Long-term coffee storage--where's best?
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Since I gave up drinking dreck coffee May Long weekend—I did have to make one pot because my kids were sleeping one early morn and I didn't want to wake them with the grinder—my coffee consumption has gone way down, and not really because of the economics of it—though that is a factor—but I'm just more satisfied with 1 liter of really good coffee than the similar amount of dreck. Regardless, I do try to wait for the sales at the store to get my favourite coffees. Salt Spring Coffee Co. coffee was on sale a couple weeks ago—not this week though. This week my second favourite coffee is on sale, and at a pretty good price too—of course I had just bought a bag of it on Sunday and the sale started today, sigh. So, I'm going to buy at least another 400g bag. My question is, where is the best place to keep it? Especially if I buy two bags, which I might, it might be a month or more before I get to the second bag I buy now—since I just started one Sunday night. I've heard the fridge is bad because it isn't cold enough and the oils go rancid. I'm thinking two months in a cupboard couldn't be good either. What about the freezer? Could I keep the two bags in the freezer until I need one, then take it out and keep it out? I know that the oils on the cold beans don't brew up as nicely—this is from personal experience—kinda like chocolate, frozen or even fridge-cold chocolate just doesn't as good as room temperature chocolate to me.So coffee experts out there, where should I keep this coffee that I'm not going to get to for a month?
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Comments
Hmm, if I knew I wasn't going to drink the coffee for a month then I would just wait and buy it fresh. Is it really worth spending the money when you know that one month down the road you'll have to drink it and it won't be fresh anymore, no matter how you store it?
Last weel we finished the Ethical Bean and Salt Spring coffee we had and we went to Capers to get some more. Turned out that all the bags with a roasting date on them were a month old, so we didn't buy any.
Posted by: Ianiv Schweber![[TypeKey Profile Page]](../../../../nav-commenters.gif)
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June 16, 2020 09:18 AM
See it's a REALLY good price, so I want to stock up. Also what if someone gives you some Kona or Jamacian and you want to save it for special dinners or brunches? How do you keep that?
Posted by: Tris Hussey | June 16, 2020 09:21 AM
Keep *unopened* bags in the freezer.
Sealed, nitrogen-flushed bags with a one-way valve will do just fine in your freezer for months. (If you want to be *really* picky, you can add another layer of protection with a zip-top freezer bag.) And the back of the freezer is far, far better than the door.
When you remove a bag of coffee from the freezer, let it warm to room temperature before you open it; your chilly beans might otherwise invite unwanted moisture to the party through condensation. (This is one of the reasons that storing coffee in your fridge is *bad* - lots of moisture in there.)
Once you've opened a bag, don't put it back in the freezer, but store it instead in an opaque, air-tight container.
Roasted coffee has three serious enemies: oxygen, moisture and light. Keep those away and you're good to go, for a few weeks, anyway. ;)
-deCadmus
Posted by: Doug Cadmus | June 16, 2020 05:54 PM
Doug thank you! That's what I thought.
Posted by: Tris Hussey | June 16, 2020 05:58 PM