![]() What’s the best way to store coffee beans for lasting freshness? Fortunately, your roaster will only put whole beans out for sale after they’ve had a chance to rest after roasting, and most roasters print the “Roasted on” date on the bags. The darker the roast, the longer it needs to degas. After roasting, the coffee needs time to degas, otherwise you’ll end up with bad, overly bitter tasting coffee. You read that range correctly-there is such a thing as “too fresh” for coffee. “We think that the ‘optimal freshness window’ for coffee is between two days and four weeks post-roast for filter brews, and one week to six weeks for espresso,” says MacDougall. While storing in the freezer can prolong the life of your coffee, the beans stay fresh for a good amount of time if stored at room temperature, and how long that is depends on the roast level. How long will coffee beans last at room temperature? MacDougall also says that this is a fine method if you’re buying in bulk to save money, but that you may want to weigh the effort against the savings. “I personally have a freezer collection of small vacuum-packed doses of my favorite coffees from years past that I’ll get out when I want to experience them again,” Graff says. If this sounds a bit over the top, that’s because it is-both MacDougall and Graff explain that this method can really be reserved for really special coffee. So how can we prevent chicken-flavored coffee? “If your freezer smells like that rotisserie chicken you froze last week, then that smell will make its way through that barrier and into your coffee,” says Dakota Graff, director of coffee for the Arkansas-based roastery, Onyx Coffee Lab. Some coffee bags, particularly the paper ones, make poor barriers against moisture and smells. That means storing beans in the refrigerator is definitely a no-no, since so many fridge staples give off moisture (think produce, the condensation on a milk or juice jug that's been sitting out, etc). According to the National Coffee Association (NCA), coffee is hygroscopic-it absorbs ambient moisture from the air. Storing coffee in the freezer isn’t necessarily bad, but there’s a right way to do it. But the whole experience made me wonder: Should coffee ever go in the freezer? And what’s the best way to keep it fresh if you’re not going through a 12-ounce bag every week? I talked to a few coffee roasters and other industry professionals to get to the bottom of it.
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