Fresh air. Coffee’s arch nemesis.
Why? Because fresh coffee is hygroscopic. It absorbs everything in its environment – oxygen, moisture, odours.
Once opened, a bag of wholebean coffee starts losing its flavour after one week. Ground coffee? After 15 minutes.
The fridge – surprisingly – is one of the worst places to store fresh coffee. Fridges ooze with distinct, pungent aromas. Your coffee soaks them up like a sponge.
Intense, rich espresso with hints of 3-day-old onion? Anyone…?
So store your coffee in a dry, stable environment, and brew it within 14 days.
And if you absolutely can't get through a bag of coffee in 2 weeks, pop it in the freezer, where its fine flavours are locked in for much longer. Simply take the pack out of the freezer each time you need some. Cut off what you need and you can brew it from frozen.
N.B Put the bag of coffee back in the freezer as quickly as possible after you've taken what you need to avoid the rest of your coffee spoiling.
Avoid exposure to sunlight and other elements
Sunlight - Ultraviolet light can cause the molecules in coffee beans to break down or change structure. It can also cause evaporation, robbing your beans of the valuable components they contain which give them aroma and flavour.
Moisture - Coffee beans are hygroscopic, which means that they are capable of absorbing moisture. Once they have absorbed moisture from the environment, it will begin to dissolve the valuable molecules the beans contain.
Heat - Keeping coffee beans at temperatures above 25 degrees can speed up how quickly they age, bringing oils to the surface prompting the release of CO2.
Oxygen - Exposure to oxygen causes coffee beans to oxidise. Oxidisation is a chemical process that changes the molecules in the bean responsible for flavour and aroma.
The best way to store coffee beans is inside an opaque airtight container that is stored at room temperature (20 to 25C or 68 to 77F). This will reduce the amount of air, light, moisture, and heat reaching your beans. The best place for storing coffee beans is in the back of a cupboard, where the temperature is stable and the container is not exposed to light.
