27 September 2022

The Architects of Taste and Pleasure Come Together for a Holiday Season Collection of Coffees, Confections and More to Celebrate the Joy of Gathering and the Art of the Everyday

Nespresso and world-renowned pastry chef and chocolatier Pierre Hermé are thrilled to join forces and announce a capsule collection to kick off the festive season. The exclusive coffees and confections are a celebration of refined tastes and indulgence, representing the best of the best across gustatory pleasures.

The limited-edition collaboration builds upon Pierre Hermé’s extensive background as an expert of flavour, putting forth a collection that deepens the indulgence of the palate by relishing in the shared joy that we experience with friends and family. Herein lies an invitation to gather, to discover and delight in unexpected surprises: from the visceral pleasures of tasting a new coffee or pastry to the combined laughter between friends, fuller stories are written with the Nespresso | Pierre Hermé coffees and confections that bring the art of the haute pâtisserie into the everyday, enriching both in equal measure.

From the creator of the Haute Pâtisserie, Pierre Hermé’s pastries are at the apex of avant-garde design, skilled technique and refined flavours. Decades of experience beginning with an apprenticeship at age 14 for Gaston Lenôtre, widely considered the father of modern pastry, led to Pierre Hermé being crowned the prestigious title of World’s Best Pastry Chef in 2016. With namesake boutiques and cafés all over the globe, Pierre Hermé’s creativity and sophistication in gastronomy is unparalleled. His unmistakably modern imagination pairs with technique to craft the ultimate coffee for the most discerning of palates – epicures will delight in the complex flavours while rejoicing in the ease of use, all in the comfort of one’s own home.

The collaboration consists of delightful coffees, confections, and gifting with Nespresso rounding out the festive season’s offerings by adding limited-edition coffee machines and accessories to bring Nespresso quality into all areas of one’s day.

Leading with a black single origin coffee from Colombia, the Infiniment Espresso, is sourced from the new supplying region of Tolima, where farmers mostly use natural methods and prioritize low-impact agriculture, benefiting the land and its inhabitants. The Arabica beans available in both Original and Vertuo as the Infiniment Double Espresso bloom with vibrant red fruit and smooth cereal notes, expressing an impressive depth of flavor and an elegant mouthfeel.

The Original espresso offerings also include two flavoured coffees: the Infiniment Gourmand Saveur Noisette, crafted from delicately sweet South American Arabica beans, begins with the unmistakable aroma of roasted hazelnuts flavour followed by sweet top notes of almond biscotti and delicate vanilla. The refreshingly smooth Infiniment Fruité Saveur Framboise articulates a smooth cereal aroma pairing beautifully with the alluring flavour of raspberries. Both of these inspire a premium pastry experience by declaring the same complex flavours one associates with Pierre Hermé’s elevated pastries.

When it comes to the decadent mug sized Vertuo flavoured coffees, the Latin American and African Arabica beans of Infiniment Gourmand Saveur Noisette reveal graceful roasted hazelnut flavours with top notes of praline and vanilla, while Vertuo Infiniment Fruité Saveur Framboise divulges the bracing tartness of raspberry flavour juxtaposed with the smooth cereal notes from its Latin American and African Arabicas.

No Pierre Hermé collection would be complete without sweets: to complement the coffees, the Infiniment Exquis 70% Dark Chocolate Squares, crafted from single origin dark chocolate sourced from the Dominican Republic, are delicately perfumed with the rare essence of Timur berries, which are harvested by a local community in Nepal, offering an aromatic profile of grapefruit, pepper and floral notes.

The Infiniment Savoureux Raspberry Cinnamon Biscuits are also available in the range, designed under Pierre Herme’s artistic direction. Intended to be paired with Nespresso coffees and bring new dimensions to the flavour profiles within each of them, the shortbread features dried raspberries and the warm spice of Ceylon cinnamon harnessed in a crunchiness that is a lovely foil to the inherent creaminess of Nespresso coffees.

The Café Noble Scented Candle was imagined in collaboration with master French perfumer Olivia Giacobetti and Pierre Hermé for a longer lasting immersion into the festive spirit. The soft, cozy scent is inspired by the Colombian tradition of adding panela, a golden-brown raw sugar that is as sweet as honey to coffee for an indulgent confection. With all of the complexities and nuances of coffee, the candle boasts notes of cinnamon, vanilla, spice and a robust Arabica bean, and is housed in a reusable porcelain vessel.

Rounding out the festive collection are this season’s Original and Vertuo Advent Calendars, containing 24 coffees and a surprise gift for the last day. The giftable advent calendars contain the three co-created Nespresso | Pierre Hermé coffees as well as favorites from the Nespresso permanent range, offering a different coffee behind each door for a delightful surprise on the path to the festive season, all presented in an exquisite box designed to be reused afterwards.

Outside of the co-created collection, Nespresso is also offering limited-edition coffee machines, the Vertuo Next machine in a shiny Silver or Titan finish and its iconic CitiZ machine in Magic Blue, both of which can be used to create the Nespresso | Pierre Hermé signature coffee recipes. Crowning the collection is the Nomad Travel Mug in a Raspberry color, giving the ability to take the flavours from the artistry of haute pastry anywhere, anytime.

Nespresso’s sophistication meets its match in Pierre Hermé, the architect of taste, with coffee as the connector – a multisensory gourmand treat to delight everyone’s palate and weave connections amongst generations.

The enchantment of indulgence, the gift of conviviality: the Nespresso | Pierre Hermé collection arrives in Nespresso boutiques worldwide and online on [November 1st TBC, per market and offering]. As with all shared moments, the collection is available for a limited amount of time and in limited quantities, while supplies last.

22 September 2022

The Global Financial Centres Index 32

The thirty-second edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 32) was published on 22 September 2022. GFCI 32 provides evaluations of future competitiveness and rankings for 119 financial centres around the world. The GFCI serves as a valuable reference for policy and investment decision-makers.

China Development Institute (CDI) in Shenzhen and Z/Yen Partners in London collaborate in producing the GFCI. The GFCI is updated and published every March and September, and receives considerable attention from the global financial community.

128 financial centres were researched for GFCI 31 of which 119 are in the main index. The GFCI is compiled using 151 instrumental factors. These quantitative measures are provided by third parties including the World Bank, the Economist Intelligence Unit, the OECD and the United Nations.

The instrumental factors are combined with financial centre assessments provided by respondents to the GFCI online questionnaire. GFCI 31 uses 66,121 assessments from 11,038 respondents.

GFCI 32 Results

Leading Centres

  • New York leads the index, with London second, ahead of Singapore in third place, which has overtaken Hong Kong in fourth position.
  • Paris returned to the top ten in the index, replacing Tokyo which fell to 16th place, perhaps reflecting a comparatively slow consumer recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Western Europe

  • London continues to lead in the region, and rose 5 points in the ratings.
  • Other leading Western European centres also gained in the ratings. Berlin, Stuttgart, Lugano, Malta, Reykjavik, Guernsey, and Liechtenstein rose more than 10 rank places, while Madrid and Brussels fell more than 10 ranking places.

Asia/Pacific

  • Performance in Asia/Pacific centres was balanced, with half of these centres maintaining or improving their rank, and half falling in the rankings. Leading centres in the region tended to perform better than those in the lower ranks.
  • Singapore has overtaken Hong Kong by just one rating point to take the lead in the region, and third place in the index overall. Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen also feature in the world top ten.
  • Continuing travel restrictions in places like Hong Kong and Tokyo affect their ability to conduct normal levels of business.

North America

  • New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles now feature in the world top 10.
  • Canadian centres performed less well than US centres in this region.
  • Atlanta and San Diego both rose more than 10 places in the rankings.

Eastern Europe & Central Asia

  • Prague, Warsaw, and Nur-Sultan overtook Moscow to take the leading positions in Eastern Europe & Central Asia.
  • Continuing the trend in GFCI 31, the majority of centres in the region fell in the rankings in GFCI 32.
  • Moscow, Istanbul, Almaty, Athens, and St Petersburg fell more than 10 rank places.

Middle East & Africa

  • Dubai and Abu Dhabi take first and second places in the region, with Dubai stable in the rankings at 17th place and Abu Dhabi dropping one ranking place.
  • Casablanca continues to be the leading African centre, maintaining its 54th position overall, while other African centres fell in the rankings.

Latin America & The Caribbean

  • The majority of centres in the region fell in the rankings after a more positive performance in GFCI 31.
  • Cayman Islands, Santiago, and Bermuda overtook Mexico City to lead the region.
  • Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bogota, and Bahamas fell over ten places in the rankings.

FinTech

  • We are able to assess 113 centres for their Fintech offering.
  • New York retains its leading position in the Fintech ranking, followed by San Francisco, Los Angeles, and London, with Shanghai and Beijing in fifth and sixth place.
  • Chinese, US, and German centres performed well in the Fintech ratings, with Atlanta, Chengdu, Berlin, Stuttgart, San Diego, Tianjin, Dalian, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Wuhan improving more than 10 rank places. Outside of these countries. Helsinki, Oslo, and Lugano also gained more than 10 rank places.