What changed in our packaging this year

Our old bags were a foil laminate: excellent at keeping coffee fresh, impossible to recycle anywhere in the country. We have spent most of a year replacing them.

The new bag

A mono-material polyethylene with a degassing valve of the same material, so the whole thing goes into soft-plastic collection without being taken apart. Shelf life came down from twelve months to about nine, which for coffee we want drunk within six weeks is not a real loss.

What we did not change

The valve stays. Without it, freshly roasted coffee either inflates the bag until it splits or has to be rested for days before packing, and resting it in the open is worse for the coffee than any packaging decision.

The honest part

Soft-plastic collection is not available everywhere, and where it is, the recovery rate is not what the label implies. This is an improvement, not a solution.