Coffee Bean Storage Tips

If you've never bought fresh roasted coffee beans before, you might be very surprised to find out there's a huge difference in the flavor quality between fresh coffee beans and stale ones. Fresh roasted coffee beans simple taste heavenly and you can get this wonderful taste all on your own if you buy green beans and roast them yourself, or buy freshly roasted ones and use them within just a few days.

Now buying green coffee beans is not always easy. They're hard to find but you can sometimes get them from high quality coffee houses or at specialty Internet website shops. Green coffee beans can last for several years or more if they're stored properly too.

If you want your green coffee beans to store for an extended period of time, put them in a tightly sealed container that lets in no light, and put that container in a cool dry place.

Storage for roasted coffee beans can be a little more complicated, mainly because roasted coffee beans can go stale within just a week or two. And if they're subjected to any type of moisture or other smells, the bean quality will degrade and they can end up tasting like whatever smell they've absorbed.

So the first rule of proper coffee bean storage is: Do not put your roasted coffee beans in the refrigerator. Coffee beans stored in the fridge are left wide open to moisture which circulates, because the air isn't frozen. And if you have other foods in the fridge which provide a scent of any kind, that scent can be absorbed by the roasted coffee beans you have stored there, and they'll end up tasting like whatever smell they absorbed.

Now, if you want to make vanilla or maple tasting coffee, this could be an easy way to do it. But if you have stale fish in your fridge, you may end up with fishy tasting coffee instead!

The most important thing to know about coffee bean storage is to keep everything air tight, and out of the light. You can store freshly roasted coffee beans for several days at room temperature for instance, if you keep them in an air tight container which lets in no light.

Ceramic canisters which have air tight cells on them for instance, are excellent coffee bean storage containers. These work best if you can have as little air in the canister as possible, so be sure to fill it to the brim if you're planning to store your coffee beans.

If you need to store your roasted coffee beans for longer than a few days, then you'll want to put them in the freezer. Proper freezer coffee bean storage is important too though, and keeping them air tight is critical.

Wrap your coffee beans in tight plastic wrap, or put them in a thick sealable plastic bag and then use a straw to suck out as much extra air as you can. If you must use a container instead of plastic, try to use one which allows you to get as much air out as possible, and be sure to fill it as full as you can so no water crystals can form on the coffee beans.

Coffee beans stored in the freezer can stay there for a month or two, but you should never refreeze them once they're thawed. You can grind them while frozen if you'd like, or let them thaw before grinding instead.

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