How to Store Whole Coffee Beans – Smart Ways for 2022

Congratulations! You have got the best quality of freshly roasted coffee beans in your stock. Now you don’t have to spend bucks on buying a cup of coffee to please your taste buds. But, wait a minute, do you know how to store whole coffee beans?

The freshly roasted coffee can give your desired cafe-style flavor if stored in the right way. We researched extensively to solve the issue in this article. Get the Info graph hanged at your home and stale coffee flavor will bid goodbye forever. But before that, let’s answer some common questions on coffee beans.

How do you pick the right coffee beans?

Well, it is obvious to pick the right beans before you know how to store whole coffee beans. To ensure the best taste, buy roasted coffee beans. There are two ways to detect its freshness.

1. Glossy Texture of Beans

Glossy appearance on coffee beans shows their freshness. But why does it shine?

After roasting, oil tries to escape from the surface of the beans, resulting in a glossy texture.

So, keep it noted. If your coffee beans leave oil residue on your hands or the coffee bag, it indicates fresh coffee.

Still, there may be deviations from lightly roasted coffee beans. They emit a dull shininess instead of the perfect glossy look. They are not roasted for a long time, leaving a less bright surface area.

Let me tell you some facts. Swiss Water Decaffeination process helps to maintain an intriguing coffee flavor. Such decaffeinated beans lack shininess on their surface, deviating from the general rule.

2. Packaging style of the Coffee Beans

The packaging style can state the freshness of your bean coffee. Here are the reasons below:

• Beans that come in papercraft bags with a thin lining will taste stale after a week. If you want to enjoy its freshness for 1-2 weeks, get your hands on heat sealed bags with one-way valves on it.
• Freshly roasted beans emit carbon-di-oxide gas for about 72 hours. Vacuum sealed bags allow the emission without the entrance of oxygen. It ensures the peak coffee flavor until it’s opened.
• Once unsealed, the coffee starts losing its freshness. So, it is better to consume the beans within 1-2 weeks of opening the bag. No matter how much sealed the packaging is, freshness is always a dependent factor of the time limit.

What is better – Whole Bean or Ground Coffee?

There is a long-lasting debate on what can give you the best coffee flavor. Is it a whole bean or ground coffee? Spencer Turer is a quality expert at the Coffee Enterprise.

Where whole coffee beans take 10-14 days to stale, ground coffees do it in about a day.

Spencer Truer

Special Tips

Here are some secrets. It will give you the best coffee experience:

• It is better to buy whole coffee beans and grind it before brewing.
• For the greater surface area, ground coffee goes under rapid oxidation.
• To enjoy its natural aromatics, grinding your coffee beans is the best option. Coffee remains fresh up to a few hours after ground.

How long do coffee beans last?

The best roast date depends on the type of coffee you prefer. In general, coffee needs a rest of 1-2 days after roasting. The beans need resting to let the emitted carbon-di-oxide to escape.

Choose coffee beans with a closer roast date if you prefer a cup of filter-brewed coffee.

Do you prefer a cup of Espresso in your favorite cafe? Well, they are serving your drink after keeping it at rest for at least five days.

If they didn’t, you would get an extra salty taste in your coffee due to gas emission.

You may also find unpleasant bubbles in the beautiful latte art. Who wants to ruin their coffee decoration and flavor!

Does the depth of the roast affect the freshness?

Before storing your beans, first, make sure if they are dark roasted or light roasted. If they are dark roasted, they will go stale fast. French roast or Italian roast makes coffee beans more porous than lighter roast.

Now that you know all the answers, I assure you that you are much closer to the perfect sip of coffee. But without proper coffee storage, the freshness will diminish with time.

So let’s go through the proven guidelines for your next refreshing morning coffee.

The shelf life of the Beans

Like any other fruits or vegetables, coffee beans are also perishable. It has a particular shelf life, consuming after which will lead to an unpleasant taste.

In sealed condition, ground coffee may be stored for 3-5 months and whole coffee for 6-9 months.

Once unsealed, it is better to store ground coffee for one week only. For bulk storage, transfer your beans to small airtight, opaque containers. Store in containers considering weekly consumption.

How to Store Whole Coffee beans from the Five Coffee Spoilers

Coffee beans are sensitive to five things. Of them, heat and moisture are most vulnerable.

Besides, when exposed to any of the five spoilers, it can take a toll on the quality and taste. These five coffee spoilers are:

• Moisture
• Air
• Heat
• Odor
• Light

Let me explain these spoilers for you. Don’t get trapped by the spoilers:

• Moisture

Moisture is the worst enemy of the coffee beans. It taints the oils in the beans causing loss of its aromatics and flavor. What else it does?
By introducing mold and mildews, it can deteriorate the flavor to its worst.

• Air

Roasted coffee beans when exposed to air, it starts losing its flavor. In air contact, beans undergo oxidation that accelerates its staling process.

Tips: It is better to store your coffee in airtight containers To strengthen its lifetime.

• Heat

Exposed coffee loses its flavor by the rapid oxidation process. Heat works as a rapid promoter of this process, and coffee gets stale faster. Why it’s bad?
If you place the coffee in a heated window-side before brewing, you will get an unpleasant sour taste.

• Odor

Coffee can absorb the odor of any other perishable foods kept around it.

Tips: Avoid storing your coffee near a fish packet or a ginger-garlic paste in your fridge.
Otherwise, you may end up having a sea fish or spicy flavor in your coffee.

• Light

The delicate coffee flavor starts getting lost when stored in light.

Tips: To avoid direct contact with light, store it in glass jars with a copper lining. But not for a long time.

Are you freezing coffee beans?: Good or bad?

If you are planning to freeze your coffee beans, let me warn you. It is an awful option! Never store them in the freezer. But why? Here are the reasons for the big NO.

• When you store fresh fish or meat in the fridge for a few days, does it give the same taste as in the pure state? It is the same for coffee beans. It will turn stale and won’t provide the best coffee flavor.

• Remember the “five coffee spoilers”? Freezing coffee beans means exposing it to one of the spoilers. The moist environment in the freezer will deteriorate its quality.

• Coffee beans absorb moisture and odor from the food in your refrigerator. Will you like to start your day, which tastes like coffee but smells like garlic or onion? But the beans will absorb that odor if stored in a freezing environment.

• Suppose you store your ground coffee in the refrigerator. What happens next?  The humid environment freezer burns your coffee beans causing it to go stale faster. For this reason, the National Coffee Association discourages freezing coffee beans.
• Rapid oxidation will spoil the flavor.

But what if you get bulk coffee beans at a discount rate from the super shop? And you have no option left other than the freezer?

• Divide them into many small parts and store them in an airtight bag.

• There are vacuum-sealer freezer bags available in the market. Store your beans greatest for a month in those bags if you have no option available. Make sure that you have written the date of storing so that it does not cross the most significant limit.

Special Tips

• Before brewing your coffee, let it settle in the room temperature for some time. It will not allow condensation to form on the beans. The beans will get free of the odor too, and you can get a better taste.

The freshness and flavor of coffee beans remain intact when kept at room temperature. Ice crystals form in the humid freezer environment that makes your coffee stale. So it is better to avoid the freezer as much as possible.

Freezing the bean will not change the natural brewing method, though.

How Important is the selection of the right container to store the whole coffee beans?

By now, you must have realized how vital your storage container is. Select the container with the same importance as you select your coffee maker.

The necessary attributes of your storage container need to meet the following criteria:

• We would suggest you to Select containers made of a non-reactive material. You can use containers made of glass, ceramics, or non-reactive metals too. Stainless steel containers are a good option also. Coffee beans do not stain the container with oil as they do in plastic containers.
• What can be more important for a coffee container than an airtight seal? Air is one of the five spoilers, so without any delay, look for an airtight storage container. It will keep the freshness of your coffee locked for a long time.
• Do you also like to see the fine grind of your coffee beans on your kitchen countertop? But, this lovely sight can harm your coffee. Find an opaque container to protect your coffee from light sources.

How to Store Whole Coffee Beans:  Reliable storage options

Now that you know the criteria for storage options let’s move to the best choices. You can choose either a coffee bag or a container to store the coffee. Whatever you want, try to store it in dark places, to keep the coffee flavor fresh as new.

Airtight coffee bags

Opaque coffee bags with one-way valves serve best to keep your coffee fresh. Most of the super shops have coffee stored in these bags displayed on their shelves. You can choose to buy one from Amazon too.

These bags allow the rapid emission of carbon-di-oxide from roasted coffee beans. The one-way valve doesn’t let oxygen to get inside. It helps to avoid oxidation keeping the coffee fresh for a long time.

Once you have unsealed the bag, be careful when closing it again for the next use. Try to expel as much air as possible by rolling out the bag. Closing the open end with a rubber band can serve the purpose.

Make sure not to keep your coffee bag in the freezer. Otherwise, you will end up consuming a coffee with a pungent smell.

Coffee storing containers

The National Coffee Association (NCA) suggests using opaque containers with airtight lids. You can find many options available in retail shops or online stores.

The best quality containers can store a whole month’s coffee. They are better than weekly storage bags and keep the flavor fresh for a long time.

Stainless steel coffee canisters have already won the hearts of many coffee lovers. Whatever the material is, confirm that air or light does not touch the coffee surface.

Here are some handpicked coffee storing options to add to your wish list.

• Friis Coffee Vault
• Coffee Grater Storage Canister
• Beansafe Container
• Planetary Design Airscape
• Lovffee Coffee Canister

Choose your preferable canister but do not compromise with its salient features.

Storing the fine grinds

It can be your last option. Otherwise, you hardly find someone who stores the ground coffee beans for a long time. First pro tip, do not store it for more than a week. Buy the fine grinds for one week’s stock only. Coming home, transfer the beans to airtight and opaque containers as usual. But divide it into small airtight containers. It will ensure that you do not expose much coffee to air at a time.

Store the ground coffee at room temperature and avoid storing it in the freezer.

Are you throwing the stale beans?

Do you know that the stale beans can yield a special coffee drink? You cannot bargain with fresh coffee beans for the most fabulous flavor. Isn’t it clear to you?

Your espresso machine will love to brew fresh coffee beans to serve the best.

But what about the “Cold Brew”? To brew this specialty, you can make the best use of stale beans. You don’t need to use fresh beans in this case, because it will be a waste then.

Coffee lovers cannot compromise with the fresh, lively morning sip in their balcony.

Selecting fresh beans will bring out its flavor best. But storing your coffee can multiply its freshness by a hundred times.

So before buying your coffee beans, don’t forget to save your budget for the perfect coffee container.

Here we Tried our best to give you an comprehensive researched article on how to store a whole coffee beans.

You are then a step away from your absolute Cafe style coffee!