How to store your coffee at home?
- Jun 5
- 2 min read
OK - you have found a coffee you like and you bought a bag. You mastered your recipe. But you cannot drink all the coffee you have bought. So - how are you going to store your coffee?
In order to keep the coffee as fresh as possible for as long as possible we need to avoid leaving it in the elements.
Air - Too much contact to air will increase the oxidation and will eliminate the crisp nice flavours.
Light - When exposed to light - UV or harsh LED - photodegradation will take place. Fats, oils and antioxidants in the coffee will be broken down which leads to stale or dull flavours.
Water / Moisture - Coffee is highly hygroscopic and will act like a sponge is exposed to moisture or water. This will strip the coffee of its complex flavours and can even lead to mold.
The ideal coffee storage should provide protection against all three factors. But first of all, we can help cutting down the exposure by storing the coffee as beans. Once you grind the coffee, the responsive surface multiplies which will further the exposure and therefore degradation.
The best way to keep your coffee fresh as long as possible is an airtight and opaque container that does not allow any air, light or moisture inside.
Even better than that is a container that displaces the air left in the container - or at least most of it. Containers from Airscape or Fellow and loads of other brands have this feature. Airscape for example lets you push down the inner lid to the coffee level and the inbuilt valve minimizes the exchange of air. Other brands have a pumping mechanism that helps to get rid of most of the air in the container.
So what about the freezer or the fridge?
The contact with moisture could be a problem. A lot of what is in your fridge will gladly provide this moisture which creates an environment that might be too moist for some coffee bags. Especially paper bags only provide a weak barrier against the ambient moisture. Your coffee challenges the same issue in the freezer. So vacuum packing coffee in portions could be a possibility. With the right vacuum packer this can work and extend the shelf life of your beans. If this is indeed noticeably better than an airtight container that removes the air is questionable.
At Al-Gharb Coffee Roasters, we keep our beans in Airscape containers in various sizes. So far this works really well for us.
Comments