So, what happened in 1984? Well, Medicare came into effect, the One Dollar coin was introduced in Australia, France beat Spain 2-0 to win Euro84, and although most people don't realise it, the Nespresso capsule system was created.

Although the first couple of attempts for Nespresso Capsules didn't take off in the marketplace, the last ten years has proven successful for the Nespresso Capsule system. There are trade-offs with the system though, resulting in only 5 grams of coffee per serve vs 9-18 (or more) grams from a dedicated coffee machine​ and the capsules are not currently easily recyclable. The capsules are made from a combination of aluminium and plastic, and considering they weigh a total of 3 grams for each package, the coffee is only an additional 5 grams - that's a lot of packaging when considering the product to waste ratio.

In an effort to green their procurements, the city of Hamburg in Germany has introduced a ban on certain packaged products purchased with council funds, ultimately taxpayer monies. This ban includes coffee capsules like Nespresso. The issue is that they are not easily recycled, but that does not mean they cannot be recycled at all. Nespresso runs their own recycling program with many of the capsules being recycled to form products such as components for the automotive industry.

Understanding the words used in the industry to describe coffee is not something we need to worry too much about as consumers, but its good to understand the words used to describe the coffees grown at the farm, harvested and picked by the farmers imported and roasted by your roaster. 

Coffee is similar to wine when thinking about characterising flavours, aromas and tastes. Usually we use terms like  bitter, sweet, sour, fruity or chocolate, but the coffee industry uses more complicated selection to classify their coffee beans. Instead of using words like fruity, the pros will instead use words like berry, dried fruit or other fruit and then go on further to classify berry as blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, strawberry. 

Over the last decade, consumers have increased their understanding and knowledge of coffee flavours with their tastes becoming more diverse. No longer can a coffee be described simply as coffee - although we as Australian's don't generally buy into the snobbery associated with many things, we do quietly like to know and appreciate the differences. 

So, although you wont be ordering coffee that is ashy / smoky and a little nutty with hints of honey and chocolate, you'd be right on the money if you ordered a bag of Mocha Prince which has coffee beans from Colombia, Brazil, Kenya and a few others!