The correct way to store your coffee beans
When we find a good offer in coffee beans we buy a big amount but we don't consider that time can kill our coffee. Do you know how long coffee beans last before they expire? The answer is quite difficult to answer because although they don't expire as any other food that after one day you can not consume it, they do expire in terms of quality. Keep on reading this article if you want a detailed answer.
In this article we will answer these questions that every coffee lover must know to master the art of coffee brewing:
Do coffee beans expire?
Coffee beans enemies
5 tips for maximizing your coffee beans freshness
Buy whole beans
Buy a reasonable amount
Let your coffee beans sleep in an airtight container
¡No light please!
Freezer?
So, how much do coffee beans last?
Final thoughts
Do coffee beans expire?
Yes and no. As you can see this is a tricky question. Coffee deans do not expire in terms of food security but yes in terms of flavor security. Coffee beans don't have an expiration day so after that day you can not consume them or you can harm yourself. What happens is that they lose their flavor and aroma after the expiration day, which also is pretty bad. With the right techniques you can be sure to preserve the aromas and flavors for a long time.
Coffee beans enemies
Coffee beans have four big enemies that attempt to preserve their freshness: oxygen, light, heat and moisture.
- Oxygen: oxidation is terrible in your coffee beans, and degrades them in a matter of days if they are too exposed to oxygen.
- Light: coffee beans can easily go stale if light hits them directly. That's why we have to be careful when putting coffee beans in nice glass jars. You certainly can, but always in a dark place.
- Heat: heat? Just for roasting and brewing. If not, avoid it if you dont want to ruin your coffee beans. Storing your coffee beans near your oven or burners is a bad idea. Always look for a cold and dark place.
- Moisture: humid conditions can easily degrade your coffee beans, so always keep them in a nice and dry place.
5 tips for maximizing your coffee beans freshness
Buy whole beans
Ground coffee loses its properties much faster than whole bean coffee, principally because the exposure to oxygen is much bigger. Buying the whole coffee bean and grinding just the amount you need for each brewing is the best way of preserving coffee for a longer time. In Coffee Devotion we have three articles you may be interested in when grinding coffee: 6 coffee grind sizes and their suitable machine, 5 ways to grind coffee without a grinder, 4 types of coffee grinders you should know.
Buy a reasonable amount
Coffee beans start losing their flavor and aroma just after the roasting process, so never buy a very big amount of roasted coffee beans. Buying the amount of coffee you will consume in the laps of a week ensures you have the most freshly roasted coffee available.
Sometimes, especially in supermarkets, we find a tempting offer and buy kilos of coffee beans. The problem with this is that when we are consuming the last part of that batch, the roasting date is probably some months ago.
Let your coffee beans sleep in an airtight container
If you followed the previous steps, now you have a small amount of whole coffee beans. But what to do now?
The correct way of storage is in an airtight container. This will prevent oxygen from being in contact with our coffee beans, so we ensure to preserve its properties for longer.
¡No light please!
Just like you and me, coffee beans like to have a nice rest without any light that can bother them. For achieving this you can use an opaque airtight container or if it is transparent, simply storage it inside the cupboard… or freezer?
Freezer?
Ok, now we are in a controversial point of the article. If you look for coffee storage information on the internet you will find some diverse opinions about storing coffee beans in the freezer. Some people love this idea and others think that you can ruin coffee this way. My opinion is that both of them have a point. Certainly if you freeze coffee beans they last longer, but if you do it wrong you will ruin them.
I am definitely pro-storing beans in your freezer, but with the same precautions. Coffee beans are porous and they can easily trap different aromas or flavors of the food you can have in your freezer.
To avoid this we have two options. The first one, and certainly unrealistic to a home coffee drinker, is to have a freezer that is only used to store coffee beans. The second one is way more realistic and we mentioned it in this article before: airtight container. If you use a good airtight container for keeping your coffee beans in the freezer you wont have any problem of taste or aroma contamination.
So, how much do coffee beans last?
As you may notice, this answer will vary whether you incorporate all the storage tips or not.
If you store coffee beans in optimal circumstances they can last up to three years. In this list you can compare the differences in duration when keeping your coffee beans with all the recommendations we gave and what happens when you don't use them:
- Unopened vacuum seal bag coffee beans at room temperature: 6 - 9 months
- Opened bag coffee beans at room temperature: up to 6 months
- Opened bag coffee beans in the freezer: 2 years
- Unopened vacuum seal bag coffee beans in the freezer: up to 3 years
Note: you always have to respect the tips we mentioned before. If a coffee bag is opened, you have to prevent coffee beans from being affected by any of the factors that can degrade them.
Final thoughts
Coffee beans lose their quality when you don't store them in good conditions. It is impossible to brew a great cup of coffee if you don't have proper coffee beans.
In my opinion the best way of avoiding old coffee is to buy small amounts of it. If you want to buy bigger amounts to have different coffee varieties or if you find a good discount, go ahead and buy them, but be sure to store them the way you learned in this article.