Coffee Nomad

There are a variety of ideas out there for keeping coffee fresh, many of which are theoretical at best and old wives’ tales at worst.  As is the case for many other areas of the coffee world, you should probably experiment with whatever options seem most viable to you and figure out from experience what seems work the best.

Here are some of the methods people use to keep their coffee fresh (proven and unproven):

1.  Store your coffee (grounds or whole bean) in the freezer or the refrigerator.

This can actually be detrimental to a coffee’s quality as its natural oils are broken down during the freezing process.  Also, coffee has a tendency to soak surrounding aromas, such as those pungent tuna casserole leftovers or that pickled asparagus that’s been sitting in your refrigerator since last week.

2.  Don’t grind your coffee beans until just before brewing.

This is one of the more effective ways to keep your coffee fresh since it keeps so much of the beans’ surface area away from the open air.  Coffee loses it’s freshness and flavor quality the more it comes in contact with dry, oxygenated air.

3.  Store your coffee in an air-tight, sealed container.

This will help to minimize air-born flavor contamination and prevent staleness to a great extent.  Anything from zip-lock bags to rubber sealed containers will do.

Being as close as possible to the roaster would help to achieve the main goal here, which is freshness.  If you know of a local roaster, you might try checking their cost with your usual store-bought beans — you might end up getting a higher quality coffee for less money.  Localized roasting is more common than you might realize.  Inquire at a non-franchise coffee house for leads if you can’t find a local roaster on the internet.