How to Store Your Coffee Beans Most Effectively

Storing coffee is a big debate among coffee drinkers. Fresh coffee is number one in your pursuit of a great cup. The way you store it is a determining factor in how fresh your coffee will be.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• storage device
• coffee

1. Buy coffee beans (whole bean) as fresh as possible. You should find a local roaster or coffee shop that roasts their own beans or a distributor who roasts your order and ships immediately to you. The goal is to have the coffee only a couple of days after it has been roasted.

2. Once you have your fresh roasted beans, you need to put them in an airtight container. Most important is keeping the beans away from oxygen. Airtight is the key and vacuum sealed is even better. Find a dry, cool place to put them once they've been transferred to a container. There are some great vacuum seal containers that remove oxygen from the container. You may have to shop around a bit, but there are great deals out there.

3. You should determine how long it will take to use all of your beans. If longer than a week, you may want to keep a weeks supply out and put the rest in the freezer. Once they come out of the freezer, they should not go back in, so only take out what you'll need for the week.

Tips & Warnings

• You may want to roll up the beans in the original bag and put a rubber band around them even before putting them into a container. This keeps them from contact with oxygen even more.
• Don't leave beans in the freezer for long periods. If you can use your beans in a week, that is optimal. Airtight and dry is most important and freezers can be a bit moist.

Resources

• a company that roasts after you order