Part 3.1.4: Coffee, tea and chocolate drinks 

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The sensitive nature of coffee and tea has been evident ever since these ‘luxuries’ were first shipped across the world. Traditionally, in order to ensure a fresh, fully aromatic cup of coffee, the beans were roasted and ground at the coffee house. Modern packaging has now allowed for these functions to be done at an earlier stage and for coffee to be enjoyed in many ways. Choices of method are now many: whether from the cafetière using readyground beans, from one of the modern coffee-making machines using ‘pods’ or capsules, or in the cup using single portion sachets of freeze-dried ‘instant’.

Tea is another sensitive product needing the best in protection. For many years tea was mainly shipped in wooden ‘chests’ or boxes lined with aluminium foil. Now aluminium foil plays a big part in retail packaging – bringing fresh, aromatic teas to an increasingly discerning public.

And it’s not just coffee and tea: other powdered or ‘instant’ drinks are enjoyed in perfect condition despite a sometimes long storage period.

The availability of aluminium foil, a high performance packaging material which combines total barrier with flexibility, an attractive appearance and compatibility with other materials, is one of the keys to today’s high level of consumer enjoyment of all types of refreshing coffees, teas and chocolate-based drinks.

Alufoil – an ideal packaging material

Barrier

Alufoil’s total barrier to light, gases and moisture – which provides the perfect preservation of aroma and product characteristics – is the principal reason for its use in flexible laminates for coffee, tea and other instant drinks. It can help to extend the viable life of such sensitive products for many months, even years.

Safety and compatibility

Alufoil is perfectly suitable for direct contact with coffee, tea and other instant drinks. In most applications, alufoil is not in contact with the product as it is used in association with other materials within a laminate.

Decorative potential

Alufoil’s metallic finish plus compatibility with all printing methods provides designers with scope to create stunning graphic designs and shelf presence.

Heat conductivity

Aluminium is very conductive to heat. This can help minimise pouch and sachet sealing times and evens out the temperature gradient, helping to protect product quality.

Heat resistance

Although alufoil conducts heat efficiently, it also stands up to all temperature variations encountered in the processing and use of packaging – such as in foil capsules used in some coffee making machines and systems.

Sustainability

Thanks to its barrier function, alufoil packaging efficiently protects and reduces spoilage of sensitive products and can save energy and material resources. After use, aluminium can be repeatedly recycled without loss of quality and at a fraction of its original energy cost. Alufoil laminate is suitable for both separate and multi-material collection systems according to national and local conditions. The energy content can also be recovered by thermal treatment.

Applications

Brand owners and retailers now offer coffees and teas for almost every imaginable occasion in both single-serve and family packs: breakfast, morning coffee, afternoon tea, after dinner and at bed time. In the workplace, catering outlets and ‘on-the-move’ there are specialist formats that cover every moment of our day.
And it doesn’t end there. Preparation processes from instant coffees through to specialist varieties for cafetières, filter and espresso machines, plus single serve systems are adding to the multitude of consumer choices. This diversity, coupled with the need for coffee and tea to be adequately protected, has led to a number of packaging alternatives featuring alufoil.

Stand-up pouches

This familiar high performance pack format, combining lightness and high protection thanks to the alufoil layer, is used as an ‘eco-refill pack’ for instant coffee as well as a regular presentation for ground coffee. It is also used for the familiar pods to be used in coffee machines. There are now easy-open and reclosable versions, adding convenience to full product protection. The latest ultrasonically welded valve systems are readily incorporated.

Fine printed effects combining reverse printing, exploiting the gloss of the outer film laminate with the luxurious metallic effect of the aluminium foil substrate, can be used to convey unequalled levels of quality appeal.

Vacuum and modified atmosphere packs

A long-standing high-barrier format, this is especially for ground coffee. Scientific study* has demonstrated that a vacuum pack laminate which incorporates a layer of aluminium foil achieves the best performance in stopping the loss of vital aromatic components of coffee.

Foil lined cartons

Cylindrical alufoil/board cartons featuring a tabbed ‘pull-out’ alufoil membrane will ensuretotal protection of tea. Reclosure, that can be provided by a plastic cap will allow use over an extended period and can give the container a useful ‘second life’ as highly protective storage.

Single portion sachets

The alufoil sachet has long been a familiar packaging format, bringing instant one-cup convenience to tea and coffee drinkers. Now there is an even more popular version – the ‘stick’ format – with easy-open systems whether using laser scoring or slits in the outer film layer. A similar shape and convenience has been extended into the sachets used for instant chocolate and malt-based hot drinks.

Alufoil laminate sachets are also in widespread use for the protection of individual coffee pods and single-serve coffee filters.

Capsules

Coffee making has reached unprecedented levels of sophistication with the growth in ‘home espresso’ systems. One of them is an advanced combination of aluminium foil capsules (small smoothwall alufoil containers with alufoil lids) and machine technology using a unique extraction system. The attractive capsules are colour-coded according to coffee type – a demonstration of the way in which creativity can be combined with excellence in performance.

The metal in the alufoil capsules is fully recyclable.

Alufoil ‘tea sticks’

This unique format uses the mechanical properties of aluminium foil enabling the formation of a rigid perforated container for the tea. Alufoil’s deadfold’ characteristic, its heat resistance and conductivity, the foil’s food safety and compatibility with its contents, and its decorative appearance are all combined. The alufoil Stick Tea format also has the advantage that the tea can be removed cleanly from the individual glass or cup as soon as the desired strength has been reached.

*Verpackungs-Rundschau 1/96 Technisch-Wissenschaftliche Beilage 48 (1996) No. 1 AROMA changes in coffee vacuum packed using different packaging materials: A. Lindner-Steinert, M. Zou; Fraunhofer-Institut für Lebensmitteltechnologie und Verpackung (Fraunhofer Institute for Food Technology and Packaging), Munich, Germany.