Labour Lens

Lacks transparency. Publishes some details, but doesn't show its workers are paid and treated fairly.

Last researched 3 November 2026 · 7 sources

Single-serve coffee system of machines and T DISC pods.

There's no proof the people who grow its coffee earn more than the legal minimum, which in Brazil is below a living wage, and Tassimo has no full independent audit.

Know something we've missed? Send evidence. Represent Tassimo? Send a right of reply.

Compare Tassimo with another brand

Why it's graded Lacks transparency

  • Not met: Meets 1 of 5 Good requirements.
  • Holds the grade back: It has 2 red flags: no evidence of a living wage and unaudited production in high-risk countries. Two or more red flags means a poor grade.
  • It isn't Harm on record, because there's no serious confirmed problem on its record.
  • Lacks transparency is still a poor grade: in supply chains like this, workers who can't be seen to be treated fairly are usually underpaid or unprotected.

How grades are decided


Good requirements 1 of 5

  • Not met: Pays a living wage, or holds a strong fair-pay certificationLiving wage: no evidence
  • Not met: Respects worker rightsSome of its coffee is grown in countries such as Honduras and Colombia, where unions are heavily restricted, and it has no full supply chain audit.
  • Not met: Supply chain independently audited or certified, or at least 80% made in countries with strong labour standards
  • Met: No confirmed child or forced labour findings or linksUnconfirmed reports of forced labour are listed below. They don't affect the grade.
  • Not met: Names the factories or farms that make its products, or is fully certified by a scheme that holds and audits that list

Red flags 2

  • Red flag: No evidence it pays a living wage
  • Red flag: Made partly in countries with poor worker rights, without a full independent audit of its supply chain
Stars it would earn as Good:
StarAwarded for
Finds and fixes problems, or invests in communities

Stars only show on Good companies. About stars

Estimates for its products

Our rules applied to one kind of product at a time, using Tassimo's evidence and, where it has product lines, that line's countries. They're estimates: we don't know which factory made any single item.

  • A product carrying the Fairtrade mark: Good

Holding one? Scan its barcode for an estimate that uses its care label or ingredients.

Where its coffee is grown

These are JDE Peet's coffee origins across all its brands; Tassimo doesn't say where its own coffee is grown. The rest is shown as where coffee is usually grown.

Where its coffee is grown, and conditions there
CountryWorker rightsLegal minimum wageForced labour risk
BrazilSystematic violationsBelow a living wageModerate
VietnamUsual for the industrySystematic violationsWell below a living wageModerate
HondurasNo guarantee of rightsWell below a living wageModerate
UgandaSystematic violationsFar below a living wageModerate
ColombiaUsual for the industryNo guarantee of rightsWell below a living wageModerate
IndonesiaUsual for the industryNo guarantee of rightsWell below a living wageModerate
EthiopiaUsual for the industrySystematic violationsFar below a living wageModerate
PeruUsual for the industrySystematic violationsWell below a living wageModerate
GuatemalaUsual for the industryNo guarantee of rightsWell below a living wageModerate
Papua New GuineaWe don't have labour ratings for this country yet.

Evidence

What we found

  • Risk across the industry, not a finding about this company: coffee is on the US Department of Labor child or forced labour list for over a dozen countries, and farm-gate prices often fall below a living income.
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Invests in worker and farming communities

Research notes Tassimo says its coffee is bought under owner JDE Peet's Common Grounds programme and a risk-based human rights due diligence process; that programme is run by JDE itself, and the range carries no broad Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance label. JDE buys from about 30 origins, including Brazil, Honduras, Papua New Guinea and Uganda, but publishes no origins, shares or farm list for Tassimo. Brazilian farms linked to JDE's suppliers have been found using slave labour; in 2026 JDE began a four-year ILO project on these risks, but it has no living income target.

What independent sources say

SourceResultDetails
UK Modern Slavery Statement RegistryListedJDE Peet's lodges a group modern slavery statement for 2025 (approved May 2026), naming child labour risks on coffee farms in Honduras and Uganda. View
Australian Modern Slavery RegisterListedJacobs Douwe Egberts AU lodges annual modern slavery statements; the 2024 statement covers JDE's Australian brands. View
Business & Human Rights Resource CentreProblem foundBHRRC records JDE's response to the 2024 Bitter Brew report on slave labour in Brazil's coffee supply chain. View
US Department of Labor goods listsListedCoffee from Brazil is listed for child and forced labour, and coffee from Colombia, Honduras and several other origins for child labour. View
KnowTheChainNot listedNeither JDE Peet's nor owner Keurig Dr Pepper is among the 45 companies in the 2026 KnowTheChain food and beverage benchmark; Kraft Heinz, Tassimo's North American owner, is rated separately. View

Unconfirmed reports

Credible reports that haven't been confirmed by a regulator, completed investigation or the company. They're shown for your information and don't affect the grade.

  • Brazilian inspectors rescued 87 workers from slave-like conditions in 2018 on farms supplying the Cooxupé cooperative, a coffee supplier to owner JDE (Conectas, 2024); no link to Tassimo coffee has been shown. A 2018 OECD complaint by Conectas and the union ADERE-MG over the case closed in 2025 with no resolution. Source
  • Repórter Brasil reported in 2025 that four farms of Cooxupé members were put on Brazil's slave-labour list over 36 workers, and that Cooxupé's exporter supplied JDE; JDE and other buyers said they had not sourced from those farms (BHRRC, 2025). Source
  • A 2016 Danwatch investigation into slavery-like conditions on Brazilian coffee farms named Tassimo among JDE's brands; JDE admitted coffee from farms with poor conditions may have entered its products and contacted its suppliers. Source

Sources and actions

Sources 7

Show all 7 sources
  1. You may be drinking coffee grown under slavery-like conditions (Danwatch, 2016) · search the archive · Names Tassimo among JDE brands; JDE admits poor-condition coffee may have entered its products.
  2. JDE Peet's group modern slavery statement 2025 (UK registry) · search the archive · 2025 group statement approved May 2026; child labour risks in Honduras and Uganda coffee; childcare centres and remediation projects
  3. Tassimo L'OR Americano Brazilian pods (Morrisons) · search the archive · T DISCs by Jacobs Douwe Egberts GB; Common Grounds sourcing; no certification label shown.
  4. OECD Watch: Conectas & ADERE-MG v. Jacobs Douwe Egberts · search the archive · Complaint filed 2018; JDE left mediation in 2024; final statement in 2025 with no resolution
  5. ILO and JDE Peet's launch FAIR COFFEE initiative (Devdiscourse, 2026) · search the archive · May 2026: four-year ILO and JDE Peet's project on child and forced labour risks in Bahia and Minas Gerais coffee

Published by Tassimo or its owner

  1. Tassimo: Sustainability · search the archive · Coffee sourced under JDE Peet's Common Grounds with a risk-based green-coffee HREDD process; no certification named.
  2. Jacobs Douwe Egberts AU Modern Slavery Statement 2024 · search the archive · JDE sources coffee from about 30 origins, including Brazil, Honduras, Papua New Guinea and Uganda.

Company details

Headquarters
Netherlands
Last researched
3 November 2026
Cite this page
Labour Lens, "Is Tassimo ethical? Labour rating", https://www.labourlens.net/brand/tassimo, last researched 3 November 2026, accessed [date].
Method
Researched with AI assistance against published rules. How we check · What Lacks transparency means

Better-graded capsules and pods

Something missing or wrong?

Grades are opinions based on the evidence listed here. Send us evidence, or a right of reply if you represent Tassimo.