Currently, nearly all regular coffee employs either airtight vacuum packaging technology or gas-flushed packaging technology. Vacuum packaging involves sealing the coffee in bags after removing air. Gas-flushed packaging removes air before sealing and then fills the bag with an inert gas.
Gas-flushed packaging for coffee typically uses nitrogen or carbon dioxide. Both techniques aim to eliminate oxygen. Therefore, packaging materials must possess adequate gas barrier properties and heat-sealability. Vacuum and gas-flush packaging effectively prevent coffee oxidation and moisture absorption while preserving aroma.
Selection of Coffee Packaging Materials
Bagged coffee packaging primarily uses paper/cellophane and paper/chlorinated rubber film structures. These materials primarily isolate oxygen to prevent coffee oxidation. Other structures include polyester/aluminum foil/polyethylene, polyester/polyvinylidene chloride/polyethylene, polypropylene/polyvinylidene chloride/polyethylene, and nylon/polyvinylidene/polyethylene.
These materials are suitable for both vacuum and gas-flushed packaging. For pouches within cartons, the inner liner uses polyester/aluminum foil/polyethylene composites. The inner polyethylene layer serves as the heat-seal layer and should be high-density polyethylene (HDPE), not low-density polyethylene (LDPE). Although LDPE offers better heat-seal properties, it reacts with coffee oils, causing flavor degradation.
Metal and glass can packaging typically incorporates vinyl plastic lids that reseal tightly after opening, preventing moisture ingress and aroma loss.
Instant coffee commonly employs flexible packaging using paper/aluminum foil/polyethylene materials to achieve a moisture barrier and oxygen-blocking effects.
Coffee Packaging Formats
Regular coffee is typically packaged in bags or cans. Bagged coffee often employs vacuum or gas-flushed packaging techniques. Additionally, some coffee products use inner bag packaging with outer box packaging.
A single boxed outer package may contain several to dozens of bagged coffee units. The outer packaging is usually a paper box structure, which facilitates printing, protects the inner bagged coffee, and allows for easy stacking and display during sales promotions. Canned coffee is usually packaged in metal or glass containers with polyethylene plastic lids. Instant coffee is typically sold in soft-pack pouches.
Although coffee beans expand during roasting due to CO₂ gas production, their internal cellular structure and skin remain intact. This allows volatile, oxygen-sensitive flavor compounds to be tightly preserved. Therefore, roasted coffee beans do not require highly specialized packaging; basic barrier properties suffice. Historically, roasted beans were packaged in paper bags lined with waxed paper. In recent years, this lining has simply been replaced with PE-coated paper.
Ground coffee powder, however, demands significantly different packaging requirements. This stems from the grinding process, which disrupts the beans' outer skin and internal cellular structure, allowing flavor compounds to begin escaping. Therefore, ground coffee must be immediately and tightly packaged to prevent flavor loss and degradation. Traditionally, vacuum-sealed metal cans were used for ground coffee. With the advancement of flexible packaging, heat-sealable aluminum foil composite packaging has gradually become the mainstream form for ground coffee.
A typical structure is PET//Aluminum Foil//PE composite. The inner PE film provides heat sealability, the aluminum foil offers barrier properties, and the outer PET layer protects the foil while serving as a print substrate. For lower-grade requirements, metallized film can replace the intermediate aluminum foil. One-way valves are also installed on the packaging bags to allow internal gases to escape while preventing external air from entering.
Wanle Package specializes in producing various high-quality coffee packaging bags. Contact us now to enjoy excellent service and customized solutions!