Nespresso controls brand with boutiques
Posted by TheShot on 09 Apr 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Café Society, Consumer Trends, Home Brew
Contrast with the many home espresso machine design failures, Nestlé’s Nespresso pods and machines have been something of a consumer success story. The Nespresso machines do exhibit good design and an impressive amount of convenience. For a number of home espresso lovers, however, these advantages ultimately pale in comparison to their required use of stale, pre-ground coffee. And when you add in that these machines are just as susceptible to the build-up of rancid coffee oils, and thus require regular maintenance anyway, they’re no longer quite as hands-off convenient as advertised.
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.)
Of course, Nespresso’s chief executive is going to say, “We’re selling the ultimate coffee experience” — even if that experience means stale, pre-ground coffee pumped out of a hunk of cheap plastic. The question for me is how long can Nespresso play this Wizard of Oz-like “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” upscale experience. Because sooner or later, coffee consumers will catch on to the critical importance of freshness in good coffee. And like fresh baked bread, nobody considers pre-shredded croissants, baked a month ago and stuffed in vacuum-sealed capsules, an “upscale experience”. The proof is in the flavor.
5 Comments »
Well it does keep the coffee fresh and this is what matters. Have you actually tried their coffee? It beats most commercial and home machines in terms of taste.
Peter, you may want to read this previous detailed review we made of Nespresso machines and their coffee:
http://theshot.coffeeratings.com/2007/05/nespresso-c180-review/
Nespresso tells consumers that vacuum-sealing their pre-ground coffee in magical pods somehow defies science, maintaining freshness on otherwise stale, pre-ground coffee. But this very same technique — vacuum-sealing pre-ground coffee — has been used on cans of Sanka and Maxwell House for decades. So what Nespresso does is neither new nor a reliable determinant of quality.
Regardless, the results show in the cup, as our detailed review illustrates. The taste can’t escape the flat staleness that comes with pre-ground coffee that’s been roasted many weeks prior to consumption. The crema is pale, flat, and rather sickly looking.
Sure, I’d take the Nespresso over a Krups machine. But consumers really need to demand better because it’s entirely possible. Rather than exposing consumers to what truly fresh coffee can taste like, the Nespresso just perpetuates the continued mass consumption of stale, pre-ground coffee but in a new delivery format.
It’s 10:15 pm in Scotland and I thought I would look for sympathy. While everyone else debates the quality of nespresso coffee, I’m still trying to get my machine to work. It is a Krups XN210010 and only six months old and has now been serviced twice with the same parts replaced (automatic essenza module and auto thermo block senso). Nespresso will not except the machine is duff and our good relationship is going sour. Trying to pin it on descaling has not worked as Scotland is known for its soft water. I’ve logged the sixth call and will now spend another 1/2 a day discussing the failure. Nepresso has to start to accept that if a machine is not up to the job then they should deal with the issue head on. We are high worth custom spending aprox £30/month on coffee. I think we will move to lavaza or miele. My gut feeling is that there are more machines out there like this and margins are not as great as they should be therefore Nespresso are unwilling to give way to good customer service that costs beyond current budget. Watch this space as I beleive Nepresso is now at a tipping point. The glossy branding can intice but reality is the decider.
Being one of the infamous Big Four we’ve often talked about, Nestlé is one of the last companies we would ever trust to do “the right thing” when it comes to coffee. They have decades of history indicating quite the contrary.
Which doesn’t mean they’re incapable of improving their standards. Given the baseline tests we’ve put them through, those standards may be better than the Krups‘ 1980s home espresso heyday. However, Nestlé’s standards are still woefully lacking and the Nespresso represents more “tolerable” than “good”. We just don’t understand how you can build a brand of upscale boutiques around a product where we can at best say, “It’s drinkable.”
I have been a nespresso drinker for the past year and have found it much better (on the whole) than coffee chains like bucks and Costa (uk).
however the capsules are not consistent as they fade in quality over time as you might expect. I try to ensure all the coffee I buy has a production date within the last six weeks.
Although this means going to a boutique instead of mail order.
But even I find some of the blends unappetising and barring in mind that like wine certain coffees only go well with specific flavours.
Their new strong espresso blend Iyrindia is simply miles better than their original ristretto, provided it is used within two months of production.
But to compare Nespresso to freshly roasted, freshly ground coffee is nonsense! Of course it won’t be close to as good.
But as far as quick convenient coffee goes, it is better than anything on the market.
And with the right machine you can make americano, cappuccino, latte, machiatto in seconds too! With fresh milk, unlike some competitors!