How Do You Store Coffee?

You've just received some top quality fresh beans ready for brewing, but as a fresh food product, the question still stands; How do you store coffee? We're aiming to retain as much freshness and stall the staling process. The following list will run through a series of myths and practical solutions to keep coffee as fresh and delicious as possible.

 

 

Before we begin, the first thing that we recommend is to buy whole roasted coffee beans if you can.  That does mean that you will need a coffee grinder at h reason for buying whole beans is that they last longer!  As soon as coffee is ground, it starts to lose its flavours, its aromas and can start to stale.  We could go into the reasons for that but it should be fairly self-explanatory.  Whole beans keep for about 3 times the length of ground coffee. The question you need to answer are:

How much coffee am I drinking?

1. Less than 1-2 a day?  Then you probably are OK in ordering ground coffee and keeping it in a tin for 2-3 weeks.  But you'll need to be ordering 150g of coffee twice a month
2. Around 1-2 a day.  Again, probably OK to order ground coffee - but again you'll to be ordering 250g twice a month
3. Any more than that and you should really be looking at whole beans - which means that they will keep longer - and you can order 250g (or more) once a month and be safe knowing that your beans will keep.

 

So, lets say you need to store ground coffee.  The below are some golden rules around coffee storage whether they be beans or ground coffee.  

Store the coffee in a dark place - It can't be understated how much light speeds up the staling process, so we highly recommend placing the coffee in a container that allows no light in, or if in a transparent case, keep in the cupboard or box.

Keep the coffee airtight - Be sure to store the coffee in an airtight container, or seal up the bag so the coffee is tightly sealed.  It should be obvious but air allows humidity, it dries the coffee out.  The smell of a freshly opened coffee bag/jar is one of life's simple pleasures.  Make sure you get that every time by keeping your coffee sealed up!

Store it dry - Keep the coffee in a dry environment - humidity and moist conditions can accelerate the staling process.

Do not store coffee in the fridge - especially if not in an airtight container.  The coffee in a fridge myth does not extend the life of your coffee, and additionally you may get contamination from other aromas in the fridge.  You've invested in speciality coffee and its aromas and flavour profiles - don't ruin it by keeping it next to last night curry remains or last Sunday's roast potatoes!

So, that's it really.  Below is a photo a perfectly acceptable coffee tin.  Your tin does not have to say "Coffee" ... unless you have several of these ...