When we first started Cabine du Cap, we boasted about how we had enough solar power to run a Nespresso machine. People enjoyed being off the grid, but still having the ability to get a fresh brew in seconds, like they were used to in the city

And that went on for a few years. We all played nicely and learnt about our favourite Nespresso flavours and strengths. Pods were impossible to buy, with only one Nespresso shop in Cape Town and a clunky online shop.

So we started switching to other brands that were also making pods. They were all pretty toilet, not quite nailing that quality output we were used to from the original Nespresso pods.

But then Nespresso pods become uncool. They were and are killing the planet, and there‘s nothing George Clooney can do it about it.

As recently as last month, The Guardian put out a monster ‘long read’ article – ‘How Nespresso’s coffee revolution got ground down’, with the top line, ‘Nestlé’s sleek, chic capsule system changed the way we drink coffee. But in an age when everyone’s a coffee snob and waste is wickedness, can it survive?’

You can read that article in your own time, but here’s the main bit:

Nespresso uses aluminium because it is light, strong and durable, making it the best material for a sealed container that must be flown around the world and then subjected to extreme heat and pressure on someone’s kitchen counter. Only a tiny amount of coffee is used in each pod, so less coffee is wasted than in a cafetière, or with other methods, in which many grams can be used per cup. And the pods are, in theory, 100% recyclable.

But because they contain plastic as well as aluminium, they can’t just be dropped in a regular recycling bin. Instead, used capsules must be dropped off at Nespresso boutiques or some convenience stores; in some countries, Nespresso offers a service that collects them from customers’ homes…

But some experts have suggested that just 5% of Nespresso pods are recycled. Even if Nespresso’s figure is accurate, with a conservative estimate of 14bn capsules being sold each year, and 0.9 grams of aluminium per capsule, that means 12,600 tonnes of Nespresso aluminium end up in landfill annually, enough for 60 Statues of Liberty.

Well, that’s not just not acceptable.

Enter Roger Federer, stage left.

That’s the Jura E8 ‘bean-to-cup’ coffee machine, right there – we just picked one up for Caracal (the four-bedroom, 12-sleeper, cliff-dangling Klein Karoo masterpiece, just two-and-a-half hours from Cape Town). And let me tell you something, it’s unbelievable.

Not surprising, given The Prince’s affiliation.

Check out the video below – you can select which Terbodore Coffee you want from the cute little colour digital pictures on the screen.

I went through a cappuccino phase, followed by a macchiato stint, and now it’s black coffee for me – as we prepare for summer with intermittent dieting and ramped-up exercise regimes.

Oh, and if it’s capsules you’re after, Terbodore’s range is extensive and compostable – that’s what the little green circle is all about.

You can find more on how they’re compostable here.

Sorry, George, but times have changed.