You’ve got your brewing gear. You’ve got your coffee. You’ve opened your coffee. And now, you’ve gotta keep that coffee fresh. There’s a lot of advice out there about the best way to store your coffee. And just like coffee gear, there’s a cheap and easy way, and there’s a fancy way.
Here’s the basics: Keep the coffee out of direct sunlight, keep it sealed, and DO NOT FREEZE it.
The Cheap and Easy Way
Whatever coffee you have (we hope it’s ours), make sure the bag it comes in has a one way valve (ours does). The valve allows the coffee to offgas without exploding the bag. Once coffee completely degasses, which usually takes a few weeks, then it starts to get stale.
You can leave your coffee in the bag as long as you set it in a cool, dry place. Just keep the bag sealed. And if you have multiple bags of coffee, open them one at a time. Opening the bags introduces oxygen and the coffee will go stale quicker. We want the CO2 to get out, but we don’t want oxygen to get in and make the coffee stale faster.
That’s all you have to do to keep your coffee fresh. Coffee will offgas for about 3 weeks, and then it will start to get stale. Try to use your coffee within a couple weeks for best freshness.
Whatever you do, please don’t freeze it. Freezing coffee does slow the rate at which coffee goes stale while the coffee is in the freezer, but as soon as you take the coffee out, it will go stale at an even faster rate, often just a few days. Your coffee will stay fresh in the bag for a few weeks, which is hopefully long enough for you to use it. If you simply must freeze your coffee, the best way to do that is in small portions that you can use up within about 3 days or so.
The Fancy Way
If you’re a person who likes containers for your things, you can absolutely store your coffee in a container. Try to find something that seals airtight or has a one way valve. If your container doesn’t have a valve, try to open it every few days (shouldn’t be an issue if you drink coffee daily!) We really like MiiR’s Coffee Canister. It includes an accordion style seal to help keep oxygen out. (Again, not an affiliate link, just a great product.) Beyond the fancy canister, there’s really nothing else you need to do to enjoy fresh coffee.
Keeping your coffee fresh is really easy. Just keep it out of direct sunlight, in a sealed container, and enjoy regularly! If you’re ready to try some new coffee, try our Roaster’s Choice. We’ll send you a mystery bag of coffee beans that we think are exciting or new!