Coffee Tea Bags. 5 Easy Caffeine Fixes
Discover coffee bags, recommended by our team of coffee professionals.
Coffee bags have been around for years, however have never really hit it off as teabags did years before.
Whether it’s a taste thing or something that people really don’t associate with making a coffee, many brands have tried and failed at selling coffee filter bags to the masses.
This may change in the forthcoming years as new brands both independent and commercial are trying their hand with coffee bags.
It’s something that I first tried on a weekend trip to Cambridge. I had forgotten my Aeropress filters and was on the hunt for my usual amount of caffeine in our Airbnb.
I came across a couple of sachets of coffee bags that I originally thought was instant. The coffee wasn’t great - the coffee was fairly old and the quality of the coffee in the first place was questionable, however, I was certainly intrigued and could see how these could take off.
Coffee bags work in the same way as tea bags, place in a cup then add water. There are a few differences in brewing coffee though:
In many brew methods, you should bloom the coffee first, which means adding a small amount of water and letting the coffee soak it up while releasing CO2. This should be practised when brewing a coffee bag.
Another difference is that coffee soaks up much more water than tea does. This makes the coffee bag rather large as you pull it out of the cup so determining your brew ratio is important.
Although coffee bags up until a few years ago were only really seen in hotel rooms and corporate events, there has been a significant increase in quality products recently.
The undoubted convenience of coffee filter bags alongside the use of coffee grounds rather than instant coffee make it a pretty attractive product.
Here are some of the best coffee bags on the market today;
The 5 Best Coffee Tea Bags Online
Find our top coffee bags in the UK. If your favourite is missing please drop a comment below.
1. New Kings Coffee
New Kings Coffee is the brainchild of Jason who became disenchanted with the corporate life and decided to put his years of frequenting business events with lacklustre coffee selections to good use.
Often the case with daytime business events, coffee is served in a large urn that dribbles out subpar coffee while the tea comes in an array of colours and flavours. Jason saw a gap in the market and created his own coffee bag selection box.
New Kings showcase only single-origin coffees in a variety of roast profiles. They currently have four options each from a different continent and roast profiles ranging from light to dark. Their coffee bags are 100% biodegradable and made from corn starch so they can be placed in your food waste bin after use.
Their single-origin coffees of speciality quality plus the sustainability aspects make New Kings Coffee one of the best coffee bags in the UK.
2. Raw Bean
Capacity: 10 Bags
Bag Size: 12g Coffee
Other Specs: 4 Varieties. Triangle Bags
Price: ££
Raw Bean Coffee was founded by coffee-obsessed Alex Cox who had previously worked for beverage giants such as Twinning and Clipper.
Raw Bean is all about going the extra yard when you are stood in front of the coffee offerings in a supermarket and opting for something more than your average tin or box of coffee.
Raw Bean keep things simple and never steer away from their main mission, which is to encourage fine coffee enthusiasts to politely overlook the well-stacked shelf of perfectly acceptable everyday offerings and instead choose something with a little extra wow!
The coffees that they showcase come from all over the world, the single-origin Bean bag comes from El Salvador while their “Duel Origin” Blend is a mix of Colombian and Guatemalan coffee.
These guys are big on quality when it comes to coffee bags and the end result is pretty close to a coffee you would expect out of a cafetiere.
3. The Little Coffee Bag Co.
Capacity: 10 - 600 Bags
Bag Size: 10g Coffee
Other Specs: 3 Varieties.
Price: ££
The Little Coffee Bag is designed to produce a cafetière style coffee for one, without the need for anything more than boiling water.
Their coffee bags, which are available in three different retail blends, are made from bio-web and contain 10g of oven-roasted ground Arabica coffee.
Each coffee bag is then individually wrapped to maintain freshness.
Each of their blends have been created with real dedication to quality and flavour.
The origin of our coffee beans are carefully chosen to ensure sustainability whilst our state of the art roasting methods ensure consistency.
4. Paddy and Scotts
Capacity: 31 - 100 Bags
Bag Size: 10g Coffee
Other Specs: 2 Varieties.
Price: £££
Paddy and Scotts started launched in 2007 as Paddy and Scott selling freshly roasted coffee out of the boot of their car. They began as a pair of bright-eyed and bushy-tailed coffee-loving entrepreneurs armed with a two-kilo roaster and the foresight that speciality coffee was about to boom in the UK.
After years of building their brand and establishing great relationships throughout the coffee supply chain they now have a huge network of ‘heroes’ that all contribute to the amazing coffee brand that is Paddy and Scotts.
The coffee brewer bags that these guys showcase come in regular and decaf coffee bags. The biodegradable brew bags are easy to compost and the boxes range from 31 bags (enough for 1 month) up to 100 bags.
5. Frontline Coffee
Capacity: 35 - 50 Bags
Bag Size: 10g Coffee
Other Specs: 2 Varieties
Price: ££
Frontline Coffee was founded in 2018. They are a firefighter run and owned coffee company roasting speciality coffee supporting frontline charities.
Their mission is to support frontline charities, financially and through awareness of the services they offer.
They come in boxes of 15 or 50 and have an option to subscribe to weekly deliveries.
They offer two coffee bags, the first a blend from Latin America and the second a single origin Ethiopia - which is interesting to see such a highly prized coffee used as a coffee bag.
▻ Do Coffee Bags Go Bad?
Coffee bags contain coffee grounds while will slowly start to loose flavour through time. Although it does take a while for coffee bags to go bad in a sense of rotting and mould, the taste of the coffee will certainly start to decline after a couple of months after the roast date. Try to always store any type of coffee in coffee storage containers.
▻ Are Coffee Bags Recyclable?
It depends on the brand and the material they use to make the coffee bag. More brands are now using biodegradable coffee bags made out of materials like cornstarch so you can just lob them straight onto the compost pile.
Batch coffee club packaging is 100% compostable and produced by coffee packaging manufacturer MTPak.
▻ When Was the First Coffee Tea Bag Made?
Teabags were introduced in the early 20th Century but it wasn’t until the 1970s until a coffee brand decided to use the bag technology for coffee. The original coffee bags didn’t really catch on though even after another brand took on the idea in the 1980s.
Today you can find coffee brands all over the world putting their own twist on coffee bags.
▻ Where to Buy a Coffee Bag?
Coffee Bags can be purchased from any of the brands above.
Not to be confused with drip bag coffee which is slightly different to coffee bags in that they have a mechanism that sits on top of your cup and opens up creating a makeshift pour-over.
▻ How Much Coffee is in a Coffee Bag?
This varies from brand to brand, it normally ranges from 8g of coffee to 12g of coffee. For comparison a shot of espresso out of your average home semi-automatic espresso machine would use around 18g of coffee.
▻ What is a Coffee Bag for Cold Brew?
These tend to be large cotton bags that hold a large quantity of coarser ground coffee which is required to make cold brew coffee.
▻ Is a Coffee Bag Ground Coffee?
Yes, a coffee bag is essentially ground coffee inside a bag that traps the coffee but releases brewed coffee when added to water.
▻ How to Use a Coffee Tea Bag.
The best way to use a coffee bag is to first place it in your coffee cup. Then pour a small amount of hot water (boil or heat your stovetop kettle and wait 30 seconds) on top of the bag. This is called blooming the coffee and is an important step when making any filter method as the coffee grounds soak up the water and release CO2.
After around 30 seconds pour over the rest of the water filling up your cup. We prefer not to stir the coffee bag but make sure that all of the coffee inside the coffee bag is submerged inside the brew.
After 3 minutes pull out the coffee bag and let the coffee fall from the bag (try not to squeeze as this may result in a bitter-tasting brew.
How Long Does a Coffee Bag Stay Fresh?
The shelf life of a coffee drip bag can vary depending on the type of coffee and the packaging.
Drip coffee bags, also known as pour-over coffee bags, usually have a shelf life of about 6-12 months.
They are similar to tea bags and have a similar packaging, which helps to preserve the coffee's aroma and flavour.
It's important to keep the drip bags in an airtight container and away from light, heat and moisture to extend the shelf life.
It's also worth noting that the coffee will start losing its flavor as soon as it's been roasted, so it's best to use it as soon as possible after the roast date.
Should You Squeeze Coffee Bags?
It is generally not recommended to squeeze coffee drip bags because it can affect the flavour and strength of the coffee.
Squeezing the bag can release bitter compounds and oils that are not meant to be extracted during the brewing process, which can make the coffee taste overly bitter.
Additionally, squeezing the bag can also cause the coffee to be over-extracted, which can lead to a brew that is too strong and overpowering.
It's best to follow the instructions on the coffee drip bag packaging and let the coffee steep for the recommended time before removing the bag.
This will help to ensure that you get the best flavour and strength from your coffee.
