Major developments are happening in the world of coffee formats: in a difficult year (but one in which coffee drinking certainly did not stop), things shifted to the home and this altered the way the beverage was prepared. In terms of both sustainability and the practicality of extraction. In some cases a certain domestic “savoir faire” was also involved. 

“In recent years there has been more of a growth in the capsules market worldwide than in sales of loose ground coffee, and we have focused on this trend with huge investments in production lines to make capsules compatible with Nespresso and Dolce Gusto,” explains Luca Cioffi, president of Coind. “In the large-scale retail trade there has actually been an increase in sales of ground coffee for home consumption, but we think this is a temporary situation. In northern Europe, meanwhile, we are seeing a growing demand for non-ground coffee beans with the increased popularity of bean-to-cup machinery for home use. We are also investing in this format and from January we will have a new production line devoted to beans. But the most important new development for us in 2021 is in compatible aluminium capsules, which will appear alongside plastic and compostable ones.”

With regard to sustainability and origins, “we believe that in future they will continue to be key areas both for us and for the companies we work with, taking into account the aims of the 2030 Agenda,” Cioffi goes on. “Sustainability has been a key value for Coind for years and we have paid a lot of attention to it with major investments on the production front and on designs that help reduce the environmental impact of products. In 2020 we began a collaboration project with the Dutch Climate Neutral Group to become the first company in Italy to produce coffee that is certified as ‘Carbon Neutral’, which means it has zero impact on the climate: this certification will appear on our compatible capsules and, on request, on the products we make for our clients’ private labels. As regards origins, for us it is fundamental to ensure that the product is consistent in terms of its flavour and aroma, which is why we continue to work with the network of producers with whom we have built up solid relationships.”

Caffè Borbone’s focus, meanwhile, is on green packaging, as its marketing manager Mario De Rosa explains. “Innovation and sustainability are key to our corporate philosophy and have always been central to our vision. We have characteristically always been big on innovating and on keeping up with the times, in keeping with the traditions of Neapolitan espresso. And it is very much with the winning combination of ‘innovation and eco-sustainability’ in mind that many of our design projects have come about: we were the first to launch onto the market a compostable pod that could be disposed of entirely in the food scraps bin and is ideal for natural land composting. Our most recent ideas include a set made up of compostable drinking cups and stirrers made of bio-degradable birch wood.” 

This green approach will continue to be a feature of the company’s projects for 2021. “We will be working on projects that will involve tradition and sustainability, but also technology. We want to focus on improving packaging technology, an area that has been one of the most innovative in our communication programme this year, culminating in our “It’s good because…” campaign, concerning our two-layer packaging method, which seals in the product securely and hygienically and at the same time preserves the aroma of the coffee, which is packaged in an oxygen-free atmosphere.”