A Lidlstore brand Nespresso-compatible coffee capsuleUsed Nespresso coffee capsules, showing the puncture holes in the top and bottom for mixing the product with water
A single-serve coffee container is a container filled with coffee grounds, used in coffee brewing to prepare only enough coffee for a single portion. They come in various formats and materials, often either as hard and soft pods or pads made of filter paper, or hard aluminium and plastic capsules.
Single-serve coffee containers can both reduce the time needed to brew coffee and simplify the brewing process by eliminating the need to measure out portions, flavorings, and additives from large bulk containers. They can also help to keep the unused product fresher by individually packaging portions separately without exposing the entire supply batch to air and light. Paper coffee pods can be functionally identical to plastic and metal coffee capsules, if the paper pods are individually sealed in separate bags. At the same time, the disposablesingle-use products add to the global waste production.
History
In 1958, the Flemish Rombouts coffee company launched its pre-filled One Cup Coffee Filter for the Brussels World Exhibition. Unlike newer capsules and pods, this system consists of a single-use drip coffee filter placed over the cup. In 1964, the company began marketing the concept, gaining success in the horeca and retail sectors. The company was founded in Antwerp in 1896, and in 1966 was appointed a "Certified Royal Warrant Holder of Belgium".[1][2]
Variations
Several different systems exist:
Coffee pods or pads are pre-packaged ground coffee beans in their own filter.
A coffee capsule differs from a coffee pod in that the coffee is packed in a plastic or aluminum package instead of a paper filter, and it is usually designed for use with a single brand or system and is therefore not interchangeable with other systems. A patent on the Nespresso system expired at the end of 2012, and there are now rival capsules available for the Nespresso system.[3]
A variation, coffee bags, were developed to provide the convenience of instant coffee but maintain the flavor of brewed coffee. Modeled after tea bags, they consist of a gauze bag containing a mixture of instant coffee and finely ground roast coffee, which is to be steeped in hot water for approximately three minutes.[4]
Coffee (filter) disks or ground coffee filter rings are a ring-type variant of coffee bags made of coffee filter paper containing ground roast coffee for use in coffee percolators, which otherwise use permanent filters made out of metal or porcelain. One of the first companies to offer them was General Foods Corp. with their "Max-Pax" filter rings.
Photo of coffee bag manufactured by Folgers
A paper coffee bag by an unknown manufacturer - E.S.E. (Easy Serving Espresso Pod)
A Senseo ESE coffee pod, upside down
Used Lavazza BLUE coffee capsules, showing the puncture holes
Nespresso coffee capsules
Comparison of systems
The plastic and metal coffee capsules typically are used in a non-removable receptacle on the brewing device. The capsules have an outer ring or rim that stays dry during use, allowing for removal and disposal after use without getting the user's hands wet or sticky. Handling of a used moist coffee pod is not necessary if the brewing device has a removable filter tray. This tray is removed after brewing and inverted to eject the used coffee pod.
Coffee pods, bags, and capsules can be sized for individual or multi-serving portions. In food service businesses, pods and capsules used with automatic brewing can help to provide consistency of product strength and flavor for customers.
Paper coffee pods such as those used in Easy Serving Espresso Pod or Senseo machines have the benefit of being a fully biodegradable product that can decompose naturally, while plastic and metal capsules such as those used in Keurig or Nespresso machines either are not recyclable, or require additional processing to separate the plastic/metal container from the organic waste products.
Many capsule machines specifically warn the user to not disassemble the machine or put their fingers inside the capsule receptacle, as the devices commonly use sharp razor-edge tubes or prongs for piercing the coffee capsule during use.
Different single-cup systems are not interchangeable; some systems force machine owners to buy capsules from a single company (usually the patent owner), locking the machine owner into a single source of coffee. Coffee pods are made by a variety of manufacturers and are interchangeable between brand of pod and model of pod brewer most of the time.
Nestle vertical. Also brews cold beverages. Limited Edition machine designs also available. Rewards program.Capsule recycling programs exist in some countries.
Many. Keurig's house brands include but are not limited to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Revv, Tully's Coffee, and The Original Donut Shop Coffee. Several other companies have licensed Keurig's K-Cup design. Unauthorized clones exist.
United States, Canada
Capsule
Two versions of My K-Cup are available as a reusable filter for using any filter coffee, with the newest version being designed to be compatible with Keurig machines with MultiStream technology since the old version is incompatible. Keurig 2.0, an attempt to lock out unlicensed clones, has been withdrawn from the market. Genuine K-Cups from Keurig and licensed partners now carry 2D bar codes to allow smart brewers with BrewID technology to brew K-Cups with factory-customized brewing profiles. The patent on the original K-Cup design has expired, so unauthorized clones exist. K-Cups made since the end of 2020 are made with polypropylene to allow them to be recycled.[9]
Compostable K-Cup clone
OneCoffee
2017
Many: Keurig, Cuisinart, BUNN etc.
Many, including OneCoffee and Club Coffee
United States, Canada
Capsule
A soft-bottomed pod that is designed to be compatible with any Keurig K-Cup machine. This is an unauthorized clone of the K-Cup.
K-Fee
Krüger Group
2010
Aldi Expressi, K Systems GMBH Preferenza
K-Fee, Paulig Cupsolo, Mr. and Mrs. Mill (Krüger Group), Milky Moo (Krüger Group), formerly Starbucks (K-Fee was formerly rebranded as Starbucks Verismo in the United States)
United States, Europe, Australia
Capsule
Physically compatible with CaffeItaly machines/pods
In 1976, Eric Favre, an employee of Nestlé, invented, patented, and introduced the Nespresso system[11][12] Formerly a Nestle-controlled system until the patent expired, so unauthorized clones exist. Recyclable[13] Capable of brewing smaller sized coffees such as espresso or lungo.
United States, Canada, France, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan
Capsule
Nestle-controlled system. Recyclable.[13] Capable of brewing espressos, much larger coffees, and sizes in between. Uses a barcode under the capsule's ring to customize the brew to factory-designed brewing profiles.
JDE Peet's and Kraft Heinz (in Canada. Formerly United States)
Canada, Mexico, Europe. Withdrawn from United States.
Capsule
—
Environmental impact
Environmental activists have said that single-use coffee pods are harmful, as they are often composed of a mix of plastic, aluminium, and organic material (the used coffee) which makes them difficult to recycle. In early 2016 the German city of Hamburg banned coffee capsules from state-run buildings on environmental grounds.[14][15] There are some capsules that are plant-based and that can be compostable as bio-waste.[16]
Espresso is a coffee-brewing method in which a small amount of nearly boiling water is forced under pressure through finely ground coffee beans.
A coffee percolator is a type of pot used for the brewing of coffee by continually cycling the boiling or nearly boiling brew through the grounds using gravity until the required strength is reached. The grounds are held in a perforated metal filter basket.
An espresso machine brews coffee by forcing pressurized water near boiling point through a "puck" of ground coffee and a filter in order to produce a thick, concentrated coffee called espresso. Multiple machine designs have been created to produce espresso. Several machines share some common elements, such as a grouphead and a portafilter. An espresso machine may also have a steam wand which is used to steam and froth liquids for coffee drinks such as cappuccino and caffè latte.
Philips Saeco S.p.A., or short Saeco, is an Italian manufacturer of manual, super-automatic and capsule espresso machines and other electrical goods with headquarters and factories in Gaggio Montano near Bologna.
Senseo is a registered trademark for a coffee brewing system from Dutch companies Philips and Douwe Egberts. The system is known for the coffee pods it uses to brew the coffee.
A coffee bag is a container for shipping and storing coffee. Coffee beans are usually transported in large jute sacks, while coffee sold to consumers may be packaged as beans or ground coffee in a small, sealed plastic bag.
Bunn-O-Matic Corporation is an American manufacturer of dispensed beverage equipment headquartered in Springfield, Illinois, with a plant in Creston, Iowa. The company was founded in 1957 by George R. Bunn, who designed his own versions of equipment that had been in existence for nearly fifty years: paper coffee filters and pour-over drip coffee brewers. Today, the corporation's products are sold under the BUNN and Bunn-O-Matic brands. The company's home coffeemakers are used throughout the United States and Canada, but the company's primary customers are institutional foodservice providers worldwide. The company introduced their first automatic drip-brew coffee maker in 1963. The company introduced their first drip brewer for the home market in 1972. The current president and CEO is Arthur H. Bunn.
The Tassimo Hot Beverage System is a consumer single-serve coffee system 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. The brand is owned by JDE Peet's in most of the world and Kraft Heinz in North America.
Coffee preparation is the process of turning coffee beans into liquid coffee. While the particular steps vary with the type of coffee and with the raw materials, the process includes four basic steps: raw coffee beans must be roasted, the roasted coffee beans must then be ground, and the ground coffee must then be mixed with hot or cold water for a specific time (brewed), the liquid coffee extraction must be separated from the used grounds, and finally, if desired, the extracted coffee is combined with other elements of the desired beverage, such as sweeteners, dairy products, dairy alternatives, or toppings.
The Caffitaly System is a capsule system for making espresso and other coffee drinks in home espresso machines. The name is a portmanteau of caffè, the Italian word for coffee, and Italy. Caffitaly is based in Bologna, Italy.
Keurig is a beverage brewing system for home and commercial use. The American company Keurig Dr Pepper manufactures the machines. The main Keurig products are K-Cup pods, which are single-serve coffee containers; other beverage pods; and the proprietary machines that use these pods to make beverages.
Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., formerly Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (1981–2014) and Keurig Green Mountain (2014–2018), is a publicly traded American beverage and coffeemaker conglomerate with headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts and Frisco, Texas. Formed in July 2018, with the merger of Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Keurig Dr Pepper offers over 125 hot and cold beverages. The company's Canadian business unit subsidiary operates as Keurig Dr Pepper Canada.
The AeroPress is a manual coffeemaker invented by Alan Adler, founder of AeroPress, Inc. It consists of a cylindrical chamber, and a plunger with an airtight silicone seal, similar to a syringe. Ground coffee beans and water are steeped inside, then forced through a filter at the bottom of the chamber by pressing the plunger down through the chamber. It is capable of brewing highly concentrated coffee, which the manufacturer describes as "espresso style", but can also be used to brew filter strength coffee, or cold brew coffee.
Caffè crema refers to two different coffee drinks:
The Easy Serving Espresso pod, is a small packed coffee pod with a paper filter covering for use in a non-grinding espresso machine. The E.S.E. standard was created by Italian Illy in the 1970s and is maintained by the "Consortium for the Development and the Protection of the E.S.E. Standard." It is open to all coffee roasters and machine manufacturers, making it the self-acclaimed "only open system available to the sector for espresso coffee prepared with paper pods".
A coffeemaker, coffee maker or coffee machine is a cooking appliance used to brew coffee. While there are many different types of coffeemakers, the two most common brewing principles use gravity or pressure to move hot water through coffee grounds. In the most common devices, coffee grounds are placed into a paper or metal filter inside a funnel, which is set over a glass or ceramic coffee pot, a cooking pot in the kettle family. Cold water is poured into a separate chamber, which is then boiled and directed into the funnel and allowed to drip through the grounds under gravity. This is also called automatic drip-brew. Coffee makers that use pressure to force water through the coffee grounds are called espresso makers, and they produce espresso coffee.
The Nescafé Dolce Gusto is a coffee capsule system from Nestlé. The machines are produced by hardware manufacturers Krups and De'Longhi.
iperEspresso is a single-serve capsule system for preparing espresso coffee and espresso-based drinks. It was developed and patented by Illy.
Nestlé Nespresso S.A., trading as Nespresso, is an operating unit of the Nestlé Group, based in Vevey, Switzerland. Nespresso machines brew espresso and coffee from coffee capsules, a type of pre-apportioned single-use container, or reusable capsules (pods), of ground coffee beans, sometimes with added flavorings. Once inserted into a machine, the capsules are pierced and processed, water is then forced against a heating element at high pressure meaning that only the quantity for a single cup is warmed. By 2011 Nespresso had annual sales in excess of 3 billion Swiss francs. The word Nespresso is a portmanteau of "Nestlé" and "Espresso", a common mechanic used across other Nestlé brands.
Lavazza A Modo Mio is a range of coffee capsules and machines produced by Lavazza since 2007. The A Modo Mio range is aimed at domestic use and supports the "Lavazza Blue" range of capsules designed for the business target.
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