What are coffee bags?

Heat-sealed little paper bags that are ready to brew? Sounds familiar, right? We’re talking about the humble tea bag, of course, and these coffee bags seem to work in the same way. You put it in your mug, top it with boiled water and then leave it to brew before discarding it in the bin (yes, the bin – can you see where this is heading?).

We can’t help but shiver when things are thrown away, especially when they contain a completely compostable food byproduct (which works wonders on your vegetable patch, by the way!).

But coffee bags aren’t a new invention. They hit the shelves in the 1970s but failed to catch on. Over the past few years, however, they’ve started appearing in homes and hotel rooms across the country. This is mainly due to cost, speed, ease of brewing, and the taste being, well, let’s call it simply ‘acceptable’.

Gotta say, we’re not a fan. If you know us, you’ll know we take loose-leaf tea over tea bags any day. And it’s much the same with coffee bags. Plastic-packed rather than recyclable materials and months-old rather than freshly roasted coffee bags aren’t the way to your best-ever brew.

Do coffee bags make a good cup of coffee?

Okay… so opting for coffee bags will give you a better flavour than instant, but it’ll never beat freshly roasted coffee. Coffee bags might claim to give you all the flavour and freshness of just-roasted coffee, but they simply can’t. Why? Because the grounds they contain were roasted months, not days ago, and will probably spend another four or five months sitting in your kitchen cupboard.

Also, don’t be fooled into thinking you’re getting speciality coffee in your bags. A coffee bag company might advertise its beans as ‘single origin’ and ‘Arabica’, but this doesn’t mean it is a speciality. Remember, many commodity (supermarket) coffees contain 100% Arabica beans yet still remain low quality and stripped picked.

How much coffee is in a coffee bag?

Most Coffee bags contain about 75g of coffee, which is slightly more than you’d have in a coffee brewed the traditional way. For a cafetière, for example, you’d follow the brew ratio of 1:20, which is approximately 12.5g of coffee for 250ml of water (equivalent to a standard 1 cup of coffee).

This seems like a drastic reduction in coffee when you consider that one of these coffee bags contains 75g. But before you think it’s better value for money, we want to clarify why it contains so much more coffee.

Firstly, remember how we mentioned you’d be sipping on stale coffee that had been pre-ground and sealed months before reaching your cup? We can’t help but think this is a major factor in why these bags need more coffee to pack a punch. We all know stale food and drink won’t have as much flavour as the fresh stuff. The solution? Add more coffee to the bag!

Secondly, let’s talk about the bag situation! We’ve mentioned this before when discussing tea bags, but it’s essential to remember that when coffee (or tea) is packed in a bag, the water can’t effectively reach the grounds and perform its job of brewing all the delicious flavours. Compared to using a cafetière or a filter, you can stir or guide the water, ensuring every bit of coffee ground gets wet and brings out those amazing flavours we love!

This is why you may notice that many coffee bag instructions instruct you to squeeze the bag at the end. They are simply trying to get some flavour in there!

Are coffee bags bad for the environment?

If you’ve read our piece on coffee pods, you’ll know we don’t like bundling coffee up in plastic. Not all coffee bags contain plastic, admittedly – some are made from plant-based plastics, paper or different types of fabric – but this doesn’t make them sustainable.

The majority can’t be put on your compost heap because they need too much heat and space to decompose. If they are biodegradable, compostable, or eco-friendly, the correct method is often so convoluted that most users dispose of them incorrectly by mistake or end up simply throwing them in the bin. What’s more, coffee bags usually come individually wrapped, giving us yet another piece of plastic the world can do without.

Are coffee bags expensive?

When it comes to value for money, coffee bags are a cheaper way to brew your coffee, but you will be paying elsewhere, and there are plenty of other ways to have a quick, hassle-free coffee in the morning.

When we say you are paying elsewhere, we don’t mean in monetary value. We are talking about flavour, freshness and the effect on our environment. Why settle for a coffee bag that offers this when you can get freshly roasted, ethically sourced, carbon-neutral, single-origin Arabica from Two Chimps? Now that’s what we want on our coffee break!

If you’re looking for speed in the mornings and a brew that packs an espresso-style punch, let us introduce you to the AeroPress. Literally invented to put an end to awful hotel room coffee, this brewing device is hailed for its sturdy, lightweight design speedy one-cup brewing method, and you don’t even need to clean it afterwards! To learn more about this amazing device, visit our blog, where we delve into all the details.

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