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How to Keep Your Coffee Fresh
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How to Keep Your Coffee Fresh
The Importance of Properly Storing Your Coffee
Coffee is a perishable product. There are over 800 organic compounds in a roasted coffee bean:
- Water-soluble compounds – the sweetness and bright acidity
- Oil-solubles – the tars, tannins and bitters
These compounds easily combine with oxygen when exposed to air, heat, and light, forming new compounds that dull the flavor of roasted coffee. So, you'll find over time, those flavors get muted at first, and then fade into a flat, sour taste. Caffeine doesn't break down, so its bitterness remains and overwhelms your palate.
To stop this “staling “ process and preserve great flavor, proper storage is essential.
Coffee isn't immortal! Left exposed, roastd beans will slowly stale within one week—even sooner if ground. However if properly stored, coffee can have a shelf life up to six months.
How to Keep Your Coffee Fresh
🌬️ Air: Keep your coffee from contact with air by storing your coffee in a closed mason jar or a container with a good lid. It you plan to use your coffee in just under a week, the refrigerator is fine. Remember: coffee is under 5% moisture so it will absorb flavors if not in an airtight container.
🔥 Heat: Keep your fresh coffee away from heat—cool is best. We recommend storying it in the refrigerator for best results. The hotter the beans get while in storage, the faster the organic compounds will combine and become stale components.
💦 Moisture: Avoid humidity! Moisture + heat = stale beans in 24 hours.
☀️ Light: If you address the problems of Air, Heat and Moisture correctly, then Light will have little effect on your coffee.
⏰ Time: Buying what you can use in 7 days. Don’t open a bag until ready to use. Within three days of opening, transfer beans to an airtight container. (No need to purchase an expensive kitchen accessory for this. Just use a quart mason jar and seal it with a lid.)
Store sealed jars on lower shelves where air is cooler.
Causes of Coffee Staling
Staling is caused—from most harmful to least—by:
1. Air (Oxidization)
Roasted coffee beans are composed of approximately 800 organic chemical compounds. Many of these organic compounds create the flavor you love.
There are sugars, alcohols, acids, ketones, aldehydes, minerals, flavonoids, and antioxidants. When exposed to air, many of these compounds will combine with the oxygen, creating off flavors.
- Fresh coffee loses brightness and personality gradually over a month once a vacuum-sealed bag is opened
- High-quality coffee lasts longer but its "fall over the cliff" seems more dramatic. This is because the taste of lesser coffees when fresh often resembles stale coffee.
2. Heat
Heat speeds up all chemical reactions. Keep the coffee cool but not frozen to slow oxidiation. Higher temperatures cause organic compounds to combine quickly and create stale flavors.
3. Moisture
Roasted beans are very dry—like a sponge—so they pull moisture from the air. Moisture softens beans and accelerates oxidation, reducing flavor.
4. Light
Light alone takes a long time to damage beans, but sunlight adds heat, which speeds staling. If you address the air, heat, and moisture issues, then the light will be a small factor. On it’s own, in my experience, light alone will take a long long time to damage coffee beans. However, if coffee beans are exposed to prolonged sunlight, then heat becomes the primary culprit.
How We Do It
At Thanksgiving Coffee, we package our coffee in opaque, nitrogen-flushed, vaccuum-sealed bags within 18 hours of roasting. This deals with every factor that will impact flavor. Our goal is to keep your coffee at its peak!
Cover photo credit: coffeegeek.tv