To ensure your coffee arrives to you fresh, not only do we roast by order but we also use a nitrogen flush packaging system so that your coffee tastes just as fresh as if it were roasted in your own home. Perhaps you’re one of countless customers wondering what exactly goes into the process to create the greatest coffee you’ve ever had. And hopefully today we can answer some of those questions for you.

So, what exactly is nitrogen flushed coffee and what are its benefits over other packaging techniques? Once coffee has been roasted, oxidation begins to occur, and over time oxygen works to degrade the flavor and freshness of your coffee. At Volcanica Coffee, we use nitrogen to purge (or flush) the oxygen out of the bag because it allows us to package the coffee straight from the roaster the very same day.

Other methods, such as vacuum sealing, require the coffee go through a degassing phase anywhere from 24-72hrs depending on the roast, which means it cannot get to you as quickly as nitrogen flushed coffee packaging. As you may have already noticed in your coffee journey, coffee is a perishable product that begins to lose flavor the further out from its roast date. In order to ensure that you get your coffee within 14 days after its been roasted, it’s paramount that we use nitrogen flushing so that it’s not exposed to oxidation any longer than necessary.

Located on your coffee bag, there's a small valve that helps in preserving the flavor as it travels from our roastery to your home. The one-way valve works to push carbon dioxide out of the bag, which the nitrogen flushing helps in promoting due to the fact that nitrogen is heavier than oxygen. But while carbon dioxide gets ushered out, oxygen can't get back in, thus preserving your coffee's flavor for longer.

Nitrogen is food safe and composes over 3/4 of earth's atmosphere, so the process of nitrogen flushing does nothing to harm the coffee or degenerate its flavor. The practice of flushing the packaging with nitrogen is used in multiple industries, and is even the process used for K-cups and other single serve pods. 

 As always, we at Volcanica are more than happy to assist you with any questions you might have about your coffee, from sourcing to roasting to even packaging. If you have any questions, reach out to us!