Decaf Coffee

Decaffeinated coffee reaches the packaging line having already been processed more heavily than regular coffee. Taking out the caffeine also takes out part of the volatile fraction, so the ground product gives up its remaining aroma faster than a standard roast, which raises the bar for pack barrier instead of lowering it. Ground decaf is also a non-free-flowing powder: it bridges over openings, holds its angle of repose instead of levelling out, and picks up moisture from the room. A fragile aroma and a powder that will not move on its own decide almost every choice made on the line. Auger dosing answers the second problem. A metering screw turns through a set angle and pushes a set volume down the tube whether or not the powder above it is flowing, so it handles the slightly different density of decaf grinds without constant correction. Volumetric cups and free-fall weighing assume a product that pours; ground coffee does not. A hopper agitator keeps the screw fed, and a shut-off nozzle stops the tail of the dose from dusting across the sealing area, since powder caught in the jaw is the usual reason a coffee pack leaks. That is what a decaf coffee filling machine has to get right before speed is worth discussing. Stick pack is the main format. One stick is one cup; it fits a saucer, a hotel amenity tray and an airline service cart, and it lets a café offer decaf without a second grinder or a second machine, so a decaf coffee stick pack machine is usually the first request. Sachet, with three or four side seals, suits brands that want a larger printable face, or a dose at the top of the range — the same product in a different presentation, on a decaf coffee sachet packaging machine. VFFS pillow bags cover retail and refill packs holding several servings. In every format high-barrier film does the real work, and an optional nitrogen flush displaces oxygen before the seal closes. Doses on this product run from 10 to 20 g per pack. Output depends on pack width, because these are multi-lane machines: one cycle fills every lane at once, so cycles per minute and packs per minute are not the same number. At the top of the range an SPM1200 runs up to 840 packs per minute on a narrow stick with twelve lanes, and the same machine gives 490 packs per minute on a wider pack with seven lanes. Four Mentpack decaf coffee packaging machines run this product: ARTISTICK with 1 to 5 lanes, SPM320 with 1 to 8, SPM800 with 4 to 12, and SPM1200 with 7 to 12. Lane count follows pack width, and width follows the dose and the brand's format decision. Typical buyers are roasters and instant coffee producers, private-label co-packers filling for retail chains, and suppliers to the hotel, airline and catering trade, where the decaf line is smaller than the regular line but has to be packed to the same standard.