Coffee Beans

Get the best flavor out of your coffee beans by properly storing them.

Green Coffee Beans Are Best for Storage

Green coffee beans, or the coffee beans that have not been roasted yet, are the best type of coffee bean for storage.  Green coffee beans can stay good for quite a long time, even years, it is only when a coffee bean has been roasted that it should be used as soon as possible.

For maximum freshness, store green coffee beans in a cool, dry place.  It also helps to store them in an air-tight container.

While green coffee beans store the best, it’s not always practical because many coffee drinkers don’t have their own coffee roaster and even if you do have one, you may find it tedious to roast all of your coffee beans.

So now let’s talk about storing roasted coffee beans.

Storing Roasted Coffee Beans

When a coffee bean is roasted, coffee oils are brought to the surface of the beans and these oils can get rancid after several weeks, which is why roasted coffee beans should be used within two weeks of roasting.

If you keep the beans at room temperature, they will last only one to two weeks before losing freshness.  However, if you freeze the coffee beans (don’t rely on refrigeration, it is not cold enough to keep them fresh), they will stay fresh for up to one month.

As far as the best container to keep them in, they should be kept in an air-tight container.   Containers that do not allow light in are best.  Also, using a metal or plastic container can affect the taste of the coffee – I find that using one of my ceramic flour/sugar containers works best because it doesn’t let light in, is air-tight, and does not affect the flavor of the coffee beans.

Coffee at its Best

For the best coffee flavor, it is best to grind and brew your coffee beans within 48 hours of roasting them, while they are at their peak of freshness.

As for grinding the beans, the coffee should be brewed as quickly as possible after grinding them, as ground coffee loses flavor and freshness very quickly.

Tips for Coffee Shopping

When shopping for coffee, ask the coffee shop owner when the coffee beans were roasted and try to get the freshest coffee beans available.

Also, it’s best to buy only one to two weeks worth of coffee at a time for maximum flavor, that way you won’t end up storing coffee for longer than it can stay fresh.

And lastly, look for coffee beans which are sold in air-tight containers.  If the beans were stored well on the shelf, they will be fresher when you bring them home.

So don’t waste your tasty coffee beans by letting them lie around too long – enjoy them as soon as you can!