresso user who wants to venture out into the world of coffee varieties out there — or who wants a break from 75 cent capsules — you owe it to yourself give HiLine a try.

5 stars awarded to customer service. Not sure why anyone would give them less than 5. Both times I’ve had to email them they’ve responded within moments. Today (a Saturday) I emailed them to check on an order I placed on the 9^th to find out why it hadn’t been delivered. They immediately responded they would resend. I then heard from the owner (again on a Saturday) with a tracking number for my order.
The post office wouldn’t leave the coffee with my doorman. (Apparently this coffee is even more valuable than I thought). Then Mr Post Man not only left the ticket saying I had a package in the wrong person’s mailbox but marked the wrong attempted delivery date so I almost didn’t get it at the post office. (Again, maybe Mr Post Man was trying to keep the goods for himself). Hiline coffee 5 stars. Post Office 0 stars. Only suggestion to HiLine coffee is to send email notifications to customers with tracking numbers so I can monitor delivery and not have to email customer service.

Update:
Shortly after posting the original review one of the owners contacted me. He apologized for the problems and got me going. He also sent me some samples for Nespresso of their newest blends. In addition, I did join the monthly shipment service.
I give the coffee four stars. It is very good. It has good crema, good taste and I’ve had zero problems with the pods. In my opinion, the Nespresso brand pods have generally a better taste, but HiLine pods are very good and I will keep buying them. If I considered the cost saving of HiLint over Nespresso, then I could give five stars. But my opinion is based solely on the final product, regardless of the cost.
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I haven’t even got a chance to try their Nespresso pods yet so my 2 star is not about taste. The problem is they have a subscriber club, or you can buy packs of pods as single order. Some are packs of 10 and some are 20. How you order, and what quantity is different if you subscribe. Shipping is free if you subscribe, but some of the pod prices are higher based on the monthly subscription cost compared to individual orders placed.
Then, I found a page on their site that talks about a free box for a trial, and still another page on the site talking about the first month free when you subscribe. I think I saw these pages from a Google search so maybe they’re inactive, but there’s no date for reference. So I wrote to HiLine and the reply was, the subscription price is already discounted so you can’t apply coupon code. Really?
What a mess. Get a 15 year old to build a functional shopping site on Squarespace or something.

Slow shipping (4 days — they used FedEx Smartpost which hands delivery off to USPS) and uneven customer service (one email question was answered but a follow-​up was not), but if the product was good, given it’s less expensive than Nespresso capsules I could overlook that.
Alas, it’s not — quality is definitely not up to Nespresso standards. I tried 3 HiLine styles — Wall Street, Times Square and Broadway — and despite the promising descriptions, they all tasted weak, thin, flat and watery and had lame crema, compared to the two (excellent) Nespresso dark-​roast capsules I usually get, Kazaar & Dharkan.
What’s worse, the HiLine capsules have malfunctioned in my Nespresso Citiz machine — twice I’ve had to manually cut the brew cycle because barely any coffee was dribbling out (presumably because the HiLine capsules didn’t puncture correctly), and I was concerned the struggling pump might get damaged. This has never happened in over two years of daily use with Nespresso capsules.
Back to Nespresso coffee I gladly go: much better (and reliably consistent) capsule quality is worth the higher price to me, and Nespresso ships a lot faster and has better customer service, too.

THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED… THIS IS MY ORIGINAL POST…
I can’t remember wanting to post a review before I actually received the product. I also never posted a review prior to receiving product with both deep negatives and high positives. Here goes.
I signed up for a 140 pod subscription on the 16^th of August. I left on a business trip, excited that coffee would be waiting for me when I got home. No dice. I followed up with Hiline today (the 20^th) via email, because they have no phone number. I sent the message well after 5 o’clock Eastern time. Within an extremely short window of time I got an email back telling me that my coffee would not arrive until the 25^th. Great service delivering bad news…
I emailed back later in the evening telling them how disappointed I was and that I would have paid for express shipping if they offered it. Again, within a very short period of time I received a reply with apologies. This was deep evening NY time. Apparently they are not set up for express shipping right now. I was told that a $ 10 credit would be posted to my account for my troubles.
I hope their coffee is as good as their service. I have this feeling that they are a small company who has marketed themselves into more business than they can handle and they are using account credits to smooth out problems created by their growing pains. Nice problem to have.
Right down the middle with three stars. I will update once I have received my coffee. END OF ORIGINAL
POST
UPDATED POST — A HiLine owner just messaged me to see if I ever did receive my coffee… well, do I ever feel like a jerk! YES I DID GET MY COFFEE!
Posting reviews before giving a company a chance to prove itself is a good way to get egg on your face — and I am super eggy.
My HiLine shipment showed up days earlier than first predicted. On a Saturday morning, in fact. I was so happy to see it having been without coffee for some days (probably the reason I took to Unilocal so quickly for my first I’ll-advised review — junkies can be very nasty people when they don’t have their medicine.)
The coffee arrived in a box so whimsical that my wife posted it on Facebook
The pods were sealed in bags in lumps of 20 in each bag was a surprise meme-​like business card with a funny saying on it, like «I have to get up, my coffee needs me»
The coffee is spectacular — it comes out a bit slower than a Nespresso pod, but I’m chalking that up to the amount of coffee in each pod. Some of the pods are transparent and I can see that they are loaded with coffee.
I ordered several roasts and none disappoint.
Sad thing is — I am not sure that 140 pods per month is going to get us through. I am going through coffee like a madman and my wife is right behind me.
I am now HiLine coffee’s biggest fan. Next time I will keep my mouth shut — because it will be full of delicious coffee.