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

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world today, but the category has become highly fragmented. Among the many derivative products, instant coffee and capsule coffee stand out for sheer convenience. Companies like Nestlé launched capsule machines that made brewing almost effortless, and capsule coffee has since grown explosively around the globe.

But this convenience has come with a new problem: every single use leaves behind a pile of spent metal and plastic waste.

Swiss retailer Migros now has an answer. At a press conference in Zurich on September 6th, Migros unveiled its new coffee capsule - officially launching an entirely new single-serve coffee system called CoffeeB, designed to replace the coffee capsules that generate thousands of tons of waste every year.

The Innovative Coffee Ball

The new capsule looks like a small brownish-yellow ball. That ball is wrapped in a thin, colorless, odorless coating made from seaweed.

Unlike most capsules on the market, which rely on plastic and aluminum shells, these coffee balls are fully compostable. Once used, you can simply toss them into a compost bin or straight onto the soil, where they will break down completely within a few weeks.

According to Migros, the CoffeeB machine designed to brew these balls will launch first in Switzerland and France this year, followed by Germany in 2023.

The Rise of Algae-Based Packaging

Using algae as a packaging material is a fairly recent innovation.

Much of the packaging we encounter today is plastic - and even our tea bags are no exception.

Researchers in the United States have found that plastic items like takeaway coffee cups release trillions of plastic particles into hot water over just 20 minutes. Algae-based materials bring that number down to zero.

Tea bags or coffee pods made from algae can sit in hot water without leaching any microplastics, and they even add a little cellulose and antioxidants to the drink. The algae is processed before use, so there's no risk of off-flavors creeping in.

Real-World Applications

Algae-based packaging has already reached everyday consumers. At the 2019 London Marathon, organizers handed out more than 30,000 edible water pouches to runners. The pouches used a seaweed-derived film - odorless and entirely edible. Even if discarded, they biodegrade within four to six weeks, returning to nature without leaving any trace.

The Future of Coffee

Technology keeps bringing new surprises to the coffee world. Do you think coffee balls could eventually replace coffee capsules?

Image source: Internet

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Whether you brew with capsules, coffee balls, or a classic pour-over, good beans make all the difference. For anyone starting out in specialty coffee, FrontStreet Coffee recommends a few reliable entry-level single origins. From Ethiopia, try the natural-process Huakui or the washed Guading cooperative beans: the former offers berry, floral, jackfruit, melon, and honey notes from the Sidama region's traditional sun-drying, while the latter - a true Yirgacheffe representative - delivers jasmine, lemon acidity, and berry tones.

If you prefer something rounder and gentler, the FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is an affordable daily-drinker with classic cream, peanut, and cocoa flavors, while the higher-grown Yellow Bourbon from Fazenda Rainha adds a sugarcane-like sweetness to its complex nutty profile of butter, melon seeds, macadamia, and almond. And for those who avoid acidity altogether, FrontStreet's wet-hulled Mandheling from Indonesia is richer and smoother than most, with herbal and spice undertones; step up to the PWN Golden Mandheling, triple hand-sorted plus machine-sorted, for an even cleaner, smoother cup with distinct woody aroma and caramel sweetness.