Why We Built CoffeeB: The Story Behind the Brand

For years, we worked at the heart of the coffee industry, and we watched a brilliant invention meant to bring joy into people's homes become a source of global frustration.

We kept coming back to one simple, uncomfortable question: why should something as enjoyable as a cup of coffee create so much waste? It wasn't a question we could answer with a slightly more recyclable plastic or a marginally better aluminium pod. It needed us to stop improving the capsule altogether and start questioning whether it should exist at all. The category didn't need another incremental update. It needed a fundamental rethink that put the planet and the coffee experience on equal footing. That realisation is where CoffeeB began.

Read more about the team behind the launch of CoffeeB UK on our About Us page.

Thirty Years. Billions of Capsules. And Nobody Asked Why.

The single-serve coffee system was a Swiss breakthrough in 1976 that transformed home brewing, making it faster and more convenient than ever before. Yet since that first spark of innovation, the category has remained essentially unchanged for nearly half a century, locked into a take-make-dispose model where convenience is bought at the cost of the environment. Billions of capsules have been sold over the decades, the vast majority of them made from complex fusions of aluminium and plastic, and most are destined for landfill. Every single year, the industry generates over 100,000 tonnes of plastic and aluminium waste, a figure you can explore further on our Why Switch page. As long as the capsule remained the vehicle for the coffee, that reality was never going to change.

"Coffee has evolved dramatically over the last 30 years, but one thing has remained the same: the pod," says Lauren Williams, Chief Marketing Officer of CoffeeB UK. "Thousands of pods a day are going to landfill, and no-one has ever questioned whether we need them at all. We did. CoffeeB isn't about improving the pod. It's about removing it completely."

The Question Nobody in the Industry Was Asking

While other brands focused on building better recycling plants or greener pods, we decided to ask the question that seemed unthinkable: what if we simply didn't use a capsule at all? The problem, we realised, was never what sat inside the casing. It was the casing itself. Our goal was to imagine a system that delivered the simplicity and quality people loved, without the shell the planet didn't. Within our own team, the ambition was met with scepticism. Creating a capsule-free system was described as trying to land on the moon without space travel. We weren't just building a new machine. We were attempting to break a thirty-year industry lock-in and prove that zero waste wasn't a marketing buzzword, but a technical possibility.

Years of Dead Ends, Rebuilt Machines, and One Radical Idea

Perfecting the CoffeeB system took five years of intensive research and development, and it was an honest journey of exploration, trial and error in which plenty of ideas simply failed. We spent years building machines that we then had to adjust, scrap and rebuild from scratch, because handling a capsule-free ball presented mechanical challenges no one had solved before. Even the smaller details proved stubborn: in our search to keep the system as clean as possible, we trialled natural alternatives such as lemon and vinegar for descaling, only to find they were ineffective and risked damaging the machine.

The result of that persistence is the Coffee Ball. It is a compact portion of premium ground coffee, around six grams in each ball, held together not by plastic or metal but by a thin, patented, seaweed-based layer. This tasteless and colourless protective film acts as a natural oxygen barrier, locking in freshness and aroma for up to fourteen months without any traditional casing. Because it is made entirely from natural materials of plant and mineral origin, the spent ball is fully garden-compostable, returning to the earth as valuable humus within four to twelve weeks.

Great Coffee. Zero Compromise on Taste.

Sustainability is our mission, but we have always believed it should be the bonus of a great experience, not the pitch. Swiss engineering and coffee expertise are inseparable in our design. The CoffeeB Globe machine uses a patented four-step process, wetting, puncturing, inflating and extracting at 7 to 12 bar of pressure, to deliver the barista-style results people expect. In professional blind taste tests, our capsule-free system performed as well as conventional capsules, proving you can enjoy pure coffee flavour without any metallic or plastic overtones. By opening our system to iconic guest brands such as illycaffè, we are making sure world-class taste stays at the absolute centre of the CoffeeB experience.

Building a Movement, Not Just Another Coffee Brand

We didn't build CoffeeB to compete for a small slice of the existing pod market. We built it to create an entirely new category, and to be a catalyst for a broader movement towards a zero-waste lifestyle where quality and conscience go hand in hand. That movement is built on substance, not slogans. Every Coffee Ball is produced using coffee that is Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade or organic certified, and every spent ball can return to the soil as compost within weeks rather than lingering in landfill for centuries. When you join the CoffeeB community through our Founders Club, you aren't simply buying a machine. You are supporting a circular economy that prioritises resource efficiency and ethical sourcing from farm to cup.

For our co-founder, that opportunity was impossible to ignore. "After witnessing CoffeeB's Swiss success and experiencing first-hand just how tedious pod recycling really is, the opportunity was impossible to ignore," says James Newitt, Chief Commercial Officer and Co-founder. "The world is ready for a system change. There's no Planet B, but there is CoffeeB."

Why the UK and Ireland Are Ready for This

UK and Irish coffee drinkers are among the most discerning and conscientious in the world. The UK is now Europe's largest coffee market, with around 98 million cups consumed every day, and we've seen a remarkable shift towards the at-home barista, with 39% of Brits already owning a coffee machine and seeking premium café quality in their own kitchens. The appetite for brands that align with people's values has never been stronger either: 76% of consumers now expect brands to take action on sustainability, and Irish drinkers in particular are increasingly vocal about single-use plastics, with 65% specifically concerned about plastic in their coffee. This is a region ready for a coffee ritual that matches its values without anyone being asked to give up the indulgence they love.

Be Part of What Comes Next

What started as a Swiss rethink has grown into an international ambition to change the way the world drinks coffee, for the good of the planet. This is the start of a new era in coffee, and we want you at the heart of it. Whether through our growing range of blends or our partnerships with iconic coffee houses, we are committed to proving that the future of coffee is round, pure and revolutionary. Join us in proving that there's no Planet B, but there is CoffeeB.

Join the Founders Club and become part of the generation that changed how coffee gets made.

CoffeeB Is Now Available in the UK

The future of sustainable coffee is here, and it’s available to buy now. Join thousands of UK coffee lovers who have already switched to the Coffee Ball, great coffee, zero waste, and pure taste in every brew.