German coffee group Melitta is to roll out products using CoffeeB compostable coffee balls designed by Switzerland’s Migros.
Two SKUs are to go on sale through German grocer Edeka next month.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Migros subsidiary Delica launched the CoffeeB balls, which are designed to replace capsules, three years ago. The compostable balls are brewed through the company’s CoffeeB machines.
Edeka will sell the products – CoffeeB Melitta BellaCrema La Crema and the CoffeeB Melitta Auslese Klassisch – through its namesake stores, as well as its Marktkauf and Netto Marken-Discount chains. Each pack contains nine balls.
Ebba Grebe, the CMO of the Melitta Europa business unit, said the launch of the company’s CoffeeB products was “an exciting step towards a more sustainable future of coffee consumption”.
CoffeeB was launched in Germany two years ago. According to Delica, 275,000 households in Germany have a CoffeeB machine.
“Through the partnership with Melitta, we can integrate the long coffee tradition and know-how into our still young brand and expand our range of the finest flavours,” Xerxes Shahparast, the MD of Delica’s business in Germany, said.
In Switzerland, Delica markets CoffeeB balls under its own Café Royal brand. Coffee brand Illy also sells CoffeeB products in the country.
Last year, Migros said Keurig Dr Pepper would use the technology behind the balls in the company’s plastic and aluminium-free K-Rounds pods.
Delica struck a “long-term” deal to give Keurig Dr Pepper the exclusive rights to use the technology in the US, Mexico and Canada.
Melitta was founded in 1908 by Melitta Bentz and is headquartered in Minden, Germany. Bentz is credited with patenting the first paper coffee filter. Since then, the family-owned coffee business has expanded globally and sells coffee products, machines and filters.
In May last year, Melitta acquired a majority stake in the South African roaster Caturra for an undisclosed sum.
Caturra roastery is based in Cape Town and its products are available in retail and hospitality channels.
“Growing in new markets and internationalising our business are important for Melitta coffee in Bremen if we are to achieve the growth and earnings targets we have set ourselves,” Melitta Europe’s managing director, Matthias Rensch, said at the time.
“We are convinced that we can make excellent use of the Melitta’s extensive expertise for the growth and expansion of Caturra – and that we can also open up numerous new sales opportunities on the African continent for the Melitta Group’s business units.”
