Mr Foodie Environmentally-friendly Nespresso compatible coffee
Coffee pods (AKA capsules) have been criticised by many for not being environmentally-friendly. The official Nespresso ones are made with aluminium but you can also find plastic ones too, so they are designed to be throwaway items even though they have perfectly good coffee grounds inside, which could find a second lease of life in the garden or allotment. Compostable pods are already on the market but we must confess that this is the first time we’ve used any.
With lockdown and working from home I’m missing my regular café coffee fix but when you have a Nespresso machine at home you take advantage of it – actually that is one major advantage of working from home as we don’t have one in the office!
Waste from additional capsules is a worry though, billions ends up in landfills every year, so we were more than happy when Halo asked us to try out their 100% home compostable capsules to make coffee in a sustainable way.
Packaging
The Halo paper coffee capsules are made from waste sugar cane fibre and in as little as four weeks in home compost they will degrade.
We received two packs of 10 capsules each. Both coming in identical sleek, stand out boxes. I like the packaging a lot, and opening each box had the allure of something expensive like cigars or whisky complete with otherworldly woody, smokey tobacco aromas.
The phrase ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ never seemed so apt. The aroma is very enticing.
But it’s not just the pods that are compostable, the entire boxed packaging is too!
And each box even comes with a free bookmark. 😛
So here’s how one of the pods looks close up. Once from the front…
…and from behind. They’re sturdy and have a textured feel.
Coffee taste
Halo coffee is sourced from the best coffee growing regions in the world. We tried two of the available ten varieties: Honduras single-origin and Three Mountain bespoke blend.
The Three Mountain bespoke blend has notes of nuts, chocolate, berries & molasses. The three mountains are Colombian Andes, Nepalese Himalayas, Kenyan Kilimanjaro, which was milder and more like filter coffee so a pleasant one to have a few cups of while working away.
The Honduras single origin was my favourite with a nuttier aroma and strong and creamy taste. Ideal for starting the day or a post-lunchtime pick-me-up!
Making coffee with Halo pods
One thing we did notice with the pods is that because they are softer than, and lacking the firm edges of, aluminium or plastic they may need a helping hand getting into the correct position. Once in place they work like any other Nespresso-compatible capsule but they may also need pushed through afterwards – this is explained on the Halo website, where they recommend using a teaspoon to dislodge a stuck capsule.
We’ve used clear cups to demonstrate some hot coffee making action!
The final coffee has a great crema while imparting woody, nutty flavours.
There is life after coffee
The pods come out the machine looking like this, still intact and ready to be environmentally disposed.
Where to buy
Online via Halo – global shipping and free delivery in Europe for orders over £35. Order one-off boxes from £7 for 10 or subscribe to save money. Subscriptions can be weekly, fortnightly or every 3 or 4 weeks.
Verdict
There really is no excuse for coffee pods not being compostable so it’s great to try out Halo. We loved the packaging and the coffee but there is a price to pay for sustainable coffee as the pods are quite costly, being more expensive than the official Nespresso capsules but if you are big into coffee and big into being environmentally-friendly we highly recommend that you give these a go. Also, the best before date is around 9 months after purchase so they still have a lengthy shelf life in the sugar cane fibre packaging.
TL;DR
+ Excellent coffee
+ Compostable pods
+ Box packaging is biodegradable and compostable too
+ Order one-off or sign up for regular deliveries
– Pods have a tendency to get stuck so need a bit of prodding to get out
– Expensive in comparison to other coffee pods
Fred sez thank you to Halo for giving some free samples to his hoomans to try. Paws up they are honest in dis review.
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