Keeping Your Coffee Fresh; Store It Appropriately

You need to know a little about coffee in order to understand the best methods for storing it. 

Coffee Flavor

When coffee is roasted, oil can be found on the skin of the beans. Most of the flavor is contained within this oil. Coffee oils are also responsible for the dark and oily color on the roasted beans. These oils when come in contact with air, light, heat and moisture, the flavor and aroma will begin to deteriorate. They are the enemies of roasted coffee beans. Coffee beans, at room temperature, undergo chemical change and emit carbon dioxide. Air oxidizes the beans and makes them go stale very quickly. Moisture such as in freezing will decrease the flavor as long as it is kept exposed to it. The oils collected on the skin of the beans get hardened and crack due to freezing.

To make matters worse, ground coffee deteriorates much faster than whole beans do.  With more surface area exposed to the air, the more likely it will become stale if not consumed within a week. 

Storing Coffee

To preserve the flavor intact for longer periods it should be stored fresh which is imperative. Coffee containers should be kept away from air and moisture. Coffee should never be stored in the freezer. With the development of packaging industry, packing of coffee in air tight bags was started.  In fact the process of roasting includes cleaning, roasting, cooling, grinding and packaging. Although vacuum and nitrogen injection packaging was introduced to slow down the deterioration process, once the packages were opened the process of getting stale could not be controlled. To have a longer life of coffee, once the coffee package has been opened, it should be immediately transferred to an airtight container and stored at room temperature.

Buying freshly roasted, whole bean coffee is the first step in ensuring that you keep your coffee fresh.   Whole beans have a longer shelf life and it is better to buy whole beans and grind only as much coffee as is required for the day.  Grinding your coffee as you use it will give you the flavor and the aroma that you want from your coffee.

The National Coffee Association of U.S.A. recommends that coffee pods and beans be stored in airtight glasses or ceramic containers in a dark and cool place.  If the coffee is in large quantity, they should be packed in a number of small airtight bags.

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