How to Open Coffee Bag – Coffee Cherish

Have you recently bought a fresh Starbucks or Lavazza coffee or some other popular brand? And are you wondering how to properly open and reseal these coffee bags at your home? If this is the case, then you have come to the right place. Because today, I am going to provide you a simple method to correctly open and close or reseal your expensive and exotic coffee bags without ruining your coffee or making it go bad. To keep it simple and straightforward, I will explain to you how to open and close Starbucks coffee bags in this guide. The same process applies to all the other branded coffee bags. So, without further delay; let’s get to it. In the meantime, if you are searching for good quality airtight readymade coffee bags to safely store your precious coffee beans then check out this EverPack zipper coffee bag with one-way valve. Why Starbucks or Lavazza Stores Coffee in Stronger Bags? These days, branded coffee like Starbucks, Lavazza or Kicking Horse comes in stronger packages. These bags are usually a bit hard to open with your bare hands. So, instead of tussling with the package by your hands; it’s better to use a kitchen scissor to open your coffee bag. More exotic, strong and freshly roasted coffee beans require safe storage. Therefore, popular coffee brands have been producing stronger coffee bags so that the coffee remains fresh for a longer period and Oxygen can’t come inside the bag easily. Proper sealing of coffee is really essential to keep it fresh and it prevents it from going bad. Enhanced seal integrity also allows the inside coffee to retain its original taste and aroma for a longer period of time. To maintain its freshness, companies are now packaging the coffee with superior bonding qualities. This prevents accidental tampering of the package during the transit process. All these reasons imply that you have to use scissors these days to open these stronger coffee bags. Once you open the coffee bag with your scissors, make sure you tape it properly or reseal it carefully to avoid the loss of its freshness. My Easy Method to Properly Open and Reseal A Coffee Bag with a Valve Before, you open your newly bought coffee bag; it’s important to check whether the bag has a one-way gas valve. I am sure most brands do have this valve or air opening in the front. This valve allows inside Carbon Di-oxide to go out and prevents outside Oxygen to enter inside the coffee bag. This is important to keep your coffee fresh and prevent it to go bad. My Process to Open and Reseal Any Coffee Bag at Home: 1. First, you will see that there is a black tape on the upper side of the coffee bag. You just have to pull back this black tape from the backside. To see the top opening of the coffee bag, now you will have to unclasp the bag. 2. After this, you have two options to open this bag. Either you can try tearing down the top opening or you can simply use the good old kitchen scissor to cut it. The first option is pretty cumbersome for regular users like us because it can damage the package and can spill out the coffee beans very easily if you are not careful enough. I always prefer the second option which is very safe and does not cause any discomfort. Take out your scissor and cut along with the line which is visible under the top opening of the coffee bag. 3. Now you can see the coffee inside the bag once you open the part that we have just cut. You can either take out whole coffee and store it inside a glass jar or you can keep it inside the company coffee bag as it is. It's your choice... But I want to warn you in advance that the coffee aroma will not remain for long if you cut the bag and then keep it inside the package for a longer period. It's best to store coffee inside the jar to maintain its freshness and aroma. 4. In order to close or reseal the coffee bag properly, you just have to fold the top opening and clasp the black tape again. This will close the coffee bag and your coffee will remain good for a considerable time period. It will not go bad as you have resealed the pack carefully. To check out this entire process, I recommend you to watch the following video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvZAKgxLwMg Why There is a Hole or a Valve in The Coffee Bag? You might have wondered why there is a hole / a vent / a circle in a few branded coffee bags in the stores. Some people also call it as a “Smell Hole” because you can literally smell the coffee from this hole and find out its aroma and freshness. Besides this reason, there is a bigger cause behind making this hole on the coffee bag. It is also called as “One Way Gas Valve”. It is made to actually preserve the aroma and freshness of the freshly roasted coffee. This one-way gas valve plays a crucial role in preventing outside Oxygen to enter inside the bag and also allows internal Carbon Di-Oxide gas to escape outside easily. If you don’t know about this, then let me explain first… When you roast fresh coffee, it starts releasing CO2 in the atmosphere slowly and gradually. This process is known as CO2 Degassing in scientific terms. Coffee roasting process releases CO2 in a higher percentage which is why it needs proper packaging requirements. If you don’t keep a gas valve on the coffee bag front, then the CO2 released inside the bag will not have the space to escape and eventually the coffee bag will burst out due to excessive CO2 pressure. A regular hole in the bag will also not work because it will allow outside Oxygen to enter inside the package. And it will ruin the freshly roasted coffee beans. This is where a specially designed one-way gas valve comes handy. It allows internally formed Carbon Di-Oxide to come out easily and also prevents external Oxygen to enter inside the coffee bag. This helps to maintain the freshness of your coffee inside the bag up to 4 months easily. Are Coffee Bags Airtight? Yes, the answer to this question is definitely yes. Most coffee bags these days come in airtight and properly sealed format. National Coffee Association strongly recommends keeping freshly roasted coffee in an airtight container. This helps to maximize and maintain the flavor and freshness of your quality coffee beans or coffee grounds. Excessive exposure to Air, light, heat, and moisture can easily ruin your quality coffee beans or grounds. This is why it is important to store your coffee in opaque and air-tight containers at room temperature. Storage canisters with airtight sealing are usually recommended to store coffee for the long term. But these days, most branded coffee producers such as Starbucks or Lavazza manufacture airtight coffee bags to store the freshly roasted coffee beans. How Long Do Coffee Beans Last in The Bag Once Opened? The answer to this question is approx. 2-4 weeks. Once you open the seal of your coffee bag and it gets exposed to outside Oxygen, then obviously an oxidation process will slowly take place. And this will start to gradually ruin the aroma and freshness of your coffee beans that are stored inside the coffee bag. You can slow down this oxidation process by either deep-freezing the coffee bags or storing the coffee inside the mason jars or airtight glass jars. I have found out that the coffee beans remain fresh for a longer period when they are stored inside the airtight glass jars and kept inside the freezer. But if you want to store them in the coffee bags as it is, then expect to remain your coffee beans fresh for the next 2-4 weeks at most. After that period, it will start to go stale or taste bad. Wrapping Up I hope you have now realized the importance of having stronger and airtight coffee bags. These bags protect the aroma and freshness of your freshly roasted coffee beans. They play a crucial role in preventing the oxidation process. Thus, it allows your coffee beans to go bad and stale quickly due to exposure to outside moisture, heat, light, and air. You just have to be careful when you open and reseal your newly purchased coffee bags. If you are looking for the best coffee beans online, then I strongly recommend to check out these best brands on Amazon. References: https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/2346/84940/ICES-2019-172.pdf https://blog.bluebottlecoffee.com/posts/how-to-store-coffee https://coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/113/why-do-coffee-packs-have-an-aroma-hole-if-it-is-recommended-to-store-coffee-in-a http://www.ncausa.org/about-coffee/how-to-store-coffee