I was wondering why single serving coffee sachets never really took off the way tea bags have. The only explanation I could find was that steeping coffee too long makes the coffee taste bad, but it seems like that could be avoided by removing the bag.

Why would the end result be terribly different than a french press, Turkish brew, or cowboy coffee?

  • Is the unclear vote due to the term sachet? I was using the term in the cooking sense, a small bag usually made of cheese cloth that you fill with spices, much like a tea bag. – apaul Jan 28 '15 at 0:28
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    Good question! I've been wondering this too, though my one experience with a Folger's coffee teabag on a hunting trick resulted in the worst cup of coffee I've ever had. – Nathan Jan 28 '15 at 0:38
  • @Nathan Did you leave the bag in the cup while you drank it, or did you let it steep for a while and remove it? – apaul Jan 28 '15 at 0:45
  • I tried everything and it stayed super super weak. Tried two bags, steeped longer, boiled more, finally added a Constant Comment teabag. Yuck. Maybe the bags were too old too. And oops I meant to say hunting trip. – Nathan Jan 28 '15 at 0:47
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    > I was wondering why single serving coffee sachets never really took off the way tea bags have. In Poland you can buy something like this but is decaffeinated coffee or senseo coffee. – user596 Apr 2 '15 at 12:21

10 Answers 10


As a matter of fact, coffee is "commonly" sold in some kind of sachets.

In Japan, there is what is called "one-drip bag coffee". It consists of a flat sachet that you can unfold to deploy a small scaffold. The scaffold adapts to any mug-like cups. It unveils a filter containing ground coffee, as it unfolds. You just need to pour hot water in the filter to get a decent cup of coffee.

I will not link to any maker or brand, but most coffee dealers in Japan offer these bags---pretty convenient and offering a decent cup for the price. These bags seem somewhat popular in Japan.

I am not sure about global availability, though. Several countries do not sell them (e.g. Europe, perhaps because of the French / Italian influences).

Hanging Ear Drip Coffee Filter Drip Type Portable Coffee Paper Filter

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    These are in fact quite good depending on the brand. I commonly take some with me when I travel to avoid gambling on whatever the hotel might provide. – Tim Post Jan 28 '15 at 1:35
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    I haven't heard of these, sounds interesting though. Can you post an image when you get a chance? – apaul Jan 28 '15 at 1:35
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    @EricPlaton Just Googled it, they look awesome, I'll have to hunt around for a source in my area. – apaul Jan 28 '15 at 1:42
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    Apparently Starbucks makes these too. A little expensive though; $2/bag. – mpen Feb 15 '17 at 23:38
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    @Eric Platon I could be interpreting the question incorrectly, but I was looking for an answer to the challenges of making a good cup of coffee from a teabag-style sachet that sits in the hot water (and therefore why they aren't popularly available in his/her market). Are you saying that because they are commonly available in the pour-over/scaffold form, the sachet is the same thing? (I realize your answer was accepted, but I don't feel like the question surrounding "why a bag of coffee grounds soaking in hot water doesn't work" was answered). – speedfranklin Aug 22 '17 at 15:19

Because coffee is an agricultural/baked item and like bread, goes stale. Between roasting, grinding packaging and shipping the bags, you'd ensure the coffee was never fresh and will never taste good. The most you may get is a mass produced cup of horrible that might be passable or better than nothing to a small percentage of people.

The other brew methods you list are generally used by people buying fresher, specialty coffee from shops. Those methods are all a bit more intensive and tend to be used by people a bit more picky that folks buying Folgers.

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    Point taken as far as a mass produced Folgers like product. – apaul Jan 28 '15 at 0:51
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    You can buy "bread" in a can or foil packet like in an MRE... but it's even worse than instant coffee. Most hotels give you those big filterpack things that are basically a sachet, and taste horrible too. But actually one other time I tried brewing good quality grounds in a satchet made for loose-leaf tea, and it was also terrible. Not sure why. It's a good question. – Nathan Jan 28 '15 at 0:53

The method of brewing you describe is commonly known in Poland, Belarus, etc, as 'Turkish coffee', althought it's something very different from the actual 'Turkish coffee', because coffee is poured over by hot water, like tea, and not boiled afterwards.

In fact, many people use sprinkled tea instead of express tea (express tea, or sachet tea is usually of much poorer quality). But many people dislike that method because of grounds that must be manually removed before washing the cup.

The grounds of the coffee are very small grained, so they won't stop the sink, and I suppose it's the reason there's not so much demand on coffee sachets. Another one is the popularity of coffee machines, with nothing similar in the tea world.

The last reason that I see is, because coffee grounds are much smaller, it's technologically more challenging to prepare coffee sachets that would keep grounds inside. So they would be (and from I've heard actually are) much more expensive, and not so many people are eager to pay extra for them.


I just made coffee in this manner using tea bags from some tea I did not care to drink. I made sure all the tea was out, I put in just over a teaspoon of the coffee i wanted ( I have no coffee maker at this time, they keep breaking even my good one) and then I sealed it back up, stapled it at the top just like the tea bag and added some milk and sugar and it tasted fine. You could add 3 tsp or a big table spoon if you want a stronger coffee! But I see that now, they probably would not sell as well. The trick to the coffee tasting fresh no matter how it is packaged is to keep it in your freezer. That is what I do.

  • Welcome to Coffee SE! I like this diy approach a lot (although the freezer trick is usually discouraged by the freshness enthusiasts). – Ivan Kapitonov Feb 3 '16 at 21:13
  • I used to keep my coffee in the freezer, once i started really getting into coffee, keeping them room temp in an airtight container tends to be a bit tastier – inVINCEable Jun 21 '18 at 14:55

Holy smokes people! Been around for years and years. AMWAY sold it and it was a big hit. Superior Brand

Today, Folgers and other brands have sealed in foil coffee in bags.

Folgers Classic Medium Roast Coffee Singles Serve Bags. Decaff too.

and this curious contrivance...

Caffe Borsa Single Serve Hand Drip Coffee, Premium Sumatra

  • We had something very similar to your last link at a hotel in London. Admittedly, the coffee was near undrinkable taste-wise, but it was fun to make it ;-) – Stephie Sep 19 '16 at 14:17

There is also an alternative to a sachet, which is nevertheless functionally eqiuvalent, i.e., individual serving of instant (but true) coffee. Starbucks sells microground coffee in individual little bags, which is regular decent coffee, but it is so finely ground that it "dissolves" in the cup.

However, they only have it in "selected" countries -- e.g., I recollect seeing it in the USA and in Poland, but not in some other European countries.


Look everyone, the amount of coffee needed inside a tea bag in which to make a cup of coffee is very minimal. It will be thin-bodied. Notwithstanding the taste issue is merely the science of how hot the water is and how long the coffee needs to steep. Unlike a French press, the general properties needed for a tea filter bag to SEAL the coffee in requires a heat-sensitive sealant. The sealant used will clog the pores of the filter paper and you will never get enough coffee in the filter to make it taste decent while making it affordable. K Cups were designed to brew like drip coffee and have the cleanliness and convenience to replace the single tea bag coffee. It tastes way better and costs about the same.

  • Welcome to Coffee SE, please feel free to take the tour. – MTSan Apr 25 '16 at 13:17

I have also tried using coffee as in teabags but the brew is very weak. I just removed the tea and put in 5 gms of mild course coffee. I think the filter paper needs to very porous so that it can allow some fine solids to go into the brew. I am still trying until I get a solution because in my country this is the only way to improve coffee consumption.


Have you ever checked out Javazen's Brew Bags? These brew bags are literally coffee in a tea bag. They sell premium organic coffee mixed with tea. The tea reduces the acidity and helps brew a smoother cup of coffee. Ive been drinking Javazen for over 3 years now, and it wasn't until just this year that they launched the coffee tea bag - before the tea bag, they only sold their blends in loose grounds.


After doing some more reading, it looks like Javazen was able to craft a quality coffee tea bag by creating a new tea bag "technology" that allows your coffee to brew more similarly to a french press.

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  • I second @CalvT븃 - This answer reads like an advertisement. – Mayo Aug 21 '17 at 12:46

I often purchase empty tea bags meant for brewing loose leaf tea to brew coffee on a trip. I push a chopstick or sommat through the top of the bag after filling to suspend it from the lip of the cup, pour hot water over, let it steep for a bit, and remove the bag. The flavor is lovely and robust.

Here is one brand, T-sac, but there are lots out there.
