I picked up some coffee while in Maui last week. I picked up two bags and I don't necessarily want to grind it all up at once, I dont even want to put it in to the rotation, I kinda want to have some once a week or so, I want to enjoy it and take my time with it.

What's my best option for preserving the beans over the course of a month or two once the bag is open? Is 2 months too much to ask to keep it fresh?

Thanks in advance.

Just put it in an airtight container.

That’s likely the best you can do. You could take half of it and freeze it but some people argue that’s not good. I freeze several pounds at a time.


But you’re really just trying to preserve the volatile oils in the coffee bean.

Curious of what coffee you got. When I was in Maui not long ago I was shown one of the best coffees. Funny thing is that it is packaged in San Francisco. That means the beans are shipped from Maui to San Francisco to be roasted and packed and then sent back to Maui to be sold. I wish I could recall the name of them.

I have no clue if what have done is right or wrong, but if I have gotten good beans then I use a sealer to seal them in a bag and freeze them. Take them out, cut open bag to use what I need, seal it back, and back to freezer. I have zero clue if that is the right way, but just something I heard at one point in life. Probably the wrong way so wait for a better answer…lol.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:
Just put it in an airtight container.

Noted.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
Curious of what coffee you got. When I was in Maui not long ago I was shown one of the best coffees. Funny thing is that it is packaged in San Francisco. That means the beans are shipped from Maui to San Francisco to be roasted and packed and then sent back to Maui to be sold. I wish I could recall the name of them.

I got 2 bags of Bad Ass coffee. It was labeled as 100% Hawaiian and from Maui. I understand that some "Hawaiian" coffee is a blend of a percentage of Kona beans and then beans from whereverthefuck so I dont think I got duped....

If you have a vacuum sealer then cut an extra long bag. Vacuum seal it. Cut it and take what you need and vacuum seal again till next time.

I have a couple Coffee Gators to keep my beans in. I typically get a 2.5lb bag of beans and put them in the Gator until I need to fill the grinder

Coffee Gator on Amazon

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
If you have a vacuum sealer then cut an extra long bag. Vacuum seal it. Cut it and take what you need and vacuum seal again till next time.

Actual fresh coffee outgasses. I don't know what the gas does like if it makes go bad faster; so your idea may still work.

I recommend these Airscape Stainless Steel Coffee Canister | Food Storage Container | Patented Airtight Lid | Push Out Excess Air Preserve Food Freshness (Medium, Brushed Steel)

If you're not too hoity toity, I doubt you'll taste any difference; I don't. I like the container above because the beans remain oily. I would grind it as you use it. That's the preferred method.

I was told to freeze it as long as you are not taking it in and out causing moisture.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
If you have a vacuum sealer then cut an extra long bag. Vacuum seal it. Cut it and take what you need and vacuum seal again till next time.

Actual fresh coffee outgasses. I don't know what the gas does like if it makes go bad faster; so your idea may still work.

I recommend these Airscape Stainless Steel Coffee Canister | Food Storage Container | Patented Airtight Lid | Push Out Excess Air Preserve Food Freshness (Medium, Brushed Steel)

If you're not too hoity toity, I doubt you'll taste any difference; I don't. I like the container above because the beans remain oily. I would grind it as you use it. That's the preferred method.

That’s why bags of coffee beans have those funny little valves in them. Beans can release enough CO2 to burst a sealed bag.

Although I think most of the CO2 comes out within the first few days after roasting.

Each time you open that bag, the air gets in and does damage. I found (at Bed Bath & Beyond) a case of mason jars size one pint, large mouth. 13 of them holds 3 pounds of coffee and I freeze all of them. Only one jar gets opened and used until it is empty, always going back into the freezer. The Airscape is okay but it does not work as well as the Mason jars. Also, the one pound and the half pound Airscape holds less than what they are rated at. I only make espresso and the 3 pounds lasts me more than one month.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:
What's my best option for preserving the beans over the course of a month or two once the bag is open?

There are differing opinions. Some say freeze, some say that doesn't help, others claim it hurts.

I buy my fresh-roasted coffee four pounds at a go. I keep a half pound out for the next hopper fill. I divide the remaining 3-1/2 pounds into 1/2 pound lots, vacuum-pack them with a FoodSaver, and freeze them.

When the grinder hopper nears empty I remove a bag from the freezer, allow it to reach room temperature while still sealed (to avoid condensation on the beans), then pour it into the hopper.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:
Is 2 months too much to ask to keep it fresh?

Yes. IME most roast whole-bean starts noticeably losing flavor after about two weeks.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
If you have a vacuum sealer then cut an extra long bag. Vacuum seal it. Cut it and take what you need and vacuum seal again till next time.

Disagree. It's exposure to oxygen that makes the roast go stale. Vacuum-pack it once. Open it once. Use what you opened.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
Actual fresh coffee outgasses.

Most of the out-gassing should be over within a few days. A week at the most. Depends upon the roasting method, the roast, and the beans.

I usually let my freshly-roasted coffee rest for 4-5 days before vacuum-packing and freezing it.

I buy 2 lbs of beans at a time. I grind 1/2 lb at a time & store it in an air tight coffee container. I vacuum seal the rest of the beans in bags of 1/2 lb each & store them out of the light.

Real coffee connoisseurs grind only what they need each day, but I do a half pound at a time & it stays plenty fresh until it's used up in a few days.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I recommend these Airscape Stainless Steel Coffee Canister | Food Storage Container | Patented Airtight Lid | Push Out Excess Air Preserve Food Freshness (Medium, Brushed Steel)

I use these too. They work well for me.

I order 2 pounds of coffee from a local roaster on average every month. One pound goes into the container, the other waits in the package until the container is near empty.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:
Just put it in an airtight container.

Noted.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
Curious of what coffee you got. When I was in Maui not long ago I was shown one of the best coffees. Funny thing is that it is packaged in San Francisco. That means the beans are shipped from Maui to San Francisco to be roasted and packed and then sent back to Maui to be sold. I wish I could recall the name of them.

I got 2 bags of Bad Ass coffee. It was labeled as 100% Hawaiian and from Maui. I understand that some "Hawaiian" coffee is a blend of a percentage of Kona beans and then beans from whereverthefuck so I dont think I got duped....

That depends. The coffee you're referring to says "Kona Blend" and is at least 10% Kona bean coffee.

However, Kona beans are only grown in the Kailua-Kona area of The Big Island, so you probably don't have Kona Blend.

As to keeping it fresh, yes some people say don't freeze it, but I freeze it as I drink Kona coffee every day and it's the only way I can keep it from going bad on me that I'm aware of. I take it out each day and grind what I'm using, then put it back. I'm not enough of a coffee snob to be able to tell the difference.

Everything is a trade-off.

Old beans won't be as good as fresh beans, period.

Old whole beans will be significantly better than old grounds. Grind just what you're going to prepare at the time.

Old beans stored at room temperature in a dedicated coffee storage container like the abovementioned Airscape tub will be better than old beans stored in something like the original packaging, a ziplock bag, or a tupperware container. The Airscape's lid moves inside the tub to prevent air gaps between the beans and the lid, like you'd have with a standard tupperware container, plus it has a one-way valve to accommodate off-gassing. I use an Airscape to store my coffee beans.

Frozen sealed old beans can be better than unfrozen sealed old beans, provided they aren't affected by excess moisture from things like repeated freeze/thaw cycles.

Just understand that freezing won't totally prevent them from going stale. To fully stop the oil loss that causes coffee beans to go stale requires lower temperatures than residential freezers are capable of.

So no matter how you slice it, the beans aren't going to be as good as they were when they were fresh. The best you can do is try to moderate their staleness, without being able to totally prevent it.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
I buy my fresh-roasted coffee four pounds at a go. I keep a half pound out for the next hopper fill. I divide the remaining 3-1/2 pounds into 1/2 pound lots, vacuum-pack them with a FoodSaver, and freeze them.

When the grinder hopper nears empty I remove a bag from the freezer, allow it to reach room temperature while still sealed (to avoid condensation on the beans), then pour it into the hopper.

If you're going to freeze your beans, this is the way to do it.

The earlier suggestions about repeatedly reopening and resealing/refreezing a package of beans is a really bad idea. It will cause excessive moisture from condensation, and freezer burn, and hasten the coffee's degradation.

Instead, if freezing, seal and freeze the beans in multiple small quantities, take out one small pack at a time, thaw it, and use it until it's gone before thawing the next small pack.

quote:

Originally posted by Ironbutt:
Real coffee connoisseurs grind only what they need each day, but I do a half pound at a time & it stays plenty fresh until it's used up in a few days.

"Fresh" is relative

Back in the days when Usenet News was still a thing I hung out in a coffee newsgroup. The coffee geeks there always said "Don't grind your coffee the night before. It'll go stale overnight." "Overnight?" I thought. "Really?"

One Christmas season one of my best friends, who roasted his own, gifted me with three half-pound jars of different estate coffees he'd roasted. I had just bought a brand-new 1 lb. bag of freshly-roasted 100% Kona.

I knew, from experience, that something was going to go stale before I could finish 2-1/2 lbs. of freshly-roasted estate coffees just drinking it on weekends, so I decided to brew my own, each morning, and take it to work in my Thermos.

Day 1: Night before I ground the selected coffee and dumped it in the basket so I could simply press "Go" on the brewer in the morning. Got to work, took a sip. It was good, but not great. Huh.

Day 2: Picked a different coffee and did the same. Got to work the next morning, took a sip. Same thing.

"Could they be right?" I wondered.

So Day 3 I held-off the grinding until the morning. Lo and behold: The coffee tasted like it should.

The coffee geeks had been right: Whole bean roasted coffee, ground the night before, does begin to go stale overnight.

Naturally, one's ability to detect this will depend upon many factors, incl. the brewing method.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I take it out each day and grind what I'm using, then put it back. I'm not enough of a coffee snob to be able to tell the difference.

Freezing once is one thing. Yes: There is disagreement on that. But what you're doing, in-and-out of a refrigerator or freezer repeatedly, is universally regarded as the worst thing you can do for coffee freshness.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
The suggestions about repeatedly reopening and resealing/refreezing a bag of beans is not a good idea. It will cause excessive moisture from condensation.

Precisely.

That's why I let frozen bags reach room temp. before opening them and dumping them in the grinder hopper.

Coffee in question

Like I wrote, earlier: Split it up into quantities you'd use in no more than two weeks. (That's how long freshly-roasted coffee remains more-or-less "fresh," IME, unsealed and un-frozen.)

As you approach the end of what's already out: Take the next portion out of the freezer and allow it to defrost while still sealed.

I mainly use ground through my Bunn but I do grind also on occasion.

I'll buy whole bean of my choice and grind some for an airtight container. The rest of the bag goes in the refrigerator. I haven't had a problem and when I grind again it's good. YMMV