All of the elements humans need to survive—oxygen, moisture, light—are things that ruin freshly roasted coffee. Our job as roasters, baristas, and coffee lovers is to keep the beans in a safe and comfortable environment until it comes time to grind, brew, and drink them.

When coffee beans are first roasted, carbon dioxide is released, and it continues to be released from the beans for up to three days. To keep the beans fresh, they need to be in a sealed package, but because of the CO2, immediately placing beans in a bag would cause the bag to explode.

So preserving roasted beans presents a difficult conundrum: how to keep the beans fresh without causing an explosion?

At Café Britt, we’ve come up with an ingenious solution. Each of our bags has a small hole near the top. This is a one-way valve that allows the beans to literally blow off some steam (technically gas, but you get the idea), while preventing oxygen, moisture, or light from seeping into the bag.

This same technology allows you to keep our coffee fresh once it has been opened. Just use the original bag and seal tightly to allow the one-way valve to keep working. Then prepare some delicious, fresh Café Britt!