Sealing oolong

I’ve been experimenting a bit recently with a few attempts at DIY oolong roasting (more on this later).

One consequence of this is that I had some oolong which needed bagged up and sealed.

Having looked around at bag sealers of different degrees of professionalism and noting the general high price, I decided another approach was necessary.

Half an hour of google searches later, I came across a post in a coffee forum from someone who had been using hair crimpers to seal his coffee bags. The price difference is staggering – over £100 for a professional heat sealer vs. £10 for a pair of cheap hair crimpers. So long as it worked, there was no contest really. I decided it was worth a shot and, with Walmart just around the corner, I was soon in the possession of a fine set of Vidal Sassoon hair crimpers – they were even on sale!

They even came with a set of 4 styles of crimp plates that I can use – just in case I feel the need for a wavy seal on my oolong bags.

Despite reading the blog post, I wasn’t quite sure whether they would work, but once plugged in for a few minutes the plates had heated up nicely, and after holding the bag in for about 30 seconds, found they’d made a nice seal.

One drawback is that the seal is quite wide, but I guess this doesn’t matter – once sealed, the top part of the bag is rendered useless anyway & a wide seal can only be better for forming a barrier to air anyway.

All in all, a successful venture and I’m now happily sealing my old open bags of oolong.