Nespresso frustration

I have been frustrated with Nespresso ever since I got one of their espresso machines a few years back. The coffee is decent, but I am not impressed by their environmental efforts, which seem cosmetic at best. Eager sales representatives would call me frequently to enquire “if they could be in assistance in any way at all”, so I asked the following:

*When will there be an ecological option

*When will it be possible to return the capsules for recycling.

Every time, the sales rep would politely say they needed to check up on the information and call back, which they didn’t do. The calls stopped soon after. At least they were wise enough not to tote their self-invented AAA-certification, which claims to be about preservation and workers’ rights but has little to show for. If they did care about the environment they would have committed to existing, trusted certifications.

With 16 different tastes, you would think there would be room for at least one eco capsule. There’s enough customers willing to pay extra for un-sprayed produce to warrant at least one alternative. But no – presumably because it would make the rest of the range look bad, a fair concern.

Aluminum is a superb metal in the way that it can be recycled forever with very little loss and energy use. Mining and refining new aluminum, however, is so energy consuming that the refineries are usually built on top of a power plant. In other words, a very worthwhile item to recycle. While it is possible for me to cut the spent capsules open, remove the grounds and put the empty capsule in the recycling, I am not happy about having to use tools to make my garbage acceptable.

So I do what any Internet vigilante would, I blog it.

Problem is, the other capsule-based brands are not better. And I’m not expecting better from cheap plastic machines with 5 choices of coffee (anything that comes with powdered milk inside is a big nope), but a self-proclaimed high-end provider should do better.

I’m no feinschmecker, but I do spend upwards of 15 dollars a week on coffee, mainly because of the nice little cafe outside my door. Did you know Norway is the top coffee drinking country in the world per capita?

At one point I am going to have to upgrade to a real bean-munching espresso maker to experience real “freedom of espresso”. For the time being I resort to third-party refillable capsules, they perform perfectly as long as you can be bothered to fill and empty them, and work with any brand of coffee one could desire (even tea). These do the job: Nexpod   Ne-cap  emohome (more durable)