Coffee cap converts
Bean roasters embrace machines
Coffee snobs might turn up their noses at drinking a brew made from a capsule, but some New Zealand specialty coffee roasters are giving them a go.
Hummingbird Coffee launched Nespresso-compatible capsules just over two months ago, and chief executive Nick Cowper predicts they could end up accounting for nearly half of all roast and ground coffee sales.
‘‘One of the reasons we sat on the fence for a while was to see if it was going to be a fad.
‘‘But the market just keeps on going from strength to strength, so now it’s bigger than pre-ground espresso.’’
Cowper said figures from the country’s five largest supermarket chains showed capsules had cornered almost 20 per cent of the fresh coffee market, with sales worth $13 million annually, more than double what they were two years ago.
Although capsules had overtaken espresso grind, and were gaining on fresh beans (25 per cent), they were still well behind plunger and filter coffee (37 per cent).
Cowper said it looked as if coffee drinkers used multiple brew methods, snatching a quick Nespresso in the morning and saving their freshly ground coffee for plungers or espresso machines at the weekend.
He knew of about half a dozen other coffee roasters producing capsules, but it was a big investment.
Nespresso coffee capsules were the subject of court action in Europe and Hummingbird took legal advice before hitting the market.
Its packets carry a disclaimer making it clear the product is not endorsed or associated in any way with Nespresso.
Hummingbird had to adjust its roasting to get the right flavour from capsules, which also require a different kind of grind.
For that reason, the coffee for Hummingbird capsules is roasted, ground and packed by specialist equipment in Sydney.
However, other roasters wanting to test the capsule market are calling on the services of Auckland engineer Darryn Alexander who can custom fill several thousand capsules a day in his Auckland garage.
So far, his fledgling company Quantum Specialities Ltd, has a few coffee roasters on board. ’’We’re talking less than 10 currently,’’ he said.
He also gets orders from larger companies and individuals wanting their favourite roast in capsule form.
‘‘I can get about 180 capsules from a kilo of coffee and it’s still about 85 to 90 cents per cup.’’
Alexander said specialty coffee roasters tended to be dismissive of capsules and he won them over by brewing them a cup of their own coffee in his Nespresso machine.
‘‘What the local roasters have not clicked onto is that the Nespresso machines are just a delivery system.’’
Vice president of the New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association David Burton, said coffee capsules were good for the industry because they could help convert instant coffee drinkers to ground coffee.
‘‘The three C’s - clean, convenient and consistent - are very important for the average Joe in the street who doesn’t really understand grinding coffee and making a plunger; they just go ‘oh, it’s so easy.’
‘‘I’ve lost a handful of customers to pods, but I’m confident I’ll get them back. I’m pretty sure if you go from instant coffee to pods, you will never go back.’’