# Union (and their bags)



## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

I've previously ordered Union from Ocado, following a thread somewhere that said that the Ocado supply chain is much quicker than the Waitrose supply chain, so your roast date is likely to be much more recent. I ordered some more last week, and when it arrived, it was already 4 weeks post roast. So I froze one of the two bags.

Then, just my luck, we all start talking about freezing beans, and how you should tape over the valve. Well I hadn't taped over the valve, so I decided to cut my losses and remove the beans from the freezer.

So, to my question. I've inspected the bag, which is a foil bag, and appears to have a valve. When I compress the bag with my hands, I can feel the pressure increase, and there's definitely gas inside (air?). However, there's no release of gas from the valve. So I'm wondering what the score is here. It would seem that the bag was actually hermetically sealed.

Alas I've opened it now, and it's delicious. I'm wondering whether with this particular type of bag, roast date doesn't matter too much. It's not vacuum sealed, because I could feel the gas inside, but perhaps it's designed to reduce oxidisation?

Side note: whenever I buy Revelation, I find myself wondering why I bother with anything else


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

I do like revelation and spirit is good too. My local café or coffee shop Freedom in Windsor does it. I think they have revelation as standard and organic spirit as an option.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

I've always been a bit put off by the fact that Union have a used by date on them. Just snobbery on my part I guess as its a requirement imposed by the supermarket sales channel.

Having project managed in the supermarket industry I can confirm that Ocado have a far tighter supply chain than any of the high street markets. It was one of the reasons that Morrisons went with them as delivery partner.


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## marcuswar (Aug 19, 2013)

I'm guessing the reason people say to seal the valve is because the one way diaphragm in the valve will probably freeze as well negating it's ability to seal properly and so potentially letting in moist air from the freezer.

I know some roasters pump nitrogen gas into the bags as they are sealed in order to purge it of any oxygen. I think roasters possibly do this for supermarkets rather than direct sales? Maybe this is the gas you felt in the Union bag?


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## DoubleShot (Apr 23, 2014)

ridland said:


> I've always been a bit put off by the fact that Union have a used by date on them. Just snobbery on my part I guess as its a requirement imposed by the supermarket sales channel.


All three bags in my first order from Rave had both a Roast date (10/03/15) plus a Best Before date (10/09/15). No matter as they won't be hanging around more than a few weeks before they're all gone, I'm sure!


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## Orangertange (Jul 4, 2013)

why don't you just order union strait from there website? Then you're pretty much guaranteed it'll be fresh


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## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

Orangertange said:


> why don't you just order union strait from there website? Then you're pretty much guaranteed it'll be fresh


I do, but there was a 2kg for £30 deal on Ocado, and effectively free shipping because I needed groceries


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