Make:

the capsules are recyclable...

what model do you have? Interested in selling it?

Instead of Fair Trade Coffee, Nespresso has what is called the Nespress AAA Sustainable quality program, which you can find out more about at their website: http://www.nespresso.com/aaa-program/en/

All Nespresso machines use the same type and size pods--so an effective "hack" of them will liberate all coffee machines.

Thanks Touche25--I've checked out Nespresso's "AAA Sustainable Quality TM" program and it appears they've paid a lot of money to commission pictures of smiling dark-skinned people. They even tout a measly $64,000 donation for "preserving the rain forest"--which is a rounding error on the profits they get from destroying the rain forest. This is a company that made over $70 billion last year (Nestle). For all this "effort" the website remains very, very fuzzy on how to buy Fair Trade coffee--from them.

With a hack, we could use our machines and source Fair Trade or organic coffee from all over the world--not wait on their unconvincing behavior...

Or you could, you know, use a regular coffee maker. Everything that's easier to use requires some extra manufacturing, which will inevitably deplete some natural resource and use laboring time that could've been dedicated to something more useful. I guess you mostly realize this, since you mention maybe getting rid of it, but I just thought I'd point that out..

I've never seen or used one, so all I know is what the wikipedia article says. It seems that while the capsules are uniform, the way that they are punctured in the coffee maker is not. Any modification of the device to use re-chargeable capsules entails an extra degree of effort that would probably be equal to or more than using a standard coffee maker. Think about it - you'd have to open this capsule, clean it out (well, I wash MY coffee machine, some people don't), re-charge it, re-seal the capsule, and then store it for later use. Compare this to a normal coffee maker, which has no sealing hassles but the same cleaning problem.

Is the coffee maker that much better than others somehow? Ask yourself what made you buy it in the first place, and will that advantage still be there if you have to spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with hacked capsules?

I used to use a French Press--which I found much easier actually than an electric machine of any type. I used one for about 15 years. But then I received this one and got to thinking about it--why can't I make my own permanent capsule and just refill it myself every time? I don't think that would deplete resources compared to other methods.

Good point about cleaning, Shbazjinkens--I always cleaned mine too!--In this respect, the Nespresso might represent more water savings. It cleans itself if one runs it without a pod, and the water use is just the amount of one shot of espresso. Now that I've switched from coffee to espresso, I really do use a lot less in terms of beans and water and only have to use energy to heat up a small amount of water--but having to use Non-Fair Trade coffee to me is unacceptable from a human rights standpoint.

Designing my own re-use capsule solves both an environmental problem as well as the important-to-me human rights problem.

Based on what I know about the machine, having never seen one and just reading the Wiki article, here's how I would do it.

I guess there's a hole punctured in the top of the pod where the water injector goes. The seal here is probably important since the bottom is blown out by the pressure. I would take a used pod, widen that hole with a drill, and fasten a brass insert in its place. The insert would have a conical guide so that the injector would always find its way to the hole in the middle. The hole in the middle would have an o-ring or something to help seal it.

I'd chop the bottom off, it seems flimsy, and set-screw a brass ring with a larger o-ring inset to it. I'd tap four or more holes around the circumference and attach a perforated disk made of thicker aluminum to it with thumb screws.

It would be re-usable, easily disassembled, somewhat easily cleaned, and hopefully very long lasting. You need a lathe to make the parts easily.

I think you all miss the point of the nespresso - I own and have found that from an all around standpoint the nespresso is a wonderful machine - in order to really know about the machine and the quality of the coffee and the ease and simplicity of it not to mention the small amount of water, power and labor used makes this a device for most of us to enjoy you'd have to either own one or have the use of it for a month - the only problem with it is that it has increased my consumption of wonderful espresso drinks by a 100.00 a month - you all need to get a life -

Stephano

Uh - we all need to get a life and buy expensive proprietary coffee machines, because that's what life is all about? I have quite an enjoyable life without it and loads of other unneccesary material possessions, thanks.

You need to get some perspective. Your logic is off. That small amount of water and power is meaningless next to the power it takes to smelt aluminum. Look into it, I'm not exaggerating. This really depends on how much aluminum there is, but from the pictures it's easy to speculate that the amount of power that goes into the likely amount of un-recycled aluminum dwarfs any savings by the machine. That is, unless you recycle them.. do you? If so, how much water and power do you think it takes to separate the used beans from the aluminum before recycling it?

Just to jump in here late.

Reusable cart in metal?
The aluminum is coated with mineral oil so the coffee does not touch it.... so your hack should be plastic.

Regular Machine?
The machine creates nearly 300 lbs of pressure to extract the coffee's flavor ... so drip, perk and home style machines can not compare.

Other Coffee?
The capsule is never opened so the aroma one enjoys whilst making a traditional cup of "from the can coffee" remains in the brew. (btw-most all brands of high pressure machines are made by delonge [sp?] as they hold the patents desired by Nespresso.)

As for Free Trade - I believe that it is a concept that corporations will respond to base upon consumer demands. There are almost 1mm Nespresso club members. Actually its 800k machines and if one assumes multiple users its a nice crowd.

Lets see, $.52 per cap times @2mm per day 365 well its easy math to see its a million dollar a day business. How hard would it be to offer one of their 12 blends as "Fair Trade" certified.

Another idea for the capsules is donating them to charities that convert them to cash. Such as The Ronald McDonald House which accepts aluminum tab tops - not the whole can.

Geez, I hate the self-righteous crowd - they never get the facts straight.

Recycling aluminum is far more energy efficient than shbazjinkens suggests, requiring only 5% of the energy used to make new aluminum. Why use aluminum? It's infinitely recyclable and better as a consumable packaging material than paper, plastic or other metals. Just do a Wikipedia search on aluminum recycling.

Towelman did a good breakdown on the pressure of the machine. Complete agreement - 19 bar expresso machines aren't the cheap plastic boxes

If I compare the cost of buying a half-decent expresso machine to a the price of a Nespresso and consider the capsule-vs-pad or bean costs, the offset of several hundred euros on the machine costs really supports the price of the capsules over the life of the unit. I'll be eating that cost away for at least 5-6 years. (This isn't considering the costs of replacing the guts of some automatic units like the Jura every 3 years or so - 2 friends just had theirs done, so add €250 euros there).

I will agree with most everyone else on the need for proper Free Trade sources of coffee. While I do like the coffee Arpeggio and Fortissio Lungo brews the best (90% of my coffee are of these two) I'd really appreciate more Fair Trade sources., but I won't cynically fault them for their AAA program. With 25,000 farmers and the authority of the Rainforest Alliance and SAN standards behind them, it's an honest program. Sure, more can be done, but it's happening.

shbazjinkens - Being smug and belittling without real facts makes your argument totally worthless; it also makes you sound like some odd-version of Bill O'Reilly.

i am interested in drinking organic coffee, so I have tried filling their emptied out capsules and putting a stainless screen over the pod and inserting it in the machine. Only, the coffee spurts out the sides and fills the bottom tray instead of my cup. I have talked to many people at Nespresso, and organic is not even on their screen. They are not going there. If someone can tell me how to gerry rig the capsule, I would be so grateful!

I got one of those coffee makers free as a promo - the coffee is crap. I figured they gave away the maker so they could sucker me into buying consumables (you know, like inkjet printers....) After the first 2 cups I "donated" it to the nurses at the hospital where I work (the ones who use 2 scoops of coffee for a 12 cup pot *shudder*). I spent a few bucks on one of these:
http://www.aerobie.com/Products/aeropress_story.htm
Uses sub-boiling water (one of those insinkerator near-boiling taps works great). Brews near-espresso in under a minute (can be watered to a americano easily), and clean-up involves pointing the thing at a trashcan and pushing the plunger, then rinsing. It combines the best parts of a french press and filter coffee. Oh, and it has one moving part and requires no electricity. The only downside is that it uses more coffee than normal to make a cup of coffee (but it is incredibly rich and smooth with none of the bitterness you get when you over-extract coffee.) Ditch the nespresso, buy fair trade coffee and get wired.

Wow. Lots of feeling and judgment flying around here. The simplest solution is to buy a reusable filter capsule made for the machine for $14.95. You can then use whatever coffee and politics you wan while creating 0 waste. ... all at a bargain price. As of September 2009, You can find one of these reusable capsules at the Chef's shop in Great Barrington, MA http://www.thechefsshop.net or 800-237-5284.

I've been refilling nespresso capsules since I ebay'd my first system back in the '90s.

It's a bit of an art (and adjustment as nespresso modifies their capsule holders to try and thwart "refillers") but it's so nice to have a supply of your own capsules every day, and not effectively pay 64 dollars a pound for the nespresso capsules. Not to mention the enjoyment of roasting your own green coffee beans as part of the process and knowing you are re-using the capsules rather than creating more junk.


I've always toyed with writing an ebook on the process of adapting your machine, adapting the capsules and efficiently refilling them, but I doubt if there is enough demand to justify the effort.