Most people think that the best way to store your coffee is in the freezer. I’ll admit that I used to be one of those people.
Storing your coffee in the freezer made sense because I put steaks and fish that I want to last longer in the freezer, so it seemed that it would also work for coffee. However, it turns out that storing your coffee in the freezer is one of the worse things that you can do.
The reason that it doesn’t work is because coffee is porous. That’s a good thing because it allows the coffee bean to absorb the syrups and flavors that create the taste. However, when it comes to storing coffee in your freezer, it’s a bad thing.
The porous nature of coffee allows it to absorb the flavors and smells from other things in there like the frozen steaks, fish anything else you store in there. I love flavored coffees, but not fish flavored coffee.
Not only does it change the flavor, but freezing also causes it to disappear. Freezing breaks down the oils that give coffee it’s flavors.
If you needed another reason to not store it in the freezer, the moisture in there causes the actual coffee bean to deteriorate.
It makes sense because you don’t buy your coffee in the freezer section at the grocery store and Starbucks down the street doesn’t look at all like an ice cream shop (even if there is Starbuck’s ice cream now).
The same goes for your refrigerator, don’t store your coffee in their either. The moisture ruins the coffee and think about all of the smells that you have going on in your fridge – cheeses, vegetables and the leftovers from last night’s dinner – not exactly, what I want my coffee tasting like.
Other coffee killers include air, heat and light. That mean don’t store it in a clear container out on the counter near a window or the oven.
One final piece of advice, don’t buy coffee in bulk. Coffee lasts for only a week or two (depending on which expert you ask), so only buy as much coffee as you can drink in that amount of time.
Read all about how to store coffee.
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Oh man, I constantly buy coffee and take forever to use it..lol..Thanks for the tips
Yeah, I’ll admit that I’m often guilty of doing that too.
I agree, mostly. There is a lot of evidence from roasters that it’s OK to freeze sealed, unopened bags of coffee you don’t expect to use for a while. Just don’t open a bag and put it back in the freezer – the atmospheric moisture that gets in when you open it condenses on the beans and starts the decline. Just store unfrozen beans in a cool dark spot in an airtight container. As for the fridge? Never!
Don, you have a great point. I was actually reading about that in a few places and was thinking about including that in an upcoming post.
When I order larger quantities of whole beans from a wholesale supplier, I place the sealed bag into a freezer bag and then into a tupperware container.
I’ve never had a problem with the beans taking on the odors of other things stored in the freezer.
Ideally, I only buy what I will use up in 7-10 days, but Zecuppa, for example, requires that you purchase at least 5 Lbs at a time.
Matt – I’ll try that. I just ordered four pounds of coffee online and that’s way more than I can use in 7-10 days.
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