History of Nespresso

Nespresso is a coffee system by Nestle Nespresso SA, itself operating system of the Nestlé Group.

In 1976, Eric Favre, a young researcher at A Nestlé research lab, filed his first patent for the Nespresso system. Eric originally invented Nespresso coffee capsules for Nestlé but then left the company to start its own business.

He invented a coffee capsule filled with fresh ground coffee and an appropriate technique with enabled the coffee brewing process under high pressure.

At the time Nestlé dominated the huge instant coffee market with its Nescafé brand, but was weak in the roasted and ground coffee segment. Nespresso was founded in 1986 as a wholly owned, but autonomous, subsidiary of the Nestlé Group with headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Nespresso was launched in 1986 in Switzerland and Italy with C100 and C1 100 machine models manufactured by Turmix. Capsule production began in Switzerland and coffee varieties include Bolero, Capriccio, Cosi and Decaffeinato.

The system and brand gained additional popularity because in 2000 the first Nespresso commercials went on air on European television.

In 2004 Nestlé aimed to introduce a new system, complementary to the espresso-only Nespresso devices that could also serve cappuccino and lattes.
History of Nespresso