Storage has a major impact on coffee’s freshness and shelf life. We nitro-flush and carefully seal our wholesale coffee capsules to keep them ready to brew for up to 24 months – but it’s also important that you store them correctly in order to preserve the shelf-life.
Once your wholesale coffee capsules arrive, it’s important to store them in the right conditions. If not, you could end up with stale coffee or cause damage to the capsule shells – making them unusable.
To help, we’ve put together a guide on how to correctly store wholesale coffee capsules. Read on to find out.
Before we look at how to store wholesale coffee capsules, let’s break down why good storage is so important. Food safety and structural integrity are both important – but flavor and freshness also play a part.
The fresher the coffee is, the more vibrant and distinctive it tastes. However, over time, coffee gradually loses its freshness and turns stale. Certain factors accelerate this process, including:
Oxygen is the most significant factor. When you roast coffee, carbon dioxide (CO2) forms within the beans. As soon as coffee leaves the roaster, however, it begins to release CO2 over time. In the industry, we call this “degassing”.
Coffee should degas for a couple of days to minimize bitterness, but there is a sweet spot. As the CO2 formed by roasting is released, it is replaced by oxygen, which causes the coffee to turn stale. This is an even bigger problem once you grind coffee, because its surface area increases dramatically.
However, oxygen isn’t the only thing to consider for freshness. If left in direct light, photodegradation can break down certain aroma compounds in roasted coffee.
It is also hygroscopic, which means that it quickly absorbs moisture. This can cause coffee to take on undesirable odors and tastes, and can even generate mold. Finally, high or low temperatures can also have an impact and cause off-tastes to form.
So, to keep coffee fresh, you need to keep it away from oxygen, light, moisture, and high or low temperatures. But what does this mean for storing wholesale coffee capsules?
To start with, manufacturers seal coffee capsules to create an oxygen barrier. This stops oxidation, which is essential – as we grind the coffee inside to an extremely fine particle size. As a result, it has a high surface area and is far more susceptible to oxidation than whole bean coffee.
However, once delivered, customers should also keep some storage best practices in mind.
Anne Djerai, CEO of Metropolis Coffee, explains that the best way to store Metropolis wholesale coffee capsules is to keep them in a dry container at room temperature.
She says: "Damp, extreme cold, and heat are all bad ways to store capsules. Cold and heat will impact the seal on the capsule and may cause them to delaminate and stale more quickly. If they get wet, the compostable materials will start to break down."
Metropolis espresso capsules are commercially compostable and certified by the BPI and CMA. When businesses dispose of them at commercial composting facilities, the process breaks them down into biomass, water, and CO2.
There are many types of dedicated coffee pod holders available on the market. These can be made from metal, clear plastic, wood, or even glass and are available as wire racks, magnetic shelves, boxes, and various other designs.
In the retail and hospitality space, businesses may understandably want to store wholesale coffee capsules in holders that double as product displays. However, it’s best to use fully closable drawers or boxes to keep coffee capsules away from moisture or extremes in temperature.
We package our wholesale Metropolis espresso capsules in boxes that we can fully customize to client specifications, including an option for premium monogrammed display cases.
We’ve explained why freshness is important, and what customers need to do once they receive their espresso capsules. But what about packing the capsules in the first place?
To maximize freshness, we use a high-tech Italian filling machine to fill, seal, and then nitro-flush all Metropolis espresso capsules before finally sealing with customized technology, resulting in a shelf life of 12 to 24 months.
“The seal forms an oxygen barrier so that the coffee isn't exposed to air,” Anne explains. “The capsules are infused with nitrogen throughout the packing process and sealed with barrier materials immediately after being filled."
We then package our espresso capsules in specially-designed boxes. Our current range of wholesale coffee capsule offerings includes:
As well as offering our standard capsule range on a wholesale basis, we also offer private label and co-packing services. With private label coffee capsules, we work with your team to design a signature espresso coffee blend for your specifications, or simply to repackage our signature products into packaging branded for you.
Once you have your custom wholesale coffee capsules, all that’s left is to store them in containers in a cool, dry, and dark place. They’ll stay perfect for months or years – meaning your customers can enjoy delicious espresso-style coffee on demand without compromising flavor or quality.
Interested in learning more? Check out our wholesale co-packing and private-label espresso capsule solutions today.
Certified compostable facilities may not exist in your area. To find a composter near you, visit www.findacomposter.com or www.compostnow.org on all packaging and marketing materials.
Metropolis Coffee is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by Nespresso. Nespresso is a registered trademark of Société des Produits Nestlé.
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