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Sales of "capsule Coffee" quadrupled in five years

Published: 2026-02-22 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/02/22, According to Euromonitor, global annual sales of capsule coffee have tripled in the past five years and are now worth $10.8 billion, while the overall coffee market has grown by only 35 per cent in five years.

The advantages of capsules are simple and convenient, and the quality of each cup of coffee made can be basically consistent.

The concept of coffee capsules was born in 1976, dedicated to capsule coffee machines. Under Eric Favre's leadership, Nespresso launched the world's first coffee capsule product, Nespresso.

Eric Favre is a coffee connoisseur who has visited countless Italian cafes and tasted thousands of different espresso coffee flavors. At a coffee shop in Rome called Sant 'Eustachio, he discovered that the owner made espresso differently, and when he operated the espresso machine, he often thought that the machine was faulty and complicated to pull the handle, allowing a large amount of compressed gas to enter the cup body, and was inspired to develop the coffee capsule product that people see today.

In 1986, Nespresso officially separated its coffee capsule division and Nespresso SA was established, with inventor/founder Eric Favre becoming CEO. Eric Favre left Nestle in 1989 to form his own independent coffee capsule company MONODOR. In 2000, it began working with LAVAZZA to promote coffee capsule technology and products.

The name coffee capsule was completely translated from English. The English meaning of capsule was capsule. Although it was a drink, it had a name like medicine. However, the name does vividly reflect the characteristics of coffee capsules, like medicinal capsules, are also gelatine packaging contains powder substances.

The advantage of coffee capsules is that because the capsule wall texture is relatively hard, it maintains a good prototype at high temperatures, so high-pressure water vapor can be injected into the capsule, so that coffee can be completely precipitated with crema under the action of pressure.

At present, the main brands of coffee capsules are: Nespresso, K-cup, Oro(Oro), LAVAZZA, Monodor, Gaggia ecaffe and caffe tiziano.

In Europe, Nespresso accounts for half of capsule coffee, and they launched capsule tea drinks in Europe in 2012, and a year later, the product was introduced to the Japanese market.