Over the last 15 years, the quality of coffee bean packaging has improved substantially.

Gone are the days of coffee being packed and shipped in paper bags or in sealed containers that had no method of allowing the carbon dioxide to escape naturally.

There are a few marketing "solutions" on some packaging formats that may not entirely live up to expectations.

For example, you may have seen the solid ground "bricks" in the supermarket.

These have been created by first allowing the coffee to "stale" from it's peak levels so that CO2 emission is reduced and minimal. Once that state has been achieved, the "not so fresh" coffee is filled into a tight fitting pack, a nitrogen flush is applied to remove oxygen and it is proposed that the coffee can no longer "stale".

Whether this concept is true, or a good marketing story is one that the scientist can debate. Is there some truth in the theory that removing oxygen slows down oxygenation and therefore stalls the staling process ?

We know by what's in the cup ? I am yet to open one of those ground supermarket bricks and have it come out tasting better than fresh ground, fresh bean coffee - you do the test !

Cans. How do they do it.......ground coffee, no oxygen, limited CO2, is it really fresh ?

We believe the food-grade, foil-lined poly bag combined with a 1-way valve is still the most cost efficient and effective packaging solution. When you fill it with fresh premium beans and consume the coffee within 45 of purchasing, you have a winning solution.