Nespresso’s coffee capsule line has been a worldwide success, and not even the world of making and Arduino can escape its touch.

Embracing this, the folks over at circuito io have created a project around it. A 3D printed enclosure houses a display and a tube where you can drop a capsule into. Once there a light sensor will read the unique colour of the capsule, and display information about the coffee inside on the display.

It’s a really simple little build that is also a showcase for the automatic code and wiring software circuito io offers.

If you want to make your very own coffee detecting machine, all the instructions, code and files you’ll need to do so are available on Instructables.

This project sits in a weird space because we see it fitting in more in a retail environment where these capsules are sold, instead of a home DIY project. It would be nice if customers could take one of the loose capsules, pop it into a machine, and the display would tell them about it. It’s much more interesting than reading the packaging and it could be a real help for those who don’t know a lot about coffee.

Hey, people at Nespresso, you can have that idea for free.