Coffee pod manufacturer expands as Australia embraces decaf

Pod Pack Australia is the country’s first contract manufacturer of coffee pods. The company manufactures and packs coffee pods, enabling coffee roasters to have their own beans ground and packed into pods.

Established in 2005, the company has more than tripled the capacity of its contract manufacturing plant. Its newly expanded Silverwater plant now houses three process and packaging machines, each producing individually branded no-waste pods for office, domestic and retail markets in quantities from 100 kg to several tonnes.

Operations manager Martin French says the company’s growth has been driven by not only increasing demand for more varieties of fresh coffee, but also for the huge rise in demand for decaffeinated coffee.

“The trend in Australasia is following the big trend in the US, where decaf accounts for close to 20% of sales. While we are not near that level yet, we are seeing a strong and rising demand for our wholesale and retail customers who appreciate that traditional grinding on demand can result in costly waste, extra grinders and stale product in specialty lines, which are, by their nature, used less often than mainstream blends.”

The coffee pods are hermetically sealed in foil pouches, using nitrogen to preserve the fresh flavour and extend shelf life for up to two years. The pods can be used with all existing commercial machines. Their vertically adjustable filter has been designed to maximise the quality of the extraction.

The pods enable inexperienced staff and domestic users to produce a quality product every time, Pod Pack says. Using the pods eliminates the need for grinders and leaves no mess, waste or stale coffee.

“The new Silverwater facility provides a state-of-the-art, high-efficiency and highly reliable third-party packing operation for the manufacture of coffee pods using customers’ coffee,” said French.

“Staff have been factory-trained in Italy and have decades of experience in roasting and packing coffee, contract packing and packaging materials.”

The coffee is packed in a HACCP-accredited cleanroom environment, with company names and logos displayed on the foil pouches. The pods are produced in 7, 10 and 14 g sizes, with single and double espresso pods and soft filter pods available.