# Nespresso Indriya Toxicity



## jem_r_uk (Oct 20, 2012)

Here is a bit of a coffee lounge story... has anyone found anything similar?

I am a moderately heavy coffee drinker - 5 or 6 espressi a day ... and use a nespresso machine to feed my habit at home. Over the last few years, like any addict, I have moved to gradually stronger capsules and tried a range of flavours. Soon after they came out - about a year ago - I tried the Nespresso Indriya - quite liked it and so bought a few tubes of capsules.

Over the coming months I started to get mildly dissociative sensations that would last for half a day or longer - perhaps worse in the morning - but certainly not only a morning thing. I am a medic - so started a trawl to try work out a diagnosis. The symptoms were neurological - it felt like a mild hangover, but without a headache - or that period before you really get 'flu - when you feel grotty, but the fever has not started - you just know it will. I spend a lot of time looking at screens and felt that my eyesight was deteriorating or that my current glasses were just not quite right and were causing a problem. There were no really good localising neurological signs... I could not fit it with a range of potentially nasty things like MS, brain tumours, some sort of low grade encephalitis...or other conditions like benign paroxysmal vertigo...It did not feel like a bad coffee trip - none of jitters, gastric effects or buzz when occasionally I take too much coffee too quickly. However I did get it nearly every day... and it was very unpleasant.

I began to work through a variety of possibilities - even went to have my eyes tested, took a course of antibiotics!, - but could not really come down on one diagnosis - it was variable, fluctuating, some days were good others nasty. I did not particularly link it to coffee consumption - because I have always been a heavy user.

The first clue I got to that it might be something toxic related to the coffee I was drinking at home came when I went away for a couple of days to the North of England. I drove the 250 miles north and tanked up on nespresso caffeine before I left - that evening I had a particularly bad episode of symptoms. The next morning - the place I stayed had no espresso - so I made a fairly strong caffetiere using the coffee in the room... and although I did get some minor symptoms they were markedly less bad than they had been. So it was after this that I began to cotton on to the idea that it might be the nespresso coffee as the source of the problem.

I switched capsules from the Indriya to the Arpeggio - they are essentially the same strength - and I had used the Arpeggio for a long time. Within a week I was totally symptom free. That was three months ago and I have had nothing until today - when I decided this morning to try a single Indriya capsule-- within an hour all the symptoms returned and lasted until early afternoon.

So I am pretty certain that the capsules are the cause. Here is what the nespresso site says: "Indriya from India is the noble marriage of Arabicas with a hint of Robusta from southern India. It is a full-bodied espresso, which has a distinct personality with notes of spices. Cocoa and dry plant notes, as well as a spicy bouquet reminiscent of cloves, pepper and nutmeg." but I think this is probably just marketting stuff....

That's the story, if you have bothered to read that far....I expect it maybe a personal sensitivity but of course my question is, has anyone else found this with these capsules? Is it perhaps a contaminated batch of beans.....?

Look forward to hearing from you.

Jem


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Hi Jem

We couldn't possibly comment on the possibility of contamination and would ask you to refer to the retailer your purchased them from if you think that may be the case.

However, we all react differently to beans from different origins and roast profiles so there may be an element that does not agree with you.

Have you tried other Robusta blended coffees? (vs 100% Arabica)


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## jem_r_uk (Oct 20, 2012)

Thanks Glenn for the speedy comment.

I have been through quite a few blends over the years - but I would not say it has been scientifically driven, but I will try and get a mix together to simulate the pod contents and see if it is a personal quirk.

Would not expect you to comment on contamination... it did not intend to imply that it was inevitably a failure of processing - just something that was not expected in the mix.

Jem


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## JaneofUsA (Dec 16, 2021)

I just bought my Nespresso vertuonext about three weeks ago and have suddenly developed these symptoms too. The vertigo is really unsettling and the only thing that has changed is the introduction if Nespresso into my life. I liked the fact that the products seem to be far less acidic, so the digestive upset that typically comes from coffee is no longer a bother, but feeling like I'm going to pass out or fall over from this dizziness is raising enough concern that I'm going to stop Nespresso to see if this resolves. A quick google search clearly indicates I'm not alone. Makes me wonder if the aluminum pods are toxic


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Highly unlikely to be aluminium. Possibly mold contamination which can be an issue with low grade coffee but also machines that heat water and don't do a great job of cleaning themselves. I'm assuming there are parts of the machine/brew path hidden away behind security screws that you can't access to properly clean. It can just be caffeine if you're drinking more than usual or sensitivity can just change. The blend mentioned above in this thread would have more caffeine than the usual one due to robusta.


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