Portion coffee machine
The portion coffee machine is a collective term for coffee machines that work with single or double portioning, so-called coffee pods or capsules . Some machines also use the term hot beverage system to indicate that the portions are not only offered with coffee but also with other flavors such as cocoa or tea . The characteristic features of the portion coffee machine are the very simple operation and short preparation time of the hot beverage thanks to premixed ingredients for the appropriate device.
history
After the invention of the filter coffee machine, starting with the Wigomat in the late 1950s, this type of preparation became widespread in the 1970s. The result was a drop in the price of the mostly very durable devices and a decreasing participation of the machine manufacturers in the total sales achieved through coffee consumption.
In 1986 Nespresso came onto the market, in 2001 Philips and the coffee supplier Douwe Egberts developed another single-portion coffee system with Senseo to counteract this development - with the single-portion systems, the manufacturer earns less from the one-time purchase of the machine than from the coffee that consumers buy regularly. Capsules. Other providers followed suit with similar systems.
Systems and providers
The most well-known coffee pad systems and the characteristics of the pads or capsules are:
| System name |
providers | Capacity | Empty weight | diameter | height | Capsule / pad material |
Launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caffita | Gaggia and Ècaffè | 7 g | 3.16 g | 45 mm | 21 mm | plastic | |
| Cafissimo | Tchibo | 7 g | 3.16 g | 45 mm | 21 mm | plastic | March 2005 |
| Delizio / Cremesso | Delica / Migros | 6 g | 34.0 mm | 23.8 mm | Polypropylene | 2004 | |
| Dolce Gusto | Nestlé , De'Longhi , Krups | 7 g | 3.4 g | Plastic / aluminum | 2005 | ||
| ESE | various | 7 g | 44 mm | paper | |||
| Expressi | Aldi | plastic | October 2013 | ||||
| K cup | Keurig | 51 mm | 45 mm | Plastic / aluminum / paper | 1997 | ||
| MyCup | Melitta | paper | December 2004 | ||||
| Nespresso | Nestlé , De'Longhi , Krups | 1 g | 28.8 mm | 30.0 mm | aluminum | 1986 | |
| Senseo | Philips and Jacobs Douwe Egberts | 6.9 g | 68 mm | 6 mm | paper | 2001 | |
| Tassimo | Jacobs Douwe Egberts | 7 g | 4.4 g | plastic | 2005 |
The open ESE standard
ESE - Easy Serving Espresso is an open standard for pods that is strictly standardized by the Istituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano . A pad consists of 7 grams of coffee and 0.2 grams of paper and is therefore fully biodegradable. Pad manufacturers include a. Illy , Lucaffé , Hausbrandt , Hornig and Schreyoegg. Machines are available from a wide variety of manufacturers, and many conventional portafilter machines can be expanded to ESE pad operation with special sieves.
Other systems
- Lavazza - The company offers two different systems for espresso / hot beverage preparation, "LavazzaBlue" and the older "Espresso Point", the capsules of which are not compatible. The system is a variant of the Nespresso development from Eric Favre's company Monodor and is licensed by them worldwide (except in Switzerland). The capsules are made of polypropylene .
- Gaggia : Like Tchibo, Gaggia and Princess offermachines for the Caffita system , for example the Gaggia Evolution Caffitaly and the Princess Caffita 201E .
- Padova - The company Stefano Il Caffè offers a similar machine under the name "Padova", which however does not use completely round pads, but square ones with rounded corners. Using round pods in this machine does not work properly and the taste does not come close to the original pods. The companies Petra (Padissima KM series) and Privileg (Trio) offer the same models as the “Padova”, but for round pads.
- Spressino - The company sells a pad system in Germany, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic and Russia, which originally comes from Malongo and is called 1-2-3 spresso .
- K-Fee : A system from the instant hot beverage manufacturer Krüger , which u. a. was marketed together with the Bild newspaper . Krüger now manufactures the K-Fee system for a handful of companies worldwide. a. since 2012 for Starbucks in the USA under the name "Starbucks Verismo" and Aldi under the name "Expressi" (first launch: Aldi Australia in 2011, Aldi Germany since the end of 2013, other countries are pending).
- A MODO MIO ( Lavazza )
- WMF - The WMF 1 deviceis the smallest coffee pod machine and works with Senseo-compatible pads and its own cup.
criticism
Lock-in effect
Coffee systems are under criticism due to the lock-in effect . The systems are not compatible with each other; different coffee pods or capsules are required for each system. Originally, these were only available from the respective manufacturer, which limited the options very much. Meanwhile, however, coffee portions are also available from other providers. It is also criticized that the acquisition costs for the respective coffee machines are low, the follow-up costs for the coffee pods are - in some cases many times - higher than those of conventional coffee.
Garbage problem due to empty coffee capsules
While paper filters from filter coffee machines can be composted effortlessly , around 1.13 grams of energy-intensive aluminum are produced per coffee capsule . In 2012, 6640 tonnes of coffee capsules were used in Germany that are hardly ever recycled . A 250-gram pack of espresso, which can be used to prepare around 35 cups, only produces a tenth of the amount of waste.
In an EMPA study , Tassimo and Lavazza Espresso Point score particularly poorly in ecological terms due to the complex packaging, size and composite material (plastic / aluminum) of the capsules used . The environmental damage caused by coffee growing (see also problems with conventional agriculture ) and the energy efficiency of the respective capsule machine were not taken into account in the comparison.
Big price differences
Examples from Stiftung Warentest in October 2015 with information on the average purchase price and a calculation of the consumption costs for coffee capsules for the first year, with a daily requirement of four espresso or coffee crema:
| Portion coffee machine type | Purchase price | Price for one capsule | First year costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aldi Süd Expressi K-fee 117 | 70.00 euros | 0.17 euros | 318.37 euros |
| Delica Cremesso Compact One | 68.00 euros | 0.25 euros | 433.25 euros |
| De'Longhi Nespresso U EN 110 | 106.00 euros | 0.37 euros | 646.57 euros |
| AEG Lavazza LM6000 | 199.00 euros | 0.38 euros | 754.18 euros |
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d http://www.hjreggel.net/kpadinfo/misc-cmp.html
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Öko-Institut e. V. (Ed.): A conscious gift: Energy-saving coffee machines under the Christmas tree ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . December 2, 2010, accessed March 31, 2013.
- ↑ Kathrin Garbe: In search of the perfect cup of coffee . In: merkur-online.de, August 17, 2012. Accessed March 31, 2013.
- ↑ Life cycle assessment of coffee capsules under the microscope - It's all about coffee , Roland Hischier, published on May 10, 2011
- ↑ Dominik Meyer: Coffee made from capsules: These are the best coffee capsule artists. In: Focus Online . October 31, 2015, accessed October 14, 2018 .
