This 20+ pound reusable green coffee storage bag, the Ecotact Troiseal, will extend the life of your unroasted coffee.
Note: If you order 20 Lbs and do not want the order shipped in the Troiseal bag, please email us at [email protected] right away and we can send it in our woven poly bag (with an inner liner zip bag).
We are introducing the Ecotact Troiseal hermetic bag by using it for our 20 pound bags of green coffee
Green coffee refers to the processed seed of the coffee tree fruit. Coffee is a flowering shrub that produces fruit. The seeds of the fruit are processed, roasted,.... If you order a 20 Lb quantity of a single coffee, this bag will protect the freshness of your coffee better than our previous packaging. The Troiseal bag is made of a high barrier 9-layer material to protect green coffee. The name Troiseal comes from the 3 adhesive seals. Each seal can be used once to re-seal the bag, and to access the coffee you cut the bag open.
BUT … before you open your 20 Lbs of green coffee, please watch this short video (also on this page just below) about how to best use the Troiseal ... and how to re-use it as well. Also, we have an important comment about how to reseal the bag (and why you might not want to… it can be frustrating to re-seal it with the adhesive strips, and not necessary either).
The Troiseal is constructed of a special 9 layers of material to create a barrier, preserving the stability of green coffee. This helps to lock in the bonded humidity in the coffee bean, preventing it to equalize with the ambient mositure. This is especially important in arid or humid climates, where the dried seed that is the green coffee bean, will start to take on or lose moisture in the environment. Moisture fluctuation, and the corresponding rise in water activity (aw) will result in loss of coffee quality.
It’s also important to store green coffee in a temperature stable environment too, and away from direct sunlight.
Ecotact found that the larger size targeted for the Troiseal made a zip-lock closure unworkable. It’s too wide and the weight of coffee will compromise it in handling and shipping. So the solution was an adhesive seal … well, not one but 3. This allows a resealing of the bag 2x in addition to the one we make when shipping it to you (or 3x of course if you buy the unfilled new bag from us).
In fact, I have found the ample amount of spare material in this bag allows for it also to be rolled and clipped shut too, giving it extended usefulness beyond 3 times.
Things to Know about Using the Troiseal Green Coffee Bag:
- SMELL! If you are a professional roaster and have received bags in GrainproA multi-layer plastic bag with a gas barrier. The bags have been shown to extend the flavor life of the coffee significantly over storage in jute or burlap... or other liners, you know when you first crackFirst crack in one of two distinct heat-induced pyrolytic reactions in coffee. It is distinguished by a cracking or popping sound in the coffee, and occurs between 390... the seal, there is a unique smell. With washed coffee if can be a bit like latex paint at times! With naturals it can be fruityIn some coffee taster’s lexicon, “fruity” means the coffee is tainted with fruit, and “fruited” means a coffee is graced by positive fruit notes. We don't exactly see..., yeast like or other wild smells. This is all normal, so to speak. But people who have not experienced it might think something is wrong.
- HANDLE: The Troiseal “handle” at the top isn’t really functional when the bag is loaded with green coffee. The bag is used for other grains etc that are lighter weight, but 20 Lbs of coffee is too heavy for one-handing it.
- RESEALING: Resealing a Troiseal adhesive strip usually means laying it flat against some surface. It’s not so easy to do when the bag is upright and the seal unsupported from one side. But see my video to show how I do it. I recommend using the strip to reseal if you are going to “cellar” the coffee for several months. Otherwise, I would use my “roll and clip” method below.
- CUT LINE IS WRONG! (sort of) The bag has a dotted line printed on it where you cut. That’s fine for opening it. But it’s not fine for resealing it. To reseal it using the strip you really need to cut much closer to the adhesive strip you are about to use. This is detailed in my video… and see the image below too.
- NOT RESEALING: Another idea is to simply roll the top down, removing air space in the bag, and us a couple of binder clips to hold it. If the bag is going to be opened often, this seems much easier to access the coffee.
- LESS AIR: Whichever way you reseal, minimize the air trapped in the bag.
- NOT PERFECT: The Troiseal bag is not perfect. You might find it a bit of a hassle. And we are actually working to develop a zip seal bag with Ecotact to replace it down the line. BUT … please remember that storing your larger amounts of coffee in a barrier package IS WORTH THE TROUBLE in our opinion. And it’s not just opinion, it’s in our actions: That is why we have taken great pains and cost to import 100% of our coffee with high barrier liner like the Ecotact material. For us it has meant changing the way we handle coffee bags completely, without bag hooks, and with great care not to puncture the liner. And if we do we have to repair it. We have done all this (pretty much without mentioning it online) because it’s the right thing to do for the coffee, for the cup quality, and for you, the customer. If you continue our effort to keep green coffee at its best under your care, we know you will have a better cup in the end … it’s an effort that’s worth it!
We think both commercial roasters and home roasters will find a use for these bags. While we are offering the Ecotact zip pouches in 2 Lb, 5 Lb and 10 Lb sizes, it also makes sense to me that a home roaster with many small “odds and ends” bags of green coffee could fit their whole stash in a Troiseal. In one step, and for a couple bucks, they could enhance the quality of their green coffee storage
Green coffee is the dried seed from the fruit of a tree. In the past it was shipped in jute or sisal bags, which prevented coffee from becoming....
We had to think long and hard about adding new plastics to our total usage. It’s something we are actively trying to minimize. But offering something reusable, that enhances and extends the quality of the product we ship, felt to us like it justifies using the Troiseal green coffee bag.
We value your thoughts on this – please comment below if you have some input! -Tom
15 Responses
I see a greater use for smaller bags as a home roaster. My left over beans sit longer waiting for new orders to mix with. Please keep up the good work and stay safe .
Thanks for the comment. We will have the smaller sizes listed next week. I also was wondering if the large troiseal would be useful to some people as a bag to keep all the small bags in…
I don’t see the 20 lb bag for sale – is it only available if you purchase a 20 lb bag of green?
Hi Kevin – yes I see we have the zip bags, including the 5 kg / 12 Lb bag for sale but the 20+ Lb isn’t active. I’ll try to fix that…
A video would have been nice, or pictures showing how to peel. I got this in my order, pulled and tugged to frustration…… sliced off the corner and started roasting. So much for reusing.
Ok – a video is on the way. Will embed on this page…
Sure wish we weren’t using all that plastic to import and ship coffee. Plastic is a scourge.
Maybe it’s time to start importing in parchment?
Dry mill in Oakland? Could be fun!
A dry mill in Oakland – honestly something I thought about 15 years ago. I don’t think you can import coffee in parchment, and the added costs and environmental impact would be very negative too. But it actually WAS done in the 1880s in San Fransciso. They imported in parchment and milled the coffee in the wharf in SF, boasting about how the result was fresher and more flavorful that way (in the age of steam and sailing vessels that took so long to reach port). And years ago we did import one small lot in parchment which we called RIP coffee – Roast in Parchment. It’s a fun thing to try… Thanks for the comment!
Just received (2x) 20 lb. Ecotact bags of green coffee in a cardboard box. One bag was completely open on one side (not the top) and all the beans spilled out into the box. I had an old original cloth bag to put the coffee in, but this one didn’t work out. I can send photos of the bag if you want. The second bag was fine.
I’m sorry to hear about this… was the bag split along a side or bottom seam? I’m sorry you had to clean up the spill …Can send you a replacement bag?
“I’m sorry to hear about this… was the bag split along a side or bottom seam? I’m sorry you had to clean up the spill …Can send you a replacement bag?”
That would be great, thanks! Let me know if you need pictures. It was split most of the way open on one side, not the top.
Ok – sending today and also a couple of the 5 kg bags as backup…
I just bought 40 lbs of beans that came in these bags but after fiddling with them for awhile, I transferred the beans to a couple of the old cloth bags that SM used to use. These new bags are terrible!!!! Even following the instructions above, good luck resealing them after cutting it open and pulling out 2 or 3 lbs., you’ll have beans everywhere and it’s not a “seal” by the way, it’s only a closure, fold and binder clips, really?. Also, just because they give it an “Eco” name doesn’t mean its “eco-friendly”, it’s thick plastic for crying out loud, a wax coated paper bag or the old cloth bag with a thin plastic inner baggy would be more “eco-friendly”. If it had a good ziplock system it would be more re-useable but still would eventually (after the 20 lbs. of beans are roasted) go into the landfill, whereas the old cloth bags are more re-usable for many things and also biodegradable in the end. In my opinion, the old thin plastic bags were a good enough seal with just a twist of the top and a twist tie and then held in the cloth bag for strength, these new bags just stuff my trash can.
Unfortunately cloth doesn’t protect green coffee. 2 months storing green in a humid or arid climate and its dead. It’s definitely more sustainable and easy to use long term, but these days we know green coffee needs a barrier from the environment to maintain stability and not degrade in cup quality. The Ecotact material is one barrier option, and you can see we actually dont’ recommend using their adhesive seals in most cases. We are developing a 20 lb high barrier zip bag that should be a lot more straightforward. In the meantime we are adding a note for people to email us after placing any 20# order and we will pack the coffee the way you want it, so you don’t have to deal with the Ecotact bag again…
You would quickly find out how customers feel about the new packaging if you offered choices at check out between cloth bags, ecotact bags, and whatever that other one was. The cloth bags are easy to handle, substantially easier to store and use. Plus the rag merchants readily recycle them for free. I appreciate the attempt to find alternative packaging materials but give me my cloth back, please.