The Story Behind Senseo and the Douwe Egberts Corporation

It was a match made in heaven, at least if your heaven includes wonderful coffee. When Douwe Egberts, the world's second largest coffee roaster, teamed up with Royal Philips Electric, one of the world's leading innovators in electronic devices, the result was bound to be sensational. The Senseo coffee pod system is the product of a partnership between two world leaders in their field with a common background.

Douwe Egberts

Egbert Douwes opened a small shop in Joure, The Netherlands back in 1753. De Witte Os sold coffee, tea and tobacco to the townspeople, and was more than moderately successful. In 1780, his son joined the family business and together, they expanded their holdings, adding more shops throughout the region.

The company prospered, and continued to grow throughout The Netherlands, but it was not until the mid-20th century that it expanded beyond the borders of its homeland. In 1948, Douwe Egberts began selling coffee, tea and tobacco in Belgium. Over the next twenty years, the company added sales in Belgium, France and Spain. In 1978, the company was acquired by international food corporation Sara Lee. Since then, Sara Lee and Douwe Egberts has become the second largest coffee roaster in the world. Familiarly known as Sara Lee/DE, the company is a subsidiary of Sara Lee and employs over 26,000 people around the world.

The Douwe Egberts brands include Pickwick tea, Douwe Egberts coffee, Piazza d'Oro espresso, Cafitesse, Pilao coffee and of course, the Senseo system. Sara Lee sells products in nearly 200 countries. The Sara Lee brands include Sara Lee, Earth Grains, Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean, Ball Park, Bimbo, Kiwi, Ambi Pur, Sanex, and of course, Douwe Egberts.

Royal Philips Electronics

In The Netherlands in 1891, Gerard Philips founded a small electronics company focused on making light bulbs and other technical electronic equipment. By the 1920s, the company had begun to expand its line of products and make a name for itself as an innovator in the electronics field. In the 1920s, they began to manufacture vacuum tubes, acquiring holdings in both Germany and England as subsidiaries. In 1939, Philips began marketing their electric shaver, which is sold in the U.S. as Norelco, and which has become the standard bearer for their personal care division.

Among the other innovations that have come out of Philips are the audio cassette tape (introduced by Philips in 1963) and the compact disc (developed in partnership with Sony). Philips today is a worldwide leader in manufacture and sale of color television sets, lighting, electric shavers, medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring, and one-chip TV products. Since 2001, the company has won over 60 design awards for personal care and electronic appliances.

A Beautiful Partnership

In 2001, Douwe Egberts teamed up with Philips to introduce the Senseo system, the single serve coffee system that uses a patented pad brewing system to make coffee and other hot beverages. The Senseo was first introduced in February 2001 in The Netherlands, and became available in the US in 2004.

The system uses a patented coffee pod (called a pad in some countries) that holds a premeasured amount of coffee or beverage mix and fits into the brewer. The brewer heats water to the correct temperature and dispenses the beverage after brewing. The major innovations in the Senseo were the single cup brewing system and the use of the coffee pad.

Sara Lee/DE's part of the partnership is, of course, coffee. Douwe Egberts offers a wide variety of coffee blends to suit most tastes, as well as tea in pods to fit the Senseo machine. The current blends include Sumatra, Brazil, Kenya and Colombia, each of them with the characteristics common to the named region. In addition, there are selected specialty beverages, including espresso, cappuccino and Cafe Noir, a sweet, dark blend with a chocolate finish. There are also flavored pods, which include Paris (vanilla caramel), Vienna (hazelnut, vanilla and mocha), and a number of limited edition varieties that are currently only available in select European locations. For tea lovers, Douwe Egberts offers Earl Grey and Minty Green T-pods for the Senseo.

Patent-ly Perfect

In 1998, Sara Lee/DE filed a patent in Belgium to protect their use of the coffee pad system. The patent was challenged after the Senseo hit the market and competitors realized that the patent prevented them from manufacturing coffee pods. The patent was successfully challenged in the Belgian court. As of 2004, the year that the Senseo was introduced in the US, other companies have the legal right to make and sell coffee pods that fit the Senseo system. In addition, several pod makers on the market allow consumers to make their own coffee pods. This allows flexibility in making the coffee or tea of your choice utilizing the Senseo Brewing System.