Swiss Retailer Launches Eco-Friendly Coffee Balls, Are Coffee Capsicles a Thing of the Past?

Coffee is a popular and beloved beverage today, but the coffee category has become highly segmented. Among these, instant coffee and capsule coffee stand out from many derivative coffee products due to their extreme convenience. Coffee companies like Nestlé have launched capsule coffee machines that make coffee preparation convenient, leading to explosive growth of capsule coffee worldwide.

However, this has also brought a new problem: each use generates a pile of used metal and plastic waste.

Swiss retailer Migros has provided a solution to this situation. At a press conference on September 6th local time in Zurich, Migros unveiled the brand's coffee capsule and announced the official launch of a completely new capsule coffee system—Coffee B, designed to replace coffee capsules that generate thousands of tons of waste annually.

The Innovative Coffee Ball

According to reports, the new coffee capsule introduced by Migros appears as a brownish-yellow small ball. This brownish-yellow ball is wrapped in a thin, seaweed-based coating that is colorless and odorless.

Unlike many coffee capsules on the market today that contain plastic and aluminum shells, these coffee balls are compostable. After use, consumers can simply toss the used coffee balls into compost bins or soil, where they will completely degrade within weeks.

Migros stated that the CoffeeB coffee machine, designed to work with the coffee balls, will be launched first in Switzerland and France this year, followed by Germany in 2023.

The Rise of Algae-Based Packaging

Using algae materials as packaging seems to be a relatively innovative trend in recent years.

Many of the packaging materials we encounter today are made of plastic, and even our tea bags are no exception.

Researchers in the United States have found that plastic products such as takeaway coffee cups release trillions of plastic particles when exposed to hot water for 20 minutes. Algae-based materials, however, reduce this figure directly to zero.

Tea bags or coffee made from algae can come into contact with hot water in cups without worrying about the leaching of plastic particles, while also adding some cellulose and antioxidants to the beverage. The algae undergo processing, so there's no need to worry about adding any additional flavors.

Real-World Applications

Algae-based packaging has already entered the daily lives of ordinary people. In 2019, during a marathon in London, the organizers distributed over 30,000 edible water pouches to athletes. These small pouches also used thin film made from seaweed—odorless and edible. Even if discarded, they will biodegrade within four to six weeks, returning to nature without leaving any waste.

The Future of Coffee

The development of technology always brings new surprises to people. Do you think coffee balls will replace the position of coffee capsules?

Image source: Internet

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