5 Best Ways to Store Coffee Beans

 

Confused as to the best way to store coffee beans at home? If so, you’re far from in the minority!

With so many conflicting tips, tricks and theories on how coffee should be stored, it’s difficult not to end up in a spin. As always though, the advice you’re looking for is best obtained from those who know exactly what they’re talking about. So the way we see it, when the National Coffee Association in the US tells you how to store coffee, it’s advice you should probably be listening to!

So rather than buying into the usual hype and wacky theories, here’s what the experts have to say on the 5 best (and worst) ways to store coffee beans:

1) Keep your beans airtight and cool 

First and foremost, ideal storage of coffee beans is all about keeping their four biggest enemies at bay. Said enemies being light, heat, moisture and air. The more of this quartet your coffee beans are exposed to, the faster and greater extent to which they will lose their flavour. Which is why coffee beans should be stored in flawlessly sealed, high-quality containers kept at room temperature.  And while coffee beans can be extremely decorative, it’s best to stay away from transparent containers as the light that penetrates can affect the taste of the coffee.

2) Out of the bag

Make no mistake about it, the packets and containers coffee beans are typically supplied in are not ideal as long-term storage solutions. They may be fine to store coffee beans before being opened, by once the seal has been broken, you need to think about transferring your beans to something more suitable (see above). Of course there are exceptions to the rule, so let your common sense be your guide.

3) Buy the right amount

The coffee beans you buy will have begun losing their freshness and flavour profile the very moment they were roasted. Which in turn means that a) you should always buy beans that have been roasted very recently and b) it’s in your best interests to only buy as many beans you need. The more beans you have lying around unused, the more coffee you have slowly but surely losing its goodness. So rather than buying one enormous batch of coffee every month, you might want to get into the habit of buying little and often. This way, every cup will be at its best.

4) The big freeze

There are so many schools of thought when it comes to freezing coffee beans. But what you need are the facts, so here they are! First of all, the answer is yes – you can store coffee beans in the freezer to preserve their freshness. The second answer is also yes – freezing is one of the best ways of preserving all that’s good about a freshly roasted coffee bean. However, you need to be incredibly careful not to allow any moisture to get into the bags or containers you use to freeze the beans. Which can be borderline impossible, when taking out the beans you need and putting the rest in the bag. So if you plan to freeze your beans, use the highest-quality containers you can and freeze in small batches, which you can then take out one at a time without disturbing the rest.

5) Avoid silly contraptions

Last up, all those wild and wacky contraptions on the market that pack painful price tags have one thing in common – you don’t need them. Some claim to be made of revolutionary materials, some create internal vacuums which can actually make things worse and so on and so forth. In all instances, not the way to store coffee sensibly and a waste of money. You simply don’t need them and won’t get anything from them. Coffee storage is actually so much simpler than most seem to realise and doesn’t take extreme efforts to get right. In fact, just proceed in accordance with the tips above and you’ll probably wonder what all the fuss was/is about!

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