Friday Fun: What is that Thing in the Coffee Bag?

I am usually the first one at work on the 2nd floor of our One Market office. There may be other people already here on other floors, but I am almost always first on my floor. The second person who normally comes in is our CEO, Carl Bass. Carl once told me "Scott, your only shortcoming as an employee is that you don't drink coffee." You see, Carl has to make the first pot of coffee. If I were a coffee drinker, the brewing would already be in progress when he arrives. I responded with "I don't even know how to make it." He said, "It's very easy" and showed me how to do it. How many people can say that they were taught how to make coffee by the CEO of a $2.5B company? Funny.

My HP EliteBook 8560w takes minutes to boot up. While I am waiting for it, I make a pot of coffee. It helps me pass the time.

As I carefully empty the coffee from the bag into the maker, just like Carl showed me, I have always noticed that there is something inside the bag. Today I decided to bust it open.

What is that thing? Is that a device for to retain freshness? Is that an anti-theft device? Maybe you regular coffee drinkers already know what it is. I am out of my league. I don't drink coffee. As we approach the internet of things, I am guessing that one day this thing will be replaced with an RFID device that reports theft and relays freshness information back to the supplier.

Coffee curiosity is alive in the lab.