Where do I store whole bean coffee that will take me 4 months to consume

March 27, 2016 6:44 AM

Should I store my whole bean coffee at room temperature, in my refrigerator or my freezer? First, I know that ideally I'd home/locally-roast in small batches. That's not an option. Assuming I have to receive 4 months of coffee at a time and do grind it daily and keep it in 1 mo sized ziplock bags in a dark place, where should it be?

Also, there seems to be a great deal of consternation in the coffee world about this. If you can explain why you recommend the location you're recommending, that would also be helpful. The roaster says "make sure it is in a airtight container and beyond that, it doesn't matter". I'm sure there is more to it than that. And, if you recommend fridge or freezer, should I leave out briefly prior to grinding?

posted by arnicae to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

Within reason, the temperature it is stored at doesn't matter: the important thing is to keep it at a steady temperature. A fridge (but not the fridge door) is as good a temperature-controlled environment as any in your home, unless you have a larder or cellar.
posted by caek at 6:53 AM on March 27, 2016

I keep one bag in a cupboard for regular use, and remaining stock in the freezer in hopes of slowing down any loss of freshness. When a new bag comes out of the freezer I don't open it for several hours so that it can reach room temperature first, to avoid condensation on the beans. I don't really know how much the condensation might matter, but it seems like a good idea to me.
posted by jon1270 at 6:56 AM on March 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Cool, airtight, and lightproof is ideal storage. I'd recommend an opaque container with some sort of seal. Ziplocs are obviously not lightproof and they aren't particularly airtight either. A basement or something similar is great for temperature.

The issue with the fridge and freezer is not that the temperature is a problem, but that you risk condensation and absorption of odours. The fridge is humid and often has odours. Coffee is hygroscopic and will absorb moisture. The freezer can have condensation issues, especially if it is automatically defrosting. If your storage method is perfectly airtight and you put coffee in the freezer or fridge and remove it only once (i.e. you don't take some out of a container and put it back in, because condensation will likely form), the freezer is probably fine, but I don't think the slight benefit is worth that risk.
posted by ssg at 6:57 AM on March 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

If you want to do the best possible job of preserving your coffee (and it sounds like you're willing to go to some lengths in this regard) regular ziplock bags are not your best option. I would tend to recommend that you get one of those heat & vacuum sealing setups, and that you use the thickest bags are that you can, or ideally mylar ones. You want something nonporous, with a good seal, that blocks light. Ziplock bags are good enough for leftovers, but you can do much better.

Then I'd store them somewhere cool, dark, and dry. I wouldn't freeze them, because of ice crystals. A cellar would be perfect.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 7:14 AM on March 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

We buy roasted coffee beans 10 pounds at a time and then vacuum seal them in ten 1-lb Foodsealer bags. We store them in the fridge downstairs, which isn't opened often. This last us 2-3 months. The last bag tastes as good as the first.

(I'm not suggesting you get a Foodsealer just for this; we use ours a lot, for sous vide cooking and longer-term meat storage/freezing, for instance.)
posted by Short Attention Sp at 7:17 AM on March 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

I don't understand the concern about ice crystals in roasted coffee beans. If Harold McGee says it's good, you'd have to have an excellent reason to go against his recommendation. There is very little water left to freeze after they have been roasted. Oxidation is slowed by low temperatures, and that is the enemy of flavor. I'm not a coffee enthusiast, but I do have a good palate and like espresso. The coffee in Nespresso pods is finely ground but stored under vacuum and it tastes exactly the same months later. If you don't have a vacuum sealer, you could borrow someone else's every four months. Wrapping in foil might be a good idea as well.
posted by wnissen at 7:26 AM on March 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

There's a huge variety of opinions on how to store coffee. This article from one of the founders of Peet's offers some explanation for its theories on how to do so. If you trust in Kenji, Serious Eats did a bean method storage taste test.

You might want to just do it a couple different ways and do a taste test after a month and see if you notice a big difference. FWIW, I do room temperature valve bag, out of laziness as much as anything else.
posted by Candleman at 8:38 AM on March 27, 2016

Here's a link to a comprehensive literature review on coffee staling. From that research, here are the factors that have the biggest impact on how quickly your whole bean coffee goes stale:
- Temperature - lower temperatures generally slow staling
- Moisture - less moisture in the environment slows staling
- Oxygen - less oxygen availability slows staling

A couple of other things you should be aware of:
- Coffee releases a ton of CO2 after roasting. That's why most coffee is packed in a container with a one-way valve that will let out CO2 but (ideally) prevent oxygen from getting in -- otherwise, the bag can pop from the gas pressure. Of course, you can eliminate the CO2 problem by letting the beans finish off-gassing before you package them -- but that exposes the beans to more oxygen for longer, and can contribute to faster staling. In the best case scenario, the coffee is packaged promptly in a foil bag with a one-way valve and nitro-flushed to remove all oxygen before it's sealed.
- Coffee is hygroscopic, meaning that it will happily suck up moisture (and odors, too) from its environment.

So, in an ideal world, you'd buy single-serving packages of coffee, individually nitro-flushed and sealed in a foil bag with a one-way gas valve, that you'd freeze. You'd remove packages from the freezer as you needed them, grinding and brewing the entire package immediately (to prevent condensation, aka lots of moisture, from causing rapid staling as the beans thaw). Given the way that coffee is typically packaged, this is probably not possible (unless you brew 6-12oz of coffee at a time). So the question is, how close can you get to this ideal scenario?

What to store it in: Ziploc bags are not doing you any favors -- they've got a poor seal and no valve to deal with off-gassing. Can you order the coffee in smaller sealed, valved bags from the roaster? If you can order sealed bags in a size that you'd use up in a week or less, that will help. If you can find a roaster who nitro-flushes the bags before sealing it, even better. If you're roasting your own beans or repackaging, I highly recommend these re-usable, re-sealable tins with a one-way gas valve (if you want to buy them 48 at a time, here's where to get them very cheaply).

Where to store it: this is a trade-off between temperature and moisture (aka condensation). Multiple freeze-thaw cycles lead to condensation on the beans and rapid deterioration from moisture. So, if you're going to freeze the beans, only do it once -- take out only the amount you need at any given time, and grind and brew it immediately. If it's not practical to do that, it may work better to refrigerate the beans -- it's a slightly higher temp, but it's also not going to expose the beans to moisture. Either way, be sure the beans are carefully sealed so they're not coming into contact with the oxygen, moisture, and odors of your fridge/freezer.
posted by ourobouros at 8:47 AM on March 27, 2016 [6 favorites]

Anecdata: we store all but about a week's worth of a 5# bag of coffee in one big Foodsaver vacuum bag, opening and resealing when we run out of the working stock. It's oily dark roast whole bean coffee and doesn't seem to suffer from this treatment.
posted by hollyholly at 9:32 AM on March 27, 2016

I choose freezer, in a big, wide-mouthed jar with a secure twist on-off lid. However, if

the important thing is to keep it at a steady temperature

... I'm having more and more doubts about frost-free freezers. Don't their temperatures cycle up and down?
posted by Rash at 10:05 AM on March 27, 2016

Anecdote: I had a coffee emergency today because I forgot to buy more and used some of these originally very, very fancy beans left behind over a year ago in our freezer by a friend who stayed with us for a few weeks. They are from one or the other of the two fanciest roasters in town, but they've been in a paper coffee bag in the freezer for quite a while, and they've been in a cooler while we cleaned the freezer. In short - not optimal by connoisseur standards. I figured that since what I really needed the coffee for was to stave off a headache, I didn't really care as long as it was drinkable.

That was some good coffee. Easily better than the fresh bag from our biggest, less fancy local roaster. Like, it's the first time in a while where I've had homemade coffee and thought "wow, that's great coffee". (I grind my own, I buy mid-priced local roast, but I just have an old, old Mr. Coffee and I'm not super precise about quantity or grind.)

My point being that based on this thread (which I read before I realized I was out of my own coffee) I expected it to be barely drinkable. My other point being that while obviously you should choose the best coffee storage available to you (since there's no point in willfully doing something suboptimal), I am not entirely sure that the freezer is such a bad place for beans.
posted by Frowner at 11:15 AM on March 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I like Short Attention Sp buy 5lb of coffee at a time, and freeze it in a big food-saver bag. The coffee is fine 3-4 months later. I will take a half pound of coffee out of the food-saver bag at a time, and keep it in an air tight jar in the door of the freezer. I grind the freezer cold coffee in a burr grinder with no ill effects.
posted by gregr at 11:44 AM on March 27, 2016

I was considering posting a similar question before find this thread. My wife and I go through coffee reasonably frequently (superautomatic espresso machine!), but we occasionally buy decaf for our friends who like such things. We've been storing in a foodsaver bag in the freezer, and our current batch lasted nearly a year. The aroma was good, and our friends had no complaints, but I was wondering if there's a better approach for long-term storage. Sounds like the answer is "no"?
posted by JMOZ at 12:34 PM on April 19, 2016