How To Store Your Coffee
Coffee is a food product, and like all food products, it has a shelf life.
Coffee’s biggest nemesis is oxygen. We heat seal our coffee in foil valve bags which keeps the oxygen out, but as soon as you open the bags your coffee begins to be affected by the environment, as well as oxygen coffee is affected by heat, light and moisture.
As soon as coffee is exposed to oxygen it begins to oxidise, affecting the aroma, and flavour. Heat can also speed up any chemical reaction that may affect your coffee, and exposure to light can break down compounds in your coffee. Moisture is not good for coffee either, as it can cause mould.
We do not recommend storing your coffee in the fridge as not only can the temperature and moisture affect the coffee, but your coffee is pourous and can take on flavours and aromas in the fridge.
The best way to store your coffee and protect it from all these factors is in an airtight container, in a cool and dry cupboard. If the container is airtight, it will keep the oxygen out, in the cupboard the light will be kept out, and if it is cool you won’t risk any moisture.
Whole beans have a longer shelf life than ground coffee. Once ground the coffee oxidises at a quicker rate. Once you open our sealed bags whole beans will have a shelf life of about 4 weeks, ground coffee is about 2 weeks. After these times the coffee doesn’t go bad, it isn’t harmful, you may just notice the flavour and aroma becoming weaker, a little lackluster. Storing your coffee correctly helps.
Many of our customers like to stock up. If you are stocking up, keep the coffee in our heat-sealed bags until you need to open them. Keep the bags in a cool and dry environment.
Can you freeze coffee beans? If you won’t be opening your bags for a long period of time (remember the coffee will be good in our bags for a few months) then you could pop the bags in the freezer. Make sure to defrost the coffee before using it, and once the bag is open, store the rest of the coffee in a container in a cupboard.
Which is best, beans or ground? Ideally beans, as freshly ground beans are better, but not everyone has a grinder, and some people just don’t want the faff of grinding coffee... and that is ok! We would recommend buying what you need, perhaps some coffee for now, and another bag for after - and simply buying when you can and storing your bags correctly to ensure their longevity.
