If it’s good enough for George Clooney… Nespresso is opening its first boutique in B.C. at Metropolis at Metrotown.

Launching Tuesday (April 24), the new, immersive concept store lets customers get hands-on with coffee grounds to learn about different bean flavours and aromas and gives them a chance to experiment in the Lab Kitchen, picking up tips on how to make perfect foam or try out recipes for various espresso-based drinks.

If there’s one complaint people have about coffee capsules, it’s that they’re hard or impossible to recycle, piling up in landfills instead. Customers can bring their used capsules to any Nestlé-owned Nespresso outlet, which sends them through its own recycling process where coffee grounds are mechanically separated from the aluminum capsule; the aluminum is repurposed and the coffee grounds are transformed into compost for use on local farms at no cost to citizens or municipalities, says Jean-Luc Valleix, Nestlé Nespresso Canada president, in an interview with the Straight.

Still, it’s unlikely all of even the most well-intentioned consumers return their capsules this way. To surmount this, the company has launched a Green Bag Recycling pilot project in partnership with Recycle B.C. Residents of Vancouver, Anmore, and Coquitlam can recycle used coffee capsules in their household recycling bin with a specially designed bag.

If it’s successful, the aim is to roll out the program throughout the province within a year.

Designed by London’s Universal Design Studio, the Metrotown shop features table tops made of used coffee grounds and wood sourced from reforestation programs.

To launch its new space, the Nespresso Boutique is hosting grand-opening events from April 27 to 29, including music by a local DJ and Nespresso-infused bites by Vancouver chef Juno Kim, who creates various local culinary pop-ups.  

And how much convincing did it take to get George Clooney to make those ads? Did he do it for the money?

“George Clooney was actually a Nespresso Club member long before becoming our official brand ambassador,” Valleix tells the Straight. “The partnership began with a conversation at our global headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland more than 10 years ago. It was a natural fit.

“He has also been a member of the Nespresso sustainability advisory board since its inception in 2013, collaborating on ideas and solutions towards improving the lives and futures of coffee farmers around the world,” he says. “We are very happy to have been working with him in the North American market since 2016.”