The present invention provides a method of dispensing a beverage comprising: a) inserting a beverage ingredient tablet (20) into a beverage preparation machine (30) b) measuring a surface finish of at least a portion of the beverage ingredient tablet (20) to identify the beverage ingredient tablet c) configuring one or more dispense parameters of the beverage preparation machine (30) based on the identification of the beverage ingredient tablet (20) and d) operating the beverage preparation machine (30) to dispense a beverage by contacting the beverage ingredient tablet (20) with an aqueous fluid.
