Lavasa has officially introduced its own espresso cake to the U.S. market, aiming to break Keurig's dominance in the single-serve coffee market in the United States. The Italian coffee giant launched the Tablì series of extraction equipment last year, the first to be launched in its native Italy. The matching coffee cakes are only made from compressed ground coffee, without coating, adhesive or gelatin ingredients. They can only be used with Lavasa's exclusive Tablì coffee machine. Each coffee cake is printed with the "100% pure coffee" logo. At the beginning of the launch, there are five flavors: standard concentrate, double concentrate, low-fat concentrate, dense milky flavor, and large cup light concentrate (extended water extraction).
Three round coffee cakes with the words “100% pure coffee” printed on the surface
Antonio Baravale, CEO of Lavasa, said in an interview with CNBC: "We rely on a set of industrial production lines with extremely complex processes to achieve high-density pressing of coffee cakes, which are not easily broken during transportation, and at the same time adapt to the complete extraction of coffee machines."
The entire Tablì product line stems from Lavasa’s 2020 acquisition of Italian startup Caffemotive. The entire system took five years to develop and has won more than 15 patents. The brand also built a new production plant in Gatinara, Italy, before mass production was launched.
As this time it lands in the United States, the strategic significance of the American market for Lavasa has become increasingly critical. Brand data shows that revenue in North America will surge 26.9% year-on-year in 2025.
"We are vigorously deploying the U.S. market, which is a core growth track for us." Balavale said that Lavasa's long-term goal is to achieve a revenue scale of 1 billion euros (equivalent to $1.15 billion) in the United States.
"The growth momentum in the value of brand intangible assets is very strong. We have invested huge marketing expenses in the past two years and will continue to increase our investment in the next five years."
The more than 130-year-old business remains fully privately owned by the Lavasa family. The latest annual report shows that the company's total revenue in 2025 was 3.9 billion euros and net profit was 92 million euros.
Currently, Lavasa’s annual sales in the United States exceed $100 million through retail channels such as Target and Walmart. For reference, Kairuipu's U.S. coffee business will have full-year net sales of $3.99 billion in 2025.
The vast majority of Kairuipu's coffee revenue comes from K-cup capsules. It has monopolized the U.S. single-serve capsule coffee market for more than a decade, but Nestlé Nespresso has continued to divert customers in recent years. Euromonitor International data shows that Carepu holds about half of the market share of ground coffee capsules in the United States, while Nespresso has about 7%.
Of course, Lavasa has previously reached a cooperation with Kairuipu to simultaneously sell capsule products adapted to K-cup machines in the United States.
Balavale admitted frankly that the brand has no intention to catch up with the two giants Caripur and Nespresso in the short term.
"Our core goal is to open up our own differentiated track. These two are industry giants, and one of them is also an important partner of ours. We are very satisfied with the current status of our cooperation."
Focus on environmentally friendly and sustainable concepts
Lavasa judged that environmental protection and sustainability are still the primary criteria for most coffee consumers when purchasing, but Balavale also admitted that there are differences in the importance of consumers in different countries.
Kairuipu's plastic capsules have been plagued by controversy over waste pollution for many years, leaving market space for environmentally friendly competing products. Kairuipu has claimed that all its K-cup capsules will be recyclable from the end of 2020.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2024 accused the beverage giant of making misleading claims about capsule recyclability. Kairepu ultimately agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine, neither admitting nor denying the regulator's allegations. Now the label on its official website reminds: "Please check the local recycling policy, most communities do not support the recycling of this type of capsules."
The recycling threshold for Nespresso aluminum capsules is lower, and the brand provides free return recycling channels.
At the same time that Lavasa is launching a competitive product of environmentally friendly coffee cakes, Kairuipu is also developing new plastic-free and aluminum-free coffee capsules. This fall the brand will launch K-Rounds round cake capsules, which use plant-based coating to encapsulate ground coffee. This innovation stems from years of cooperation with Swiss coffee equipment brand Delica, whose plastic-free coffee ball CoffeeB has gained market recognition in many European countries.
The Lavasa Tablì collection will officially be available in the U.S. in August. The brand’s official website has now opened a pre-sale package, priced at US$99.99, which includes a coffee machine, 60 pieces of mixed flavor coffee cakes and a milk frother.
Balavale said in May that the brand is still conducting consumer research to finalize the final pricing strategy and find out the price range that consumers are willing to pay for new products.
"We are also waiting to see the actions of the industry's leading giants. They are all launching similar environmentally friendly products. However, Lavasa's high-end brand positioning will not change, and we will not take the low-price route."