Identification of beverage ingredient containing capsules

A beverage ingredient capsule, the capsule comprising:

• a cup-shaped body;
• a lid associated to the cup-shaped body to demarcate a cavity containing beverage forming ingredients;
• and
• an identification member extending on a surface of the lid and away from an edge of the lid, the identification member so constructed and arranged to be physically contacted from outside the beverage ingredient capsule, wherein the identification member comprises a plurality of predetermined localized contact receivers arranged on the front of the lid in a non-linear pattern, each predetermined localized contact receiver constituting a choice between two different surface levels that correspond, upon a contact being established or not with an external probe member, to a predetermined binary coded state (0 or 1).