Storing Coffee
Possibly the single most contentious, and most misunderstood, fact about “roast and ground” coffee is where is the best place to store it. Forget about all the other ”expert” ideas you read or hear, because we are going to give you the absolute definitive answer, and tell you why!
Like many other food products, the simple answer is that storage is qualified by how you intend to consume it. Like vegetables or meat or bread, you can consume it fresh, which is obviously best, or you can store it for later use.
So here are the facts which support the answers for any different situation.
Fact #1: The “enemies” of coffee are moisture and air. Coffee is “hygroscopic”, meaning it will absorb moisture and aromas from the air surrounding it, and it will be affected by that process. That is partly why we use resealable barrier zip-lock bags with one-way valves.
Logical Conclusion #1: You want to store coffee somewhere that is dry (relatively), and it can be as protected as possible from foreign odours or aromas. This therefore excludes a normal refrigerator. Anybody who says to store coffee in a fridge is either 1) ignoring coffee chemistry and refrigeration engineering, or 2) they are using a specially dehumidified cool room, or 3) they are taking the chance that their packaging will prevent moisture ingress. Using a dehunidified coolroom is not a practical idea for the average consumer, and relying on 30 cent packaging to prevent moisture ingress is a wishfull concept.
Normal fridges are “wet”. Our technicians put a humidity/moisture recorder in a fridge, and the result is not good. Do not put coffee in a fridge. Fullstop. It is the worst place to store coffee.
Fact #2: Freshly roasted coffee is at it’s best between 3 and 10 days out of the roaster. (This is now a widely recognised fact, and there are many websites that support and explain the chemistry so we won’t go into the details here.)
Logical Conclusion #2: You should, if possible, purchase your coffee in volumes sufficient to last only 1 – 2 weeks. This way you can store it in a cool dry cupboard, in it’s original zip-lock bag, and it will stay as fresh as required for that period. If you own a cafe then we provide weekly deliveries of product with dated labels for stock rotation.
Fact #3: For some customers it makes economic sense (it is cheaper to buy a kilo than 250gm), or distance sense ( it is more economic to ship 5kgs by post than 1 kg), to purchase greater volumes.
Logical conclusion #3: We needed to research and test a long term storage solution that may be a small compromise, but doesn’t cause the coffee to degrade too much.
Fact #4: Ground coffee will deteriorate 100 times quicker than bean coffee. The rate of degradation is determined by the amount of surface area of coffee exposed to the air. Coffee oxidises when exposed to air (similar to the process that causes rust on metal), and ground coffee has far more surface area exposure than bean coffee. So what do we do with decaf, which is preground for a lot of cafes, or for retail customers who need ground coffee for plunger, stovetop or home espresso?
Logical conclusion #4: Hmmm, there must be something, let’s put our research department on the job.
Fact #5: The research department came back and said………the only viable solution for longer term storage of coffee is a freezer.
A freezer you say!! I can hear coffee geeks going off their tree!!
Look, this is a compromise for certain situations, but it is a good compromise. The fact is that if you bother to do a test you will find that coffee is the most ideal food product for freezing. And we freeze most other foods and have no problem consuming them. Coffee does not actually freeze, and it does not go hard like meat or any other food product. This is because of the oil content of coffee. Well that’s 1 tick.
A freezer is actually “dry”, because it dehumidifies the air. That’s 2 ticks.
The low temperature also shrinks the molecules of the coffee and retains the freshness and flavour components (aroma molecules), inside the bean. It also keeps the CO2 inside the bean, which is the transport mechanism for that lovely aroma. 3 ticks?
Yes, there may be a very small amount of condensation form on the bean immediately upon removal from the freezer, but our testing reveals that this is a very minor degrading factor compared to the alternative of leaving the coffee out to go totally stale.
And no, the beans will not break your grinder!! There is actually a website on the internet who says this!! How can you have an opinion with no research or testing. We have actually done the testing and cupping, and we can vouch that you need to be pretty good to pick the difference between fresh coffee and that stored in a freezer for 3 months.
So, the definitive answer to the question is this:
- Try and purchase coffee in volumes sufficient to last 1 – 2 weeks.
- For short term storage use a cool dry cupboard away from kitchen humidity and any aromatic products (onions, cleaning products, vegemite etc.)
- Do not store coffee in a fridge. (unless it is specially dehumidified, in which case it is simpler and cheaper to use a freezer.)
- For ground coffee or for longer term storage of beans, the only viable solution is to use a freezer. And you won’t be disappointed. Our 100% money back guarantee backs our opinion and our research department. (Plus their job depends on it).
For any abuse, critique or comment please email lindsay@cre8ivecoffee.com.au.
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