CoffeeB – No Plastic, No Aluminium

I have played with Dolce Gusto machines and Nespresso machines and both of them have the same flaw. They’re quick and convenient when you’re preparing coffee but less convenient when you need to get rid of the capsules. With Nespresso getting rid of the aluminium capsules is easy, once you have a container for them. You amass them at home and when you go to the recycling centre you have two wheelie bins devoted to the task of recovering the aluminium capsules and their content.

Dolce Gusto capsules are more annoying to recycle becausse there is nothing that is dedicated to recycling them. They’re plastic and coffee so recycling them is less straight forward. If you have hot chocolate made by the machine then getting rid of the milk capsules is quite urgent, due to the smell they eventually give off.

CoffeeB is different. The coffee is wrapped within seaweed balls. I was tempted for years but thought that at 149 CHF it was too much for an experiment. There was a time when CoffeeB was available from Galaxus and I was deeply tempted but didn’t give in.

Last week I got two migros letters and within I saw a bon for the CoffeeB machines for 110 CHF less. This enabled me to choose between getting a machine for 29 CHF or 39 CHF. The 29CHF machine doesn’t have automatic loading but that doesn’t matter. By automatic loading I mean that it has a carousel where you put the seaweed coffee balls, and rotate before preparing your coffee.

Coffee preparation is simple. Get a coffee ball, drop it into the container, Pull the lever down and the balls will be pierced. Press the button for either a 45ml or 110ml coffee, depending on whether you want Espresso or Café Lungo. It will then press water into the coffee ball, let it sit, and then force it through until it falls into your espresso glass or [Sigg miracle mug](https://www.galaxus.ch/en/s3/product/sigg-miracle-030-l-water-bottles-thermos-flasks-12061371).I am this specific because that’s what I use for my Café Americano.

The one drawback is that the hot water dispenser is quite slow so if you want to prepare a café Americano I usually boil some water from a kettle and add extra water that way.

So far I have tried Café Royal Lungo and Café Royal Espresso Bio. I’m happy with the café Lungo and need to get used to the Café Espresso Bio.

For months, or even a year or more I have been preparing my morning coffee by grinding fresh coffee, adding it to an aeropress device, boiling water, pouring the water onto the coffee, waiting 20-40 seconds, pressing the rest of the coffee through and then adding boiling water to the usual mark for my café Americano.

With the CoffeeB machine I drop in a ball, pull the lever and a few seconds later the coffe is ready, after adding extra boiling water.It really speeds up the ritual of coffee preparation.

Whilst I did not think the machines are worth paying 139 CHF or 149 CHF for, I do think that for 29 CHF or 39 CHF they are worth the cost. Not only is it quick and easy to use but additionally the coffee capsules return to nature within 90 days. With aluminium or plastic it would take centuries for the same result. Having said this I think old plastic coffee capsules are used for power generation in giant furnaces, and [aluminium capsules are recycled, maybe into a Swiss knife](https://www.nespresso.com/de/en/order/accessories/vertuo/victorinox-swiss-knife). I would have enjoyed having a swiss knife made of my own nespresso capsules.

## The 25 CHF promotion

If you take advantage of the 110 CHF promotion then you spend 29 CHF on the machine, and if you register your machine with CoffeeB directly then you get 25 CHF of coffee, and two bars of chcolate for free. In effect the machine has cost you four swiss francs at this point. The chocolate is nice. I will get more when I go to Migros one of these days.

## Does it Smell of Seaweed?

No, I can’t taste the sea or seaweed within the coffees I prepare with this system.There is no smell of seaweed when the capsules or wet, or after they have been in the capsule container. The capsules dry out and are ready to be composted.

## And Finally

Without time pressure you can wait for such excellent promotions to come around. I saved 110 CHF automatically, but 135 francs by being patient and registering the coffee machine. After “spending” 4 CHF I do not feel buyer’s remorse. It’s around 4 CHF for 9 cups of coffee and you can save money if you buy them in bulk.