I love coffee. While not an aficionado, I grind beans and use a french press for my daily delight.
I am old enough to remember the days when coffee always came ground and in a can.
We’re come a long way to today’s coffee market–micro-roasters, estate/farm specialty coffee, and lots of fancy dessert drinks masquerading as “coffee.” I love that I can get a decent cup pretty much anywhere I travel these days.
Why then is coffee packaging still in the dark ages?
The beans are vacuum packed in an bag, presumably to protect them from the ravages of light and heat.
I have to struggle and strain to somehow open the bag, only to have the “seal” be a plastic wire strip sloppily glued to the back of the bag, which most often promptly falls off upon first opening the bag. I’m left unable to adequately close the bag and have to improvise by finding another container (is there not storage ware that keeps out light?).
Then I sweeten my coffee with a natural sweetener, stevia. I have a particular affinity for a specific brand, which makes both a liquid and a powdered version. I like the liquid and to keep a bottle in the car, one in my overnight bag for travel, and a few in the kitchen.
Just one problem–the caps on the bottle leak. On my last trip I was quite thankful that the TSA made me put my liquid carry-ons into a one quarter plastic bag because by the time I left Phoenix and arrived in Florida, the cap had loosened and the bag had a reservoir of stevia at the bottom. On the return flight, I cranked the cap on hard–to no avail. Another reservoir leaked out.
It then struck me how much packaging is still poorly designed.
More to follow.
Comments welcome.
Dr. Bob
