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My coffee storage rules were set in stone. Buy only whole bean, buy only what I needed for a week and grind it just before brewing. Store any extra beans in an air tight container, keep that container in a cool, dark and dry place. And no matter what, don’t store coffee in the fridge or freezer, no matter what some might say.
The rules worked well for me, keeping my morning supply of coffee fresh and flavorful. Then last week, Don Francisco’s shared the results of their coffee storage study that sent me off balance. Most of their results made sense to me, but there were things that I just couldn’t understand.
- Whole bean coffee should be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for a maximum of 6 weeks
- 12 oz. bag of coffee maintains its optimal freshness for about 4 weeks
- The maximum storage time for ground coffee decreases to about four weeks
Storing coffee in the freezer? Hells no! Optimal freshness for about four weeks, okay. I like mine about one, maybe two weeks, but I could live with that one. Storing ground coffee for four weeks? I don’t think so! Ground coffee goes stale within fifteen minutes of being ground.
It didn’t make sense, but the study was done by a group of Q Graders, professional coffee cuppers that must pass a rigorous three-day exam to earn their certification, comprising of 22 sections on coffee related subjects, such as green grading, roast identification, coffee cupping, sensory skills and sensory triangulation. I live and breathe coffee, but have to admit that Q Graders know more about coffee than I do. What did they know, that I didn’t?
Luckily, Michael Gaviña, purchasing manager for F. Gaviña & Sons (the company that produces Don Francisco’s) and one of the company’s eight licensed Q Graders was willing to tell me a little bit more about the study, how they came to their conclusion and what he recommends in ideal conditions as well as what to do when reality strikes.
Their study examined three types of coffee, their Columbia Supremo, their French Roast and their Vanilla Nut, whole bean and ground of each. They stored samples of each in the freezer, the refrigerator and on the counter at room temperature at 72 degrees Fahrenheit, over a 12 week period. A sample from each storage environment was cupped and tested for moisture every 2 weeks; then brewed and checked for color consistency every 4 weeks. I can’t disagree with their research methods.
Rules For An Ideal World
- Buy coffee in small quantities. Ideally, the coffee should be consumed within 10 days.
- Check the coffee bag before you buy to make sure the one-way valve is sealed. If the valve is sealed properly, oxygen cannot get into the bag, keeping the coffee fresher.
- Grind your coffee beans as needed. Prolonged exposure to air will cause whole bean and ground coffees to go stale quickly, which will lead to a less flavorful, bitter, and dull tasting cup.
- Keep unopened bags in the freezer. Once removed from the freezer, place the remaining coffee immediately in an airtight container to avoid moisture, and store back in the freezer.
Rules To Keep Your Coffee Fresh When Reality Gets In The Way
- Keep it Tight: An airtight container is the best way to keep air and moisture out.
- Say Freeze: The best place to store coffee is in an airtight container in the freezer, which prevents the coffee from coming into contact with air and protects it from temperature changes. Additionally, storing the beans whole helps keep the rich aromas and tastes locked in longer.
- Fear the Fridge: Although the cool temperature helps keep the oils inside of the bean until they are ready to be used, the fluctuating temperature and additional exposure to air can create moisture and erode the flavor and taste.
- Dark and Dry: If the freezer isn’t an option, then the refrigerator is a good runner up. The next best place would be a dark and dry cabinet.
- No Can Do: Although the can offers a vacuum-sealed tin to ensure freshness, as soon as it is opened and the seal is broken, it immediately begins to lose flavor.
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Dang It I want my cake and eat it to…lol
At my age and health I might have to start leaning towards the convenience then.
Still gona think about it for awhile anyways cause of the prices of the models I am interested in.
I won’t stop you Stephen! You can have your coffee anyway you want.
Sorry Mike that was my way of having a laugh about it all.
I will still be waiting to hear Al’s finds tho.
1st question: Why does my email from you state “There is a new comment on the post “Setting The Story Straight On Storing Coffee”. On Dexter Rivers” June 27th – where the email was July 22nd… does your email updates only come out once a month?
2nd question: Back on your reply about k-cups quality I can accept that but if I use one of those replaceable k-cups with my own grind would there still be a loss in quality? If not then one of these units could still be a help to me not having to clean my French Press every time I want to make a cup of coffee and or tea & Coco for the grandkids hehe, and a 20oz + in my French Press requires 6min 44sec microwaving to reach the right temperature to then cook my ground beans for another 9mins per batch.
Thanks Ahead keep up the grinding/brewing
Sorry about that Stephen, his comment was lost in comments queue and didn’t get manually approved until today.
As far as those K-cups, the quality is easier to control than traditional K-cups. However, I don’t think the Keurig machine can bring out the flavors of freshly ground coffee, the way a French Press can. It depends if you want the convenience or the taste.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Mike,
While I would drink just about anything before I tried another K-cup, I did have an extremely good cup of coffee from a Keurig once. Apparently the quality of the machines varies greatly. No different than the variation in other home brew makers.
We were visiting a friend of my wife, and we brought along some of our coffee as a gift. To my horror, he had two K-machines on his kitchen counter. However, he took out an Eko-brew and used that to prepare the coffee we supplied. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did an excellent job. Maybe this particular brand (unfortunately, I didn’t make note of it) reached the proper temperature. That plus no filter and a fairly quick brew process might have been the key.
Al
Al, out of curiosity, which grind did you use for it? For me, that’s been one of the problems that I’ve come across with the reusable filters.
It was my standard Drip grind: a notch finer than a commercially available drip grind.
I think I was so surprised with the quality that I didn’t ask any intelligent questions about the machine. I did notice however that he maxed out the amount of coffee the Eko-brew could hold.
While I don’t have a Keurig machine, I do have an Eko adapter around here somewhere. I’ll find it this week and weigh how much coffer it holds at max. That might be interesting.
Awesome article pretty informative. just had the freezer conversation with a friend today
Don Francisco’s do commercial coffee. That says just about everything on the quality levels of their products. But I do understand why Don Francisco’s would go through great lengths to justify our buying commercial coffee. Taste it and see for yourself. If anyone is after “outstanding” coffee, he’ll have to stop buying shelved bags, or tins, or sachets.
You have a good point, they are trying to sell coffee. But is that a reason to negate their suggestions?
I don’t know how my experience will stack up against most commentators but I was a mix man for 7+yrs and a lead person in the food industry for another 9+yrs. My favorite example to people (while as a mix man) was “Pen&Qill to Western Family” they all came out of the same batch. So the key changes people are saying about how they can taste the difference can only come from (first out of the pot, first packaged, first into the freezers) I joked that P&Q didn’t sell as fast as cheaper brands so it was aged more in the freezers hehe. The industry may have changed since I left it in 1988 but we had no vacuum sealing or pasteurizing from the mixing step to the packaging step in dips & dressings. Real creams, Rediwip, coffee creamers, IMO, Chivo, etc were pasteurized and sealed while still hot. The rest of my years I dealt with fresh fruits quick washed and frozen Also Vegetables washed, quick cooked, flash or regular freezing before packaging (yes all the above were tested in quality control also).
I have tried to teach my kids “after you open that seal to air the aging/changing process increases”. If we could afford sealing equipment we would get more time and better tasting foods but that is not the case for the average person. Air & Moisture are our concerns with coffee and other dry products we use sealed containers but we open them each time decreasing the life & taste.
I personally after loosing a lot of my (remembered) tastes to diabetes and other health issues started researching coffee’s [which is why I am here] from the coffee beans, storage, grinding, and cooking. My best results to date are Bold {preferred taste} whole beans, recycled medicine bottles for storage {one batch per}, burred grinned, and French press cooked. This method keeps the air exposed time down to once and in a whole bean state before usage. This to points to my next interest in K-cups and their equipment and as soon as I can afford one I will try them out [my research has me considering between the Keurig B-77 Platinum and the Cuisinart SS-700s] Most normal test results were a tie but complains and fixes point me more an more toward the Cuisinart.
Stephen, sounds like you know a whole lot more about food storage than I do!
Recycled medicine bottles sounds like a good idea, they’re air tight, but make sure you keep it out o flight.
As far as the K-cups, I don’t think you’ll get the same quality as from whole beans. They’ve got the packaging down, but the quality just isn’t there from what I’ve tasted.
Great article, Mike. It goes against some of the things I’ve always known to be true too, but I had a thought…
Has anyone heard of a consumer-grade coffee storage product that would do a nitrogen flush each time it was opened? Seems like that would eliminate the oxygen issue.
Sam, I haven’t heard of a consumer grad one. But I’ll ask around.
An in-home nitrogen flusher – sounds like the next Must Have Coffee Appliance, along with the burr grinder and the Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine. If you can’t find one, Mike, I’ll help you build one and we’ll take over the world.
LOL Jeff! I feel like world domination isn’t far away!
Mike,
Thanks for posting this, what I think it comes down to is every person has their tendencies and preferences. What I like here is that we now have some more info to help educate us on our choices.
Mike, it’s my pleasure. I love digging into debates like this and having my mind possibly changed.
It can work, but like has been said you can freeze a portion and then take it out and use it ASAP, do not refreeze, the facts are that a roasted bean is less than 3% water it’s not like freezing fruit where the freezing process can damage the cell walls. We are currently testing freezing roasted coffee and will have a report on our blog when we have done all the work. Michael Sivitz, creator of the Sivitz air roaster and famed author in fact recommended freezing beans in this method.
Thanks Woody for the additional info. That doesn’t make sense with the smaller percentage of water.
I’ll keep an eye on your guy’s blog.
On iPad so brief.
I’m siding with Nate on this. The freezer is a dangerous place for beans. As Nate said, the temperature variation alone is enough to rule out freezing.
For years I’ve stored whole bean in my Wine Cellar, in airtight containers. The refrigeration units in wire cellars are different than in a typical refrigerator. They are designed to maintain a constant temperature and moisture level. The moisture percent being critical, as otherwise corks would dry out and oxidize the wine. Also, no chance the beans will pick up odors as in a refrigerator.
Other than a wine cellar, using opaque, air tight containers stored in a cool dry place, should be adequate in most circumstances.
Al
Al, I’ll side with you on that too. Also, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I always love input like this.
Hmm. I need more info on their methods to budge. I agree that unopened bags of whole beans can be stored in the freezer. Once opened, I still say no. Perhaps if you stored your beans in several smaller containers in a deep freezer, and didn’t keep taking the same beans in and out. For most people, the little freezer on their fridge gets opened often, causing large swings in temperature. This can create moisture on the beans, which will refreeze and affect the coffee. As far as ground coffee goes, I can’t get behind this one either, but there could be a scenario in which I would. If the coffee was ground, then immediately packaged into a single use valved container that was nitrogen flushed…then I would agree. If the packaging is any larger, you have exposed the contents to the atmosphere. Even if you store the remaining coffee in an airtight container, there is enough oxygen in the container to have an affect on the flavor. There are noticeable differences in shots of espresso pulled from the same beans and grind just one minute apart!
This can get confusing, but you will always be right when you buy fresh and grind just before brewing! Great post
PS… I thumb typed this. Sorry for any autocorrects and lack of paragraph structure
And PS, I’m so stealing that excuse for any future typos I make.
I think I left out some information. In the interview, Michael did say that once you take the beans out of the freezer, don’t put them back in. And only store them in an air tight container.