Do we like them?

Do we like Nespresso?

Portioned coffee capsules and machines, sold worldwide; run from Switzerland as a business unit of Nestlé.

Our score: 5 out of 10. Mixed. Its farmer and recycling programmes are real, but it sits inside Nestlé, and aluminium pods and a history of legal fights over rivals count against it. We'd back it cautiously.

Nespresso is Nestlé's premium coffee-capsule arm, based in Switzerland. Alfonso Gonzalez Loeschen became CEO on 1 November 2025. He had run the North American business since 2020. He took over from Philipp Navratil, who was promoted to run all of Nestlé.

On the good side, Nespresso says its AAA Sustainable Quality Programme, developed with the Rainforest Alliance, supports over 120,000 farmers. It also says most of its capsules use at least 80% recycled aluminium, and it runs take-back schemes. Note these claims come from the company's own pages.

Nespresso Professional, the business arm, achieved B Corp certification. The Caterer reported it. That counts for something, though the certification covers that division, not the whole brand.

Nestlé has fought rivals hard over compatible capsules. A Paris court ordered it to pay €500,000 in 2014 for unfair competition against Ethical Coffee Company. Courts in the UK and Benelux let others sell compatible pods. Nestlé said it was disappointed with the Paris ruling and would appeal.

So we land in the middle. There are real sourcing and recycling efforts, but they are largely self-reported. The brand is also tied to Nestlé and built on single-use pods, and the best-known court case against it is more than a decade old.