On May 22nd, Nestlé’s Nespresso reached a five-year agreement with the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation to help improve the sustainability of Colombian coffee. Nespresso will invest $10 million annually to help Colombian coffee growers improve the quality, sustainability, and productivity of their coffee crops. Additionally, the money will be used to provide incentives for Colombian coffee farmers to grow crops that adhere to Nespresso’s AAA Sustainability Quality Program.

Currently, Nespresso sources about 25% of the green coffee used in their Grand Crus from Colombian coffee growers. In the last six years, Nespresso has tripled the amount of coffee sourced from farmers who meet Nespresso’s AAA Sustainability Quality program’s guidelines.  Farmers who meet the AAA Sustainability Quality requirements are paid a premium by Nespresso for their coffee beans: about 30-40% above the standard price of coffee and 10-15% above the market price for comparable coffee beans. These farmers also receive technical support and farming advice from Nespresso to further help improve the quality and sustainability of their crops.

In Europe, the Nespresso single cup coffee system and their Nespresso capsules is the most popular one-cup coffee system. Recently, three other coffee roasters have been producing non-Nespresso branded coffee capsules that are compatible with the Nespresso system. However, a recent ruling by the European Patent Office has held that non-Nespresso capsules are a violation of Nespresso’s patents on their one-cup coffee system and related capsules. The ruling can be appealed and there is no information on whether the other companies will be required to remove their Nespresso-compatible capsules from store shelves.

Additionally, Tassimo and Costa Coffee have reached a distribution agreement. Costa Coffee — which has over 2000 stores in 25 countries —will begin selling the Tassimo one-cup coffee brewer in their U.K stores this summer and fall. Tassimo will also produce Costa Coffee cappuccino, latte, and Americana single-serve T-discs for their European customers.

New Nespresso Naora Limited-Edition Grand Cru

April 16th, 2012

Nespresso has released a new, limited edition Grand Cru for its one cup coffee system. Inspired by wine-making, the Nespresso Naora takes advantage of a new varietal of coffee cherry that ripens for longer before falling off. These cherries are then picked late in the harvest, allowing for a more flavorful bean. The late harvest creates a coffee with the flavors of blackberry, blackcurrant, and blueberry; add milk to bring out notes of walnut and hazelnut. Nespresso rates the Naora single-serve capsule as a five (5) on their intensity scale. The Nespresso Naora is available now via The Club Nespresso or at a official Nespresso retailer or Nespresso Boutique near you.

In the future, Starbucks Coffee fans will have four ways to enjoy one-cup coffee servings of Starbucks Coffee: Starbucks Via (instant coffee), Starbucks k-cups, Starbucks Verismo, and Starbucks Vue cups. On March 8th, Starbucks announced their Verismo single-serve coffee maker. The Starbucks Verismo will be manufactured by Krueger GmbH & Co., a German company. Available late 2012, the Starbucks Verismo one-cup coffee brewer uses high-pressure and high-temperature to brew espresso and milk-based espresso beverages.

When the Vue was released, there was no announced partnership between Keurig and Starbucks for Starbucks-branded Vue cups. However, in recent days Starbucks and Green Mountain Coffee have announced  (.pdf file) that Starbucks-branded Vue cups will, in fact, be manufactured. While the Starbucks Verismo and Keurig Vue both brew espresso and milk-based espresso drinks, the Keurig Vue uses low pressure and the Starbucks Verismo uses high pressure.

Caffeine Zone 2, an iPhone app available via iTunes, helps you track your caffeine dosing. One-cup coffee systems like the Keurig K-Cup brewer and Keurig Vue brewer make it easy to always have a fresh mug of coffee in your hand. And one of the great perks of coffee is the caffeine kick it gives you to help start or push through to the end of the day. Of course, too many Keurig K-Cups or Nespresso capsules and there may be more shaking than working.

The Caffeine Zone 2 app lets you simply track your caffeine intake so that you don’t brew another kcup or Nespresso capsule before you need it. Enter in information like mug size and length of time the cup took to drink, then the program displays how much coffee is in your system. You can even program the app to set off an alarm when your caffeine levels dip below a certain level, making it easy to know when it’s time to brew another k-cup.

Today, Keurig released the details of their next generation one-cup coffee brewing system: the Keurig Vue. The Keurig Vue single-cup coffee brewer will retail for $249 and use Vue packs in place of the Keurig K-cups; unfortunately, the Keurig Vue is not compatible with kcups and only works with Vue packs, which are similar is function but not design to the Keurig k-cups.

The Keurig Vue single-cup coffee maker features touchscreen controls and can brew coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and iced coffee beverages in sizes from 4 ozs (for espressos) to 18 ozs (for travel mugs). The brew temperature can also be programmed to brew Vue packs at your preferred temperaturs. Finally, the Keurig Vue is Keurig’s first one-cup coffee brewer capable of brewing milk-based beverages. Similar to Tassimo’s two t-disc system, milk-based Keurig Vue coffee drinks are created using two Vue packs: one with the coffee, the other containing the milk.

Finally, the Keurig has responded to the wave of criticism regarding the difficulty to be recycle k-cups. The Keurig Vue packs are made of #5 plastic, aluminum, and paper. They are designed so that the top aluminum foil and filter can be removed and separated from the #5 plastic container. Both elements can then be recycled. The Keurig Vue is expected to be available online and in retail stores in the next few weeks.

Oliver Strand’s article, “With Coffee, the Price of Individualism Can Be High“, in The New York Times discusses one-cup coffee brewers rise in popularity and also reviews how expensive single-cup coffee is on a per-pound basis. Strand computes that Nespresso’s  Arpeggio espresso capsule retails for $51.71 a pound in comparison to Starbucks’ $12.95 per-pound pricing of their espresso. Folgers’ Black Silk k-cups can go cost up to $50.51 per-pound, almost $12.00 more than a pound of single-source coffee from Stumptown Roasters. Green Mountain Coffee’s Nantucket Blend kcups came in at $31.81 per-pound.

K cups and other one-cup coffee brewers are more expensive on a per-pound basis and will probably always be. But Ric Rhinehart, executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, believes that the popularity of single-cup coffee brewers is based on a generational shift: instead of pricing coffee per pound, Americans have started to price it per cup. So much coffee is bought on-the-go from coffee shops, that Americans have started to think that coffee costs anywhere from $1.50 to $3.75 per cup, and when one-cup coffee brewers per cup cost is compared to that of coffee shops, it wins. For more information on K-cup per cup pricing, take a look at our kcup informational page.

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission and Canada Health have issued a recall of Tassimo single-cup coffee brewers. To date, there have been 140 reports of the Tassimo one-cup coffee brewers spraying hot coffee or milk on their users; 37 of these cases have resulted in second-degree burns. Consequently, Tassimo has recalled over 835,000 brewers sold in the United States and 900,000 brewers sold in Canda. In a related recall, Krafts food — the manufacturer of Tassimo T-discs — have recalled over 4 million t-discs after 21 complaints of the t-discs causing burns to customers and bystanders.

Customers with a Tassimo one cup coffee machine involved in the recall are asked to stop using their Tassimo machines and contacting Tassimo to obtain a replacement t-disc holder. For assistance, Tassimo has set-up a website with more detailed information regarding the recall and directions on how to obtain the replacement t-disc holder.

The following Tassimo single-cup brewers have been recalled:

One-cup coffee makers make it so easy to brew a single cup of coffee that it can be almost too easy to spend your day drinking cup after cup. While current research has investigated the connection between coffee and and a decreased risk in cancer, there are still questions about the relationship between coffee and heart health. Well, single cup coffee fans can take a breath (or sip) of relief: recent research indicates that coffee does not contribute to hypertension, abnormal heart rhythms, or high cholesterol. However, the research is inconclusive when it comes to arterial stiffness.

Of course, this article (and blog post) is just for informational purposes and you should consult your doctor with specific questions or concerns. The effects of tea are still being researched, and new studies are constantly being done with coffee.

Lyons Township High School in La Grange, IL, has found a new use for the Keurig one-cup coffee brewing system. Student operators of the Transition Perks Coffee Service use iPads to take coffee orders from the school teachers. The students then brew K-cups, add milk and milk and sugar to order, and deliver the kcup coffee to the teachers. The teachers can order the k cups anytime after 3rd period and get a little perk up mid-period.

Jaclyn Gay, who runs the transition program for students 18-22 years old developing independent living skills, says that ““With a Keurig single-serve coffee maker, it’s really simple. You just drop the cup in.” The Keurig one-cup brewers help the students learn both business and customer service skills.