1500
The approximate number of compounds and aromatics contained in one little bean. Coffee. One of the most complex, yet simple things in life. It's fascinating isn't it? No wonder every origin's a new adventure. Mmm, let's learn to keep these flavour bombs in our beans and brew better Joes from now on shall we? Be it your coffee, pantry, dinner table, shelf or perhaps your polished white cabinet, coffee needs to be stored in certain conditions to delay staling, or you could say, extend it's shelf life. Who wants their coffee to be stale? I mean, rancid and sour coffee in the morning? What a way to start the day!
How to delay staling?
Let's begin with the factors that accelerate coffee staling. Moisture, light, air and heat. Simple! That's all you need to know to store coffee - National Coffee Association puts it. Just prevent your beans from getting into contact with these 4 elements. Green or roasted, storage rules are the same. Keep it away from your windows. Keep it away from that drawer beside your stove or oven and that shelf that gets exposed to sunlight during ungodly hours.
The ideal storage?
Opaque or Glass frosted airtight containers at room temperature environments away from sunlight and moisture (yes I'm talking away from the refrigerator and freezer) are the best. Yes, Glass airtight jars are pretty and makes your coffee table look really good. We too, do store our counter-top coffee beans in these pretty jars too, just ensure its kept away from sunlight, perchance in a cabinet. Storing your coffee in resealable two-way valve parcels is another reliable option to opt for. Keeping your coffee in kraft bags not only looks cool, it'll also increase the shelf life of your coffee. YESS! BETTER morning Joes! And Please, do not venture down the path of unsealable coffee bags that you've just purchased and retied with that red ol infamous rubber band. To get your hands on air-tight glass jars, 500ml, 1000ml, 1800ml respectively or even various sizes of Cowpresso's resealable hippie kraft parcels with two-way valves attached, drop us a message here.
The ideal scenario?
Buy fresh coffee in small amounts, this ensures your coffee beans and brews always stays fresh and awesome. Onwards, let's put this out once and for all. Do not pre-ground your coffee for days to come. Please. Do NOT pre-ground coffee. They oxidise astounding well, yes 20 minutes would have passed and your coffee would have gone Al Dente stale. For the love of coffee. Ground it only when you need it.
What happens when you freeze coffee?
Let me guess, you've just purchased a kilo or even several kilos of your craved single origin and you plan on keeping them for sometime. What do you do? Freeze them! Mmmmmm, yes that might help to a certain extent, but ultimately, this destroys the quality of the coffee. Quality of freshly roasted coffee diminishes soon after the roast. Perhaps you didn't vacuum packed or set them into an air tight jar right in the freezer. Well friends, for your knowledge, coffee is one heck of a sucker, it loves to absorb surrounding moisture and odours. Moisture, when in contact with coffee, causes the coffee to turn rancid. Apart from being great at absorbing, you'll risk letting your coffee dry out and oxidize as non air-tight containers do allow slip exchanges of air in and out from time to time, not to mention, even risking freezer burn.
Perhaps yes, you wanted to be cost efficient. This is for the group out there who prioritize saving that few extra bucks on their Joes for a a cut on quality. If you actually do freeze your coffee, do it in an airtight jar and in small separate amounts so that you'll be able to take out portions one at a time. If you freeze your beans in a whole block, the condensation effect occurs. Moisture slowly consolidates into droplets inside and outside of the frozen coffee beans as you repeat thaw and refreeze cycles and you'll probably know what this does to your coffee now. Remember to thaw your beans too before you grind them, or else you'll risk under-extracting soluble goodness. Mmmhmm. Coffee is hydrophilic. It loves water.
What happens when you chill coffee?
Remember? Coffee is a real good sucker and loves to absorb moisture and odors around. Recall that chilled chicken rice or nasi goreng you placed in the fridge last night? Mmm. You'll could say you had a joke instead of a joe for that morning for sure! Perhaps you did contain the beans in an air-tight jar. Well, coffee beans are porous and moisture found inside and surrounding the beans will be encouraged to condense within refrigerator environments and you''ll know what happens next. Several roasters even report and suggest that cold environments encourage volatile oils to accentuate to the surface, hinting an escape and loss of volatile flavourful compounds. As a wrap, the fridge is a BIG NO.
Bottom Line
Your supplier or roaster shouldn't have to force you to buy coffees in bulk and freeze em. Its well known that coffee quality indeed declines as the days goes by. Hasten away from the 4 Coffee Sins, refrigerators, freezers and you'll be having great coffee. Subscribe to Cowpresso and you'll have no worries about long term storage of your coffees! Besides, your frequency is entirely based on your needs. You'll never have to force yourself to drink as much in a rush ever again to finish your staling parcel! Perfect. I can finally truly enjoy my coffee longer by storing it right.