The best-brewed coffee comes from fresh aromatic coffee beans. When you indulge in a bag full of coffee beans, the feeling is no less than being in heaven. But, if you are new to this coffee bean brewing game, you might be wondering how to keep coffee beans fresh for weeks?
By following proper procedures, you can keep your favorite coffee beans fresh for weeks at a time. But the trick here is that you have to understand what’s the right way to store it all.
Do coffee beans ever get pungent or bad? If stored inappropriately, your beans can get less aromatic, a bit flavorless, and even tasteless. When stored properly, you can be assured to taste the best coffee even after weeks.
Every coffee bean type has its own lifespan. And this lifespan particularly depends on a number of factors like –
- The type of coffee beans
- Whether they are roasted or not?
- Are those beans grounded?
Initially, all types of coffee beans are green in color, but not all beans are processed. Only the best greens from its red cherry are used for drying and roasting. These roasted coffee beans can now last for as long as six months, depending upon several conditions. The fresher the beans are, the better the flavor is!
Let’s brew some of the factors that affect the freshness of coffee beans!
Factors That Affect The Coffee Beans Freshness
1. Moisture
The worst thing a coffee lover can ever do to its beans is to keep them all in the refrigerator. Because of the moist environment there, the beans absorb all other flavors stored in the fridge. However, there’s no thumb rule not to store beans in the fridge, and we have explained it in detail below!
2. Air
Like other perishable food items, when coffee beans are exposed to air, it loses its potential flavor. Also, it gets less aromatic and you won’t get the desired results. Hence, to extend the life of your beans you have to store them all correctly.
3. Heat
Not just too much of a cold environment, but even a little bit of heat can affect the freshness of your coffee beans a lot. One of the major reasons why coffee tastes stale is because the jar is kept near a window or an oven. Heat can destroy both the aroma and the taste of the beans, hence, to extend the freshness, keep the beans away from heat.
4. Light
Direct light on the coffee beans can make them go stale quickly. Hence, it’s essential to store beans in opaque containers or darker corners of the house. Know that every type of coffee bean prefers darkness over light, anytime!
5. Over-roasting
Roasting coffee beans is not just a skill, but even a factor that affects the freshness of beans. It’s seen that dark roasted coffee loses its aroma more quickly than lighter roasted coffees. Regardless of wherever you store these espresso/darker beans, they will not stay fresh for months. Also, the beans become more fragile and porous if they are roasted too well and even beyond the second crack. This, as a result, shortens the window of the bean’s freshness. Thus, you can opt for medium-dark roast beans since these can be stored for over six months.
How To Store Coffee Beans Appropriately?
1. Jars Or Containers
The number one option to store coffee beans and to date, the most effective one is by storing them all in a container. With so much moisture around, jars and containers will protect your beans from deteriorating. You can keep the container at the darkest kitchen spot so that no sunlight passes.
Jars even work best for roasted coffee beans, but make sure that the quantity here is comparatively less. But remember that if you are storing beans in a glass container, keep them in the darkest corner. Also, avoid keeping the jar or container near any heat source like an oven.
Know more about our Roasted Coffee Export process here.
2. Cabinets
The simplest yet most effective solution to avoid getting your coffee beans spoiled is by storing them all in a cabinet. The reason is cabinets are away from heat sources and can keep your beans cool. To double up the protection, you can store the beans in a resealable bag, and then keep them inside the cabinet.
3. Vacuum Sealed Containers
When stored coffee beans in an airtight environment the chances of them getting stale are very less. The oil in the beans gets severely affected by moistures around, but with vacuum-sealed containers, you can store the same beans for more than six months. Moreover, sunlight too can cause beans to break down and lose their flavors.
4. Lastly, whether to freeze or not to freeze the beans!
Previously we mentioned not to keep your beans around any heat source, but does that mean that you can store coffee beans in the fridge? To cut off your assumptions, the answer is, one must never store their coffee beans in the fridge. The moisture levels are high inside the refrigerator, and if beans are kept in there, they’ll accumulate moisture.
And as mentioned previously, moisture can deteriorate beans at a faster pace, since the oil in the beans breaks down. And if by mistake you have stored your beans in the fridge, don’t defrost them. You can simply brew the beans after removing them from the freezer, and make sure to keep them in an airtight container to leverage all the benefits of coffee beans.
Wrapping up!
All in all, we would simply suggest you buy the right amount of coffee beans so that you would finish it up quickly. Alternatively, you can try the above-given tips to make sure that your beans don’t lose their texture and aroma. And know the trick to store your favorite beans in the dark and at room temperature only, because coffee really waits for no one!
Happy Brewing!
