How well does coffee travel by airplane?

[Teme]

Just a thought and a question that I came to think of.

In the absence of decent micro-roasters in Finland and the fact that they are abundant in Copenhagen where I live, I'd like to take along and share some freshly roasted coffee whenever I go and visit friends and family in Finland.

But how does roasted coffee react to air travel? It would be packed in bags with one-way valves. There are quite significant changes in air pressure and temperature during a flight (less in terms of the temperature if the coffee is in the carry on baggage).

My question is - how does air travel affect the coffee?

Br,
Teme

[scubadoo97]

My question is - how does air travel affect the coffee?

Br,
Teme

Not bad after a couple of bloody marys .

When I've flown with zip lock bags of fresh roasted coffee they always look like they were vacuumed sealed them after landing. If you are using one ways I bet they will look great. The low pressure will suck the air right out of them. I don't see where any negative effects would occur due to pressure or temperature changes.

[HB]

I've always been suspicious of the airline cargo hold, wondering if it was pressurized and heated. Your post prompted me to search ("airplane cargo pressurized and heated"). The question came up frequently in the context of transporting pets. Although there was some fuzziness on the details, the general consensus is that all commercial airline cargo areas are pressurized, sans some very limited spaces. Otherwise the minimum pressure is equivalent to 8000 feet. As a point of trivia, yes, the cabin and the cargo area are at the same pressure.

Temperature wasn't so cut and dry. Many references noted cargo heating is assured above freezing (38-45 degrees F); areas designated for animal transport would be in the 60-75 degrees F range. In terms of transporting coffee, a sealed one-way valve should work nicely.

PS: My neighbor is an airline pilot and I could ask him. More times than not though his answer regarding aviation is a variation of "I have no idea, I just fly the plane." I find his response both comforting and disturbing.

[Bob Barraza]

Even though the passenger cabin is pressurized, it is slightly below 1 bar. This means that the CO2 in the beans will have more volatility than normal. I would predict that the sealed bags will expand like a filled balloon during flight and then return back to normal appearance after landing.

In theory, this would mean a slightly shorter use life for the coffee, but probably not significant since your flights are reasonably short. The effect is much like taking the coffee to a ski resort at about 5000 ft above sea level for a few hours.

I wonder what will happen when they x-ray your carry-on luggage at the security check point. These bags are usually made with foil and they may look suspicious on the monitors. If so, they search your luggage, squeeze the bag and smell the fresh coffee.

Enjoy your holiday.

Bob

[Teme]

I guess it then would not make any difference if the coffee is in the cabin or with the luggage. However, if the cabin air pressure is limited to the equivalent of 8000 feet, this corresponds to approximately 30% drop in the pressure compared to sea level. This would then increase the "aging" of the coffee by what, 42% or so? This doesn't make a big difference with short flights and very little with intercontinental flights.

However, would the "artificially" accelerated de-gassing of the coffee and then returning back to higher, sea-level pressure alter the chemical qualities and therefore the taste of the coffee? scubadoo97 mentioned that post flight the coffee looked as if it had been vacuum sealed and Bob mentioned the ballooning effect.

Seems a bit silly the entire topic but I also thought of the possibility of doing larger quantities, e.g. 10 kilos every week or two via airmail / DHL - some it for the purpose of selling it onwards to the most diehard home baristas in Helsinki (as I noted there are no micro-roasters Helsinki and the diehards would be willing to pay a premium over a can of Illy - the premium would be for the cost of shipping, I'd be doing it without personal gain). Then this would pose a valid question...

Perhaps someone in the US could convince NASA to take some freshly roasted coffee on board the space shuttle and conduct experiments with it (now that the Discovery is up there, I guess this is a bit late). I bet the astronauts would enjoy it. The espresso machine would probably need to be plumbed in and I guess a naked PF would be out of the question

Br,
Teme

[scubadoo97]

I wonder what will happen when they x-ray your carry-on luggage at the security check point. These bags are usually made with foil and they may look suspicious on the monitors. If so, they search your luggage, squeeze the bag and smell the fresh coffee.

Enjoy your holiday.

Bob

When I flew to Maui I took about 2 lbs of roasted coffee with me for my stay there. Better than the psuedo Kona found in the hotels.

My suitcase reeked so much of coffee I thought I would be suspected of drug smuggling and using coffee to cover the smell. We always take fresh beans when we travel now. Lifes too short to drink bad coffee.

[wookie]

When I flew to Maui I took about 2 lbs of roasted coffee with me for my stay there. Better than the psuedo Kona found in the hotels.

If you don't mind me asking, how were you grinding the coffee you took on your trip?

[scubadoo97]

I took a small blade grinder. I find most of the hotels have the little 4 cup drips. I take basic basket filters that can be trimmed to size. I try to keep it simple. Yes those drips may not heat as well as my Clarity but they work okay. Still nice to have fresh coffee in the AM before leaving the room. Sometimes late at night after an active day.

[wookie]

Thanks for the extra info. I like your approach, it's not going to be perfect, but the important thing is that it will be far better than what you'd otherwise have at the hotel.

I was also wondering if you might have actually packed a 35# grinder into your suitcase too. :)

[scubadoo97]

I'll be roasting soon for a trip to Colorado. Never leave home without it these days. I still like to explore and find a nice espresso shop that really knows how to make espresso but often it's frustrating to see great equipment pulling some very bad shots and 20 oz lattes.

[ThaRiddla]

Whenever I did training and would have to fly, I'd bring 5 lbs of coffee with me in my carry on. Besides always having my bag searched, it didn't seem to affect anything. I was always afraid of the cargo hold, not because of heated/pressurized conditions, but because I would look out the window and see the guys whipping the bags into the storage.
I'll take my french press and my bag of coffee on the plane with me, thank you very much....just what I need, coffee beans and glass covering all my clothes.
My coffee bags always looked like they were vacuum packed after the flight, but I think part of that had to do with being squished in the luggage.

[barry]

My coffee bags always looked like they were vacuum packed after the flight, but I think part of that had to do with being squished in the luggage.

nope. it was the pressure drop. they were essentially vac'd in the hold.