Why is there a hole in my coffee bag?

What is that and what is it for?

Why is there a hole in my packaging?

Won’t that let air in?

THAT CIRCLE IS A ONE-WAY DEGASSING VALVE, AND IT’S A VERY IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF COFFEE PACKAGING.

When coffee beans are roasted, the roasting process causes compounds within the coffee to break down and form smaller compounds and gases. These gases get trapped inside the coffee, though, and it takes a good while for them to make their way out of the coffee bean’s structure through various cracks and pores.

For more porous and permeable beans, this process can take as little as 12 hours, and then up to 3 or even 4 days for some harder/denser coffees.Regardless of how long it takes, that gas has to go somewhere.

IF A ROASTER BAGS UP AND SEALS THEIR COFFEE BEFORE IT HAS FINISHED ‘DE-GASSING’, THE BAGS CAN PUFF UP AND SOMETIMES EVEN EXPLODE!

We learned this lesson the hard way in the early days of Well-Bean. That’s why we started packaging our coffee in bags with a valve, so that even as the coffee continues to de-gas, it will have somewhere to go.

More importantly though, while the valve does let air escape, it also prevents outside air from getting in. This keeps the flavor compounds in the beans from oxidizing, and also prevents the natural oils found in the coffee from going rancid. Oxygen is an enemy to both of these coffee components, and the valve helps to prevent the oxygen from getting in.

BUT WHAT ABOUT AFTER THE COFFEE HAS BEEN OPENED?

While most reputable coffee companies these days have a valve on their bags, relatively few give you a good way to keep your coffee sealed airtight after it has been opened. That’s why we opted to go the extra mile and have a resealable zipper on all of our coffee bags.

It may seem like a small addition, but this can save you lots of money, especially if you’re an infrequent coffee drinker buying for yourself. A zipper is much more likely to keep your coffee tasting great by the time you get to the bottom of the bag than a re-closable tin tie is. And even if you’re buying for a household of multiple coffee drinkers, having your coffee re-sealed after every time you brew will keep your coffee at the peak of flavor for an even longer period of time.

INTERESTED IN GIVING IT A TRY?

Head over to our store and you’ll see why our coffee is super fresh (in more ways than one 😉) !