A week ago I wrote about using One Cup Filters, an option for real coffee whilst away from home, either with work or travel. You can read about that in Travel Coffee Solutions – Part 1

This week we look at another alternative – Coffee Bags

My first experience with coffee bags occured around 30 years ago as a child camping and to be honest, I haven’t really seen or heard of them since. It appears however that these little beauties are starting to make a comeback.

With the UK’s thirst for coffee not going away, but with people starting to watch the amount they spend on takeout coffee, other alternatives seem to be getting popular once more.

One of the main advantages of the coffee bags over one cup filters, is that they are somewhat better for the environment, with the one cup filters using a large amount of single use plastic.

I’m testing coffee bags from Lyons, which come in three strengths (2, 3 or 4), plus a decaffeinated version. For this test I was using the medium strength (3)

They are singly wrapped in foil, which is again unfortunate waste, but this does mean that you get a really fresh coffee taste, it also makes it easy to pack a few in your bag for work or travel, without them getting contaminated by anything else. Its also worth noting that the bags themselves are 100% compostable.

Lyons Coffee also donates to Project Waterfall – which helps to provide clean water and better sanitisation to coffee growing communities around the world.

To make a coffee, it’s just like making a cup of tea. Place the bag in a cup and fill with water, stir and allow to brew.

I rushed making my first cup and within a minute thought it looked ok. This was a mistake, as the process takes longer than a cup of tea, with the bags really needing at least 3 mins, although I preferred at least 4 to get a good coffee taste.

The aroma of the coffee is beautiful and the flavour was good too. I don’t think the coffee flavour is quite as good as the filters, probably due to the fact that the coffee grounds are in contact with the water for a lot longer, but for many the difference won’t be hugely noticeable. The fact that they are easy to use and travel with, far outweighs that negative.

Another positive for the Lyons Coffee bags are the price – in supermarkets from £2.60 for 18 bags, they work out at less that 15p a bag.

You can read more about their Coffee Bags and the Project Water Fall Here

Next week ill be looking at one more solution for coffee while away.