Packaging

Almost as critical as the contents

Effective packaging prevents air and moisture from reaching the coffee. Ground coffee alters rapidly and loses its aromatic qualities within a few days if it is not put into hermetically sealed containers immediately.

The air, especially in humid atmospheres, causes rancidity through the oxidation of fatty components. Modern packaging materials, plastic films like polyethylene and complexes of aluminium and cellulose, are capable of conserving the quality of coffee for a time. The most satisfactory solution to the problem, however, is packing under vacuum or in an inert gas, in rigorously impervious containers.

In 1900 Hills Brothers packages roasted coffee beans for the first time in vacuum tins. R.W. Hills, a passionate innovator, developed a process that removed air from coffee packaging, resulting in fresher beans. Known as vacuum packing, this discovery is still widely used today.

In 1974 Luigi Goglio patented a one-way valve that would revolutionize the coffee industry.

When roasted, coffee produces carbon dioxide, so that roasted beans must "de-gas" for several days. If sealed in airtight containers, freshly roasted coffee produces enough gas to explode the package, like an overblown balloon, however oxygen exposure stales coffee quickly, so there is always a problem with coffee that has been allowed to de-gas before it is packed.

Even with vacuum-packing, the coffee had to be somewhat stale before it went into the package. The one-way valve changed that, allowing the carbon dioxide to escape without permitting oxygen to invade.

Fres-co's roots go back to Italy. The Goglio family began a packaging company in Milan in 1909; the company is still owned and managed by the family.

Currently, Fres-co supplies 80% of the coffee market with coffee materials, valves, machines and service.

There are a number of other options including the continued growth of a bag style called Corner Seal, which allows the roaster to package freshly roasted whole bean or ground coffee in a modified atmosphere package.

The coffee will then degas in the oxygen-free package during transportation. This option stiffens the corners of the coffee bag allowing the bag to take a lot more abuse in the distribution channel, while still maintaining its nice crisp shape and displaying nicely on the retail shelf.
Packaging can't make coffee taste better, but it can put it in the hands of the consumer fresher, faster, more attractively and with a better idea of how to use it.