Apparatus and method for preparation of a beverage

A beverage preparation machine comprising:

• a brew head for receiving in use a cartridge, the cartridge being of a type that comprises one or more beverage ingredients and has a code associated with the cartridge for determining a standard set of brewing parameters;
• a code reader;
• an activation element;
• and
• a controller configured to control operation of the beverage preparation machine to prepare a beverage from the one or more beverage ingredients of the cartridge in response to actuation of the activation element;
• the controller being configured to receive a user selection to prepare the beverage using at least a first operating mode or a second operating mode;
• in the first operating mode the beverage is prepared using the standard set of brewing parameters obtained at least in part from reading the code associated with the cartridge received in the brew head;
• and
• in the second operating mode the beverage is prepared using a modified set of brewing parameters based on, but modified compared to, the standard set of brewing parameters obtained at least in part from reading the code associated with the cartridge received in the brew head;
• wherein the activation element comprises a single manually actuatable pushbutton, switch and/or button;
• and
• the controller and the activation element are configured to permit user selection of the first operating mode by a first type of actuation of the activation element and the second operating mode by a second type of actuation of the activation element;
• wherein the first type of actuation is a short press of the activation element and the second type of actuation is a long press of the activation element;
• and
• wherein the controller is configured to de-activate the second operating mode when the controller determines that the one or more beverage ingredients of the cartridge does not include one or more roast and ground beverage ingredients such that the beverage is prepared using the first operating mode irrespective of the type of actuation of the activation element.