One way valve coffee bags

One way valve coffee bags are great for your coffee. Why are they great? They are great because they keep flavor in and keep oxygen out.  Oxygen is what diminishes or stales the wonderful aroma and flavor of fresh roasted coffee.  First some basic facts about fresh roasted coffee.  Fresh roasted coffee beans give off a gas. This gas explains why fresh roasted coffee will make a sealed bag feel puffy.  If the bag is sealed and the coffee is fresh you will see this effect. If the coffee is stale then the sealed bag will not be puffy.  Remember, this applies to sealed, air tight bags of fresh roasted whole bean coffee.

So what if I get a bag of fresh roasted whole bean coffee? What if I get that coffee from one of my favorite roasters found right here on ROASTe? Should I expect a puffy bag and if the bag is not puffy should I question the packaging integrity or the freshness of the coffee?  Not so fast. First examine the bag.  At first glance it might appear sealed. What you want to look for is a one way valve.  If this valve is working properly the bag may be a little puffy unless it was packed tightly to prevent the gas from expanding the bag.  This is a good thing.

Remember that fresh coffee beans are not vacuum sealed. The valve allows gas to escape from the bag but prevents air from entering the bag and degrading the flavors.  The gas from the beans also creates an area of high pressure inside the bag to prevent lower pressure air outside the bag from exchanging places with the helpful coffee gas. A consumer used to purchasing vacuum packed bricks of ground coffee from the local grocery store isle might understandably find this concept a bit foreign at first.  Once you understand the developing process fresh roasted coffee beans are going through in the bag it becomes easier to understand why this product ideally is not vacum packed and why the bags are equipped with a valve instead of being sealed in an air tight container.

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