Making sure your coffee is fresh is the first step to an enjoyable cup. But other than buying freshly roasted coffee, shipped right to your door, how can you keep your coffee fresh? Let’s take a look at some possibilities.
How Long Does It Stay Fresh?
First things first, coffee should be used within two weeks of roasting to be sure you are drinking the freshest available. After this time, the flavor erodes, and your cup of coffee will not be as tasty as you would prefer. To try to keep your coffee as flavorful as possible:
- - Purchase whole beans rather than ground coffee
- - Ensure your beans are packaged with a one-way valve rather than vacuum sealed
- - Store your beans in a location that is cool and dark
- - Grind your beans just before you brew them
- - Buy a smaller amount of coffee to ensure you use it before it goes stale
Now, how can we prolong the freshness?
Let’s Deep Six The Deep Freeze
Once believed one of the better ways to store your coffee for long-term, freezing your coffee is a bad idea. Coffee beans are porous and the moisture that collects on the beans from the freezer can really do a number on the flavor. When the beans thaw out, the moisture on the surface gets absorbed into the bean and any flavors or odors in that moisture are absorbed as well. Did you really want fish flavored coffee? We didn’t think so.
The only time you should consider freezing your coffee beans is if you have purchased in bulk and will not be able to use the beans within the golden window of two weeks. In this case, to keep the moisture damage at a minimum:
- - Pre-portion your bulk coffee into what you use in two weeks
- - Store the pre-portioned coffee in freezer bags and those bags in a larger freezer bag (if possible)
- - Remove as much of the air as possible from the bags
- - Remove the pre-portioned bag quickly so condensation doesn’t form on the remaining beans
Nope, Not The ‘Fridge Either
Keeping your coffee in the refrigerator is not a good idea, either. For the same reasons you shouldn’t keep your coffee in the freezer, you shouldn’t keep them in a refrigerator. You definitely don’t want those beans to take on the flavor of the foods in your ‘fridge. Choose the freezer instead if you really need to store excess beans.
Original Packaging? No Way!
Most of the original containers coffee comes in are less than ideal for storing your coffee. These bags or cans are not airtight and often allow too much light in as well. Even if you do close the bag and seal it or put the lid on the can, there is still a lot of air that can get in, leeching the flavor right out of your beans. This is definitely not the way to keep your beans performing at their best.
Store Those Beans In A Proper Container
What is a proper container, you ask? Since the most relentless enemies of freshness are light, moisture, heat, and air, coffee should be kept in a container that will protect it from these. Something opaque with an airtight seal that can be kept in a cabinet is the best storage solution. At CoffeeAM, we have a couple of great choices for keeping your CoffeeAM coffees fresh as long as possible. Our
Friis Coffee Vault or our
AirScape Coffee Storage Container will keep air, moisture, and light out, helping to ensure your coffee stays fresh and flavorful. Keep the container in a cabinet away from the stove and oven, the dishwasher, and the refrigerator. You could keep it on the counter away from these appliances, but make sure it is kept out of direct sunlight as that can heat up the container, and the coffee, as well.
Grind To Order
To keep your coffee even fresher, purchase whole bean coffee and grind it just before you brew it. Once coffee has been ground, there are more surfaces from which flavor can be lost or moisture and unsavory flavors can be soaked up. When you choose to grind your coffee yourself, you are able to control the grind and the overall flavor.
For more information about this subject, feel free to
read more information
on our site, or check out
this post from the National Coffee Association.
Here’s to enjoying the best cup of coffee around!
