Nespresso moving into single origins, drip-strength cups

Thanks to a reader for passing along the news that not only has Nespresso been offering a single-origin Ethiopia for some months now, but also this story about them introducing a larger capsule and proprietary brewer that's capable of making an 8 oz. cup as well as espresso.

I found it interesting to see just how tiny their market share is in the U.S., compared to their leading (albeit diminishing) share in Europe, and how intense the competition is worldwide in a market segment that has only existed for about half a decade.

Surely there's plenty of room for truly high-end, single-origin coffees in this form, which has huge freshness/shelf life advantages over K Cups and the like. Of course what I'd prefer is to see an "open source" brewer that can use great, locally-roasted (better still, home-roasted) coffee while providing close to the same level of ease and convenience. Come to think of it, I had Peet's Ethiopia Super Natural in my Aeropress this morning, and it was fabulous.