NZ coffee roaster claims world first compost coffee bag
Greenie caffeine addicts now have the option of buying freshly roasted coffee in foil bags that can be safely buried in the garden or compost heap.
Greenie caffeine addicts now have the option of buying freshly roasted coffee in foil bags that can be safely buried in the garden or compost heap.
Christchurch coffee roaster Caffe Prima believes it has achieved a world first with its fully compostable foil bags made from wood pulp and corn starch by Hamilton-based Convex Plastics.
The new Econic coffee packets to be launched next week started to soften after a fortnight when they were tested at a Waikato bark composting facility. After 14 weeks they had almost completely disappeared with only small fragments left in the soil.
Caffe Prima owner Geoff Johnson says although compostable bags have been used for instant coffee, it was a little trickier coming up with packaging suitable for freshly roasted beans and ground coffee.
"When you roast coffee the beans expel CO2 and continue to do that as they age... unless you leave the coffee for four or five days before you bag it and then you lose flavour."
To prevent them blowing up as the carbon dioxide is released, foil packets of fresh coffee have a plastic one-way valve.
Instead of valves the fully compostable Econic bag incorporates vents that are activated by internal pressure to release the gas.
The new Econic coffee packets to be launched next week started to soften after a fortnight when they were tested at a Waikato bark composting facility. After 14 weeks they had almost completely disappeared with only small fragments left in the soil.
Caffe Prima owner Geoff Johnson says although compostable bags have been used for instant coffee, it was a little trickier coming up with packaging suitable for freshly roasted beans and ground coffee.
"When you roast coffee the beans expel CO2 and continue to do that as they age... unless you leave the coffee for four or five days before you bag it and then you lose flavour."
To prevent them blowing up as the carbon dioxide is released, foil packets of fresh coffee have a plastic one-way valve.
Instead of valves the fully compostable Econic bag incorporates vents that are activated by internal pressure to release the gas.
Source: Caffe Prima
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