Nespresso coffee shops around the world: Why?
Posted by TheShot on 06 Nov 2006 | Tagged as: Beans, Consumer Trends, Foreign Brew, Home Brew, Machine
Here’s an item in today’s news: Nestle reportedly to open luxury coffee shop in Brazil - MarketWatch. In some parts of the world, Nestlé’s Nespresso system, at least on the surface, appears to be making money hand-over-fist for them. Part of Nestlé’s strategy has been to open up Nespresso stores in places such as Geneva, Zurich, Vienna, Paris, and Moscow.
Lisbon is no exception. The Nespresso store in Lisbon’s Chiado district offers window displays of the latest Nespresso machines. Inside, once you look past all the customers and curious onlookers in the store, you encounter a lighted wall of machine choices. And in back, where the store is particularly jammed, you notice the many clerks, buzzing around like busy worker bees in front of a Nespresso refill “hive” of sorts. Add the number of Nespresso bags you see shoppers carrying in the streets, and you realize that the store’s success is perhaps more than a novelty fad.
This posed a great mystery to me. How could a culture so dependent on good espresso seem so smitten, at least from what I could tell, with the mediocre quality of an at-home pod machine and it’s pre-ground, pre-packaged coffee? Personally, I would buy a simple Bialetti long before I’d buy one of these systems.
To solve this mystery, I think you have to start by looking a little into the Portuguese psyche. Different cultures will have different motivations, of course. But the reasons behind Lisbon’s unexpected fascination with Nespresso may have parallels in other countries where sales are healthy.
Why would anyone want one of these?
First of all, the Portuguese are infatuated with modern design. Bright orange is arguably the national color. And a little unlike Italy, where historical preservation carries a tremendous reverence, the Portuguese are less reluctant to throw out the old to make way for the new. Particularly when it comes to their personal living environment. (And Lisbon is perhaps one of the greatest contrast studies between the very old and very new, coexisting side-by-side.) So from a modernist perspective, the idea of a cubic Nespresso machine in the home is quite aspirational.
Another factor: historically, the Portuguese have not made espresso at home — other than the stovetop moka pot. Good espresso is ubiquitous in Portugal’s streets, so there hasn’t been a motivation to make something at home that’s half as good. It’s a similar story in Italy. However, the quality of espresso from typical home machines has improved greatly over the past decade. And when you combine Nespresso’s modern design with its compact size (interior space being another thing in short supply in Portugal), the home espresso machine becomes an achievable luxury item.
I don’t see Nespresso having the same appeal in America as it does in, say, Portugal. American kitchens have grown much larger — like our SUVs and dinner plates — to accommodate bigger appliances. Modern design is nice, but it’s not an obsession here. And Americans primarily drink coffee at home — and have for decades. If anything, Americans are just now learning to appreciate more of the joys of having a coffee out.
But if you are ever accosted by Nespresso salespeople while walking through a kitchen store (as I have been multiple times), do yourself a favor and just tell them it’s the best coffee you’ve ever had and you’re already stocked up for the winter. I unfortunately learned this the hard way.
UPDATE: November 10, 2006
While Nestlé is rolling in Euros, it seems that Kraft Foods’ Tassimo competitor is ailing in the U.S. — according to an article in today’s Los Angeles Times: Kraft’s Tassimo falls short of expectations - Los Angeles Times.
UPDATE: November 28, 2006
Be very afraid. Nespresso ads with George Clooney are coming to a TV near you: Quirky coffee ad takes a jibe at Clooney’s “dark intense body”! However, this could be the sort of thing that Clooney’s image handlers might allow in Japan but not the U.S.
5 Comments »
on 19 Mar 2007 at 10:36 am PT 1.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Upscale Coffee Makers Drive Segment But Overall It’s Flat said …
[...] Coffee pods are a fad that is on life support at the value end (i.e., for machines under $100). However, home sales of high-end coffee pod makers are up significantly: MediaPost Publications - Upscale Coffee Makers Drive Segment But Overall It’s Flat - 03/19/2007. As I discovered in Lisbon’s fashionable Chiado district last year, an upscale market for these devices currently exists in Portugal at least. [...]
on 21 Mar 2007 at 8:15 am PT 2.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Consumer Delusion: ConsumerReports.org’s buyer’s guide to espresso makers said …
[...] And yet despite the world of difference between fresh coffee beans and not, Consumer Reports concluded with much love for the Nespresso. Not that it’s a bad espresso machine. But personally, I cannot make it past their required stale, pre-ground beans. Fortunately for Nespresso, many of their customers have been so conditioned by stale, pre-ground beans (the reviewers of Consumer Reports apparently included), they’ve come to expect — and believe there is — nothing more. [...]
on 09 Apr 2007 at 6:36 pm PT 3.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Nespresso controls brand with boutiques said …
[...] Yet Nestlé has been very savvy at globally positioning these machines and their pod “system” as an upscale brand. (Contrast with Kraft Foods’ home pod coffee system, Tassimo, which has been a financial disaster.) Today’s Los Angeles Times featured an article on Nestlés marketing strategy for the Nespresso, which has included branded boutiques for showcasing the devices: Nespresso controls brand with boutiques - Los Angeles Times. (Last year we wrote about one such Nespresso boutique in Lisbon’s Chiado District, including George Clooney’s Portuguese ads for the stuff.) [...]
on 31 Oct 2007 at 4:59 am PT 4.lisa said …
we received a nespresso machine as a gift and while i am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, i find the coffee far better than the old mr. coffee. i appreciate that it may not be the machine for the small percent of coffee gourmets, one should realize that not everyone can be fanatic about every aspect of one’s life. you have picked coffee, yet someone else who is a chocolate freak may be appalled by your choice of hershey’s or m&ms and calling it chocolate. what matters is that nespresso produces a nicer cup of coffee for the masses - leagues above mr. coffees! not everyone can afford the time to make each cup a religious experience, yet still want to have a cup of decent coffee. my neighbors are swiss and spanish and each recommended the nespresso as having closest to “home” coffee for them. when i go out and enjoy a “real” epresso in a restaurant, it is a lovely experience. it is part of the reason one goes out for a coffee or a restaurant is that you can’t always reproduce the experience at home, hence the impetus for going out!
nespresso is not for everyone, but is does bring a good cup of coffee to many who might not otherwise have it.
on 31 Oct 2007 at 7:06 am PT 5.TheShot said …
I have little cause to disagree with you, Lisa. You make some very accurate points.
The only thing I’d add is that you can typically beat the Nespresso’s coffee quality with the cheaper, low-tech option of fresh roasted coffee of your choice and a classic stovetop Moka pot (even if the latter isn’t technically espresso).
But Nespresso does offer a self-contained, low-mess convenience that can’t be rivaled if that’s a real priority for someone. I just caution that these seemingly self-contained machines still need regular cleaning and maintenance — like everything else before the build-up of coffee oils turns each cup into something more rancid than it should be.