How to Store Coffee for Freshness

The proper way to keep your coffee beans fresh is a bit of a mystery, especially after researching and hearing the mixed ideas and secrets everyone else swears by.

Freeze it, jar it, keep it in its original containers; I’m sure you’ve heard it all. In actual fact, the proper way to store your coffee is determined by how you buy your coffee beans in the first place.

Keeping & Storing Ground Fresh Coffee

Already roasted and pre-ground coffee typically comes in cans or foil packages. Ground coffee isn’t only the easiest and most common, convenient form of coffee beans available, it is also known as the easiest coffee bean to go stale quickly.

In reality, ground coffee will only stay fresh for several days after it has been roasted and ground, meaning your big can of ground coffee will most likely go stale within three to four weeks after you open it.

Keep ground coffee stored in an airtight can, and in a dry location to preserve its freshness for as long as possible.

Roasted Whole Bean Coffee

As roasted whole bean coffee leaves the beans intact, the beans can store their aromatic oils for longer periods of time, and will therefore stay fresh for longer. Roasted whole bean coffee is arguably easier to store than ground coffee.

If you are planning to consume the beans within two weeks, an airtight container that doesn’t let light in is all you need.

That being said, valve bags are a great alternative for people who love their coffee, as they are airtight bags designed to store coffee that allows for the gases to escape and hence, not build too much pressure from the carbon dioxide in freshly roasted coffee beans.

Freezing coffee beans is another great way to store freshly roasted whole bean coffee that you won’t be able to use within two weeks of roasting. Properly freeze beans by wrapping them tightly in a plastic wrap, and the beans should stay fresh for more than a month.

No matter how you choose to store your coffee, no matter which form of coffee bean you use, you must never store your coffee in the fridge.