How To Best Store Your Coffee
Product Information
For those who love coffee, have purchased a machine for at home and enjoy good fresh coffee, there is nothing more frustrating that having it all ruined by coffee beans that aren’t at their best.
Yet when it comes to storing coffee beans, good info can be hard to find… so after some research and testing, here are some of the best tips we’ve found on how to store your coffee.
The best way to store your coffee is in a cool, dry, dark place, in a sealed container with all excess air removed. This will give you two to four weeks of premium use, with the coffee generally being at its premium between days 5-21 from roasting (this should be treated as an average as different beans behave slightly differently). For ground coffee, get it ground fresh when you order and try to use within a week.
What Affects the Freshness of Your Coffee Beans
The main things that affect coffee beans are moisture, air/oxygen, light and heat. This is how they affect the coffee bean when stored.
Moisture: – exposure to moisture in storage will start releasing the flavour compounds in the coffee bean. Obviously the idea is to save as much flavour as possible until you’re ready to release it in the brewing process.
Air: – air is good for releasing the carbon dioxide after roasting, but highly detrimental in releasing the delicate flavour compounds associated with the beans’ aroma. We’ll discuss later ways to get the best of both worlds.
Oxygen: – the coffee oils are adversely affected by exposure to oxygen and will go rancid if exposed for extended periods. This is important to know not just for storing beans but for remembering to thoroughly clean the bean hopper of your grinder or any storage container used for your beans as the oils from the previous beans can go rancid and affect the new beans.
Light & Heat: – These will speed up the deterioration of the coffee and speed up all of the above effects.
Where to Store Your Coffee Beans
The best place to store your coffee is in a cool, dry cupboard. Some people talk about storing them in a fridge or freezer, but these options have their own risk factors for storing beans.
Fridge – Basically, don’t do it. The fridge isn’t cold enough to effectively slow down how fast the coffee goes stale and introduces new risks. Refrigerated coffee can easily absorb the surrounding odours and flavours, but more importantly, easily picks up condensation once cooled, greatly affecting the quality of flavour.
Freezer – Try to avoid it, but if you do use it – freeze as soon as possible after roasting, do not refreeze and your coffee can last up to six weeks.
Cupboard – The best. Pick a cool, dry cupboard or use the back of your pantry.
Top Tips To Coffee Freshness
In summary, here are the top tips on how best to store your coffee.
- Buy it fresh from a good coffee supplier – getting it within a few days of roasting is ideal.
- Keep it cool but not chilled – a cool, dry cupboard is ideal.
- Avoid air contact – don’t let it share a container with lots of air and keep it airtight.
- Grind on demand – if you don’t have a grinder, buy less coffee more often to keep it fresher.