Credit:
Products are chosen independently by our editors. Purchases made through our links may earn us a commission.
The Nespresso espresso coffee system was developed by Nestle in Switzerland. It was designed in 1976, but it took until 1990 for the first Nespresso machines to become available. Since then, machines that use this system have been released by Krups, Philips, De Longhi and other manufacturers.
The Nespresso system uses small aluminum foil containers (called pods) to hold the coffee, with 16 varieties on offer, including 3 single origin and 3 decaffeinated blends. This range includes options for Ristretto (a very small, strong espresso shot), Espresso and Lungo ( a weaker, larger brew) shots.
Each capsule is available only from Nespresso and costs between $0.45 and $0.57, based on buying them in packs of 50. This cost can be lowered by buying in bulk. Nespresso does not participate in the Fair Trade program, but the company clams that its AAA Sustainable Quality Program has similar aims of building a future for partner farmers based on long term profitability, enhanced environmental and social outcomes..
Nespresso does not offer a manual load capsule, so it is not possible to use your own coffee in a Nespresso machine. However, a company called NexPod does offer a reusable capsule which, they claim, will fit into a Nespresso system brewer. We have not tested this system.
If you do buy coffee directly from Nestle, your monthly costs for two cups daily will be around $60 and your yearly costs will be around $720.