Water is then forced against a heating element at high pressure meaning that only the quantity for a single cup is warmed.

In 1975 Eric Favre, an employee of Nestlé, noticed that a coffee bar near the Pantheon in Rome had a disproportionately large number of customers.

It was first introduced to the Swiss market, looking like large traditional commercial espresso machines, initially with slow success.

In 1990, Nestlé signed a contract with Turmix [de], which started to sell Nespresso machines in Switzerland.

Starting out as an e-commerce business, Nespresso only opened their first boutique in Paris in 2000 as a concept store.

[15] Depending on the Nespresso system being used, the flat top or the pointed end of the capsule is pierced when inserted into the machine and the compartment lever is lowered.

When the machine is activated it pumps hot water under high pressure into injector holes poked into the narrow end of the capsule upon insertion.

This process produces a crema which is micro air bubbles that are mixed with the coffee's natural soluble oils.

The VertuoLine capsules cannot be used in the original line of Nespresso machines (now branded "OriginalLine" in North America).

Nespresso continues to sell both OriginalLine and VertuoLine machines and capsules in the United States and Canada, targeting different market segments with the two systems.

First, the system uses "Centrifusion" (a term created by Nespresso, being a portmanteau of centrifugal force and infusion), whereby it spins the capsule around in the machine at up to 7,000 rpm to blend the ground coffee and hot water.

[22] Some critics claim that the VertuoLine technology, particularly the use of bar codes, is an attempt by Nestlé to create a new proprietary Nespresso system which excludes compatible capsules from other companies.

[24] In the United States, Nespresso had only a 3% share of the single-serve coffee market in the year before the introduction of VertuoLine (compared with 72% for Green Mountain's Keurig system), while in Canada Nespresso had 4 to 5% of the single-serve market in 2013 (compared to approximately 53% for Keurig and 40% for Tassimo).

As of 2018, Nespresso aimed to introduce the Vertuoline system in eight additional European markets by the end of the year.

[26] In September 2019, the VertuoLine system launched in the Middle East in Kuwait, UAE, and KSA under the name "Vertuo".

[27] In 2010 the concept (machine, capsule, service) was still subject to 1,700 patents[28] which protected Nespresso's ownership of the concept until their expiry,[29][30] leading to comparisons of Nespresso with printer manufacturers that block the sale of generic ink cartridges to achieve a vendor lock-in effect.

[39] In these campaigns Clooney has paired with actors such as John Malkovich,[40] Danny DeVito,[39] and Matt Damon, who reportedly was paid $3 million for his participation.

[41] In the summer of 2020 amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, Nespresso released an Internet ad on their YouTube channel that focused on sustainability.

[42] In August 2011 the Australian company Kogan announced the development of the "Ez-press", a coffee machine compatible with Nespresso pods.

Nespresso has claimed that it offers up to a 40% premium on the price of beans, and some 75,000 farmers from 12 countries are participating in the program.

[56] Other projects also include collaborating with Caran d'Ache to create a ball point pen out of recycled coffee pods.

[58] In 2023 Nespresso introduced paper-based coffee pods in France and Switzerland;[59] they can be recycled with biodegradable waste.Recycling bags are provided to customers free of charge.

[61] Since June 2018, Canadian customers from all provinces and territories except British Columbia and Quebec, can mail-in their full recycling bags at no extra cost through Canada Post.

[64] Nespresso recognizes that its capsule coffees contain contaminants (Furane, aluminum, cobalt, chrome, tin, nickel, copper, zinc, Acrylamide, and various insects) but does not officially communicate on the quantities present in each dose as well as the maximum daily doses to not exceed via consumption of these capsules.

[65] By 2014 Nespresso had been involved in further legal disputes about pods with competitors in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands; one media report said "Nestlé has lost in just about every one of those conflicts.

"[66] In France—Nespresso's largest market, which made a quarter of its global sales at the time—the antitrust watchdog Autorité de la concurrence said that "it appears that Nespresso may have abused its dominant position by tying the purchase of its capsules to that of its coffee machines, with no fair justification, de facto ousting rival capsule makers".