The Migros supermarket chain hopes its innovation will cash in on consumers' environmental concerns by eliminating the aluminium and plastic waste of regular coffee capsules
A new coffee machine system by Switzerland's largest retailer Migros in Zurich
Image: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP
Switzerland's biggest retailer launched a new coffee machine invention on Tuesday—fully compostable coffee balls which it hopes will shake up the global market and take on Nespresso's global dominance.
The Migros supermarket chain hopes its innovation will cash in on consumers' environmental concerns by eliminating the aluminium and plastic waste of regular coffee capsules.
Rather than capsules, the new pods are balls of compressed coffee covered with a thin film made from algae.
With its new system, which took five years to develop, Migros is parking its tanks on the lawns of its Swiss compatriot Nestle, the giant in the coffee pod sector with its Nespresso brand.
The machines and coffee balls went on sale in Switzerland and France from Tuesday, but interest in other countries is "already huge", chief executive Fabrice Zumbrunnen said at the launch in Zurich, eyeing a wider rollout.