Packaging For Freshness
The freshness of coffee offered for sale by any specialty coffee retailer is obviously of critical importance. Coffee, once roasted, deteriorates rapidly.
This is usually caused by oxidation and made worse by the presence of moisture. The materials and methods used to package coffee vary greatly in their ability to arrest or slow this deterioration. In addition, contamination of varietal or blended coffee is always a concern.
At Distant Lands Coffee Roaster we use state of the art materials and techniques to ensure that our coffee arrives at our customers' location in the best possible condition.
All our bags are nitrogen flushed during packing, regardless of capacity. Also, the freshly roasted coffee is bagged immediately, without "degassing",which is an industry term for staling. Our packaging procedure accomplishes two things. First, as the nitrogen replaces the air it eliminates any possibility of oxidation and secondly, the carbon dioxide then emitted by the coffee will effectively pressurize the bag. This pressurization causes the coffee oils to evenly coat the interior of the coffee beans' cell walls. This slows the rate which oxygen can enter the roasted bean after the bag has been opened, helping to protect against staling. To prevent the rupture of the bag as a result of this natural pressurization, a one way valve is installed. This valve opens at a specific pressure, allowing excess gas to escape, then reseals to preclude the possibiity of oxygen entering.
Non-permeable packaging material is also very important, not only so that oxygen and moisture cannot enter, but also so the straight coffees cannot be contaminated by flavored coffee in close proximity. Our bags are three ply with aluminum to guard against this possibility.
This is usually caused by oxidation and made worse by the presence of moisture. The materials and methods used to package coffee vary greatly in their ability to arrest or slow this deterioration. In addition, contamination of varietal or blended coffee is always a concern.
At Distant Lands Coffee Roaster we use state of the art materials and techniques to ensure that our coffee arrives at our customers' location in the best possible condition.
All our bags are nitrogen flushed during packing, regardless of capacity. Also, the freshly roasted coffee is bagged immediately, without "degassing",which is an industry term for staling. Our packaging procedure accomplishes two things. First, as the nitrogen replaces the air it eliminates any possibility of oxidation and secondly, the carbon dioxide then emitted by the coffee will effectively pressurize the bag. This pressurization causes the coffee oils to evenly coat the interior of the coffee beans' cell walls. This slows the rate which oxygen can enter the roasted bean after the bag has been opened, helping to protect against staling. To prevent the rupture of the bag as a result of this natural pressurization, a one way valve is installed. This valve opens at a specific pressure, allowing excess gas to escape, then reseals to preclude the possibiity of oxygen entering.
Non-permeable packaging material is also very important, not only so that oxygen and moisture cannot enter, but also so the straight coffees cannot be contaminated by flavored coffee in close proximity. Our bags are three ply with aluminum to guard against this possibility.