Storage of Roasted Beans and grounded coffee

[chluk2425]

I've been looking through forms, posts, google-ing about storage of roasted beans and grounded coffee after grinding it, but everytime i came across is "using a air tight / seal jar to store it" .

Is there any recommendation on good air tight jar/box for it? I initially got a lock n lock box to store my beans and grounded coffee, but then few days later, my cupboard is full of coffee bean's smell... looks like it's not very air tight... I found something like below, a lever arm glass jar, is it recommended?

Thank you

 

[Randy G.]

Those work fine as do standard canning jars. Just don't wash the sealing portion of the lid in hot water and they can be reused over and over for coffee and no aroma escapes.
Best to grind coffee and use it right away.

 

[chluk2425]

thanks for your reply

i wish i can do it everytime i need it.. but it's quite time consuming especially when cleaning up the grinder. anyway, thanks

 

[coffeeroastersclub]

The jar you show would work very well. Personally I only grind my beans as I use them; however if you need to grind and store then the jar should also work well enough.

Len

 

[alsterling]

Chuck (?)...... I roast and store my beans in one-quart, screw top tupperware type devices. I get them at the super market. I also store all of my beans in a refrigerator unit right next to my coffee counter. Cool and dry is critical. But for home roasting and storage, or even buying pre-roasted, close to absolute air tight is fine. I went through the obsessive period of storage, worrying about latent oxygen in the containers, etc. At that point, I used a small commercial vacuum sealing unit to store my fresh roasts. It made little or no difference compared to storing the beans in those screw top plastic jars. Nitrogen purge would be fine if I ran a commercial packaging line, but this is small lot, home storage.

Something to keep in mind. The usable life cycle of the roasted beans are usually under a month once out of roast. And while I'd cringe on discussing pre-grinding for any brewing, I do, occassionally, grind and store small amounts for my drip brewing. Unless we're talking about great blends and single origins, some of the more common drip blends do just fine in the fridge, already ground and ready for use. I should add that I have stored roasts, immediately out of the cooling cycle of my roaster, frozen in vacuum bags, for a couple months. The blend I did it with was our standard; Malabar Gold. It brewed just fine. I say, experiment with storage at home. Use one good blend that you know. That way, you can compare storage methods and base it on an anticipated flavor profile with which you're familiar.

As for "clearing the grinder?" I own a Macap stepless doser, and it's got one of the best doser units when it comes to clearing the doser. For the chute, I use a 1" foam brush during and after each grind cycle. I have no oil buildup or spoiled ground issues at all. I should add that I don't care for dark roasted beans. So you won't find rancid coffee oils that were prematurely purged to the exterior of my roasted beans. I say, when roasting, if you're "Able to roast to Sable...... then do it." I enjoy blends that yield their optimal flavors either 10 or 15 seconds into second crack, or a bit before or at inception. Just my preference. But when I see heavy beads of oil on beans in a hopper, I anticipate horrible taste in the cup. I'm rarely disappointed, unfortunately.

 

[frothycoffee]

amazon has some cheap ones that work well

 

[calchapman9]

Hey everyone! I'm new to this forum.

I've always had good luck just storing coffee in its original packaging. I've tried storing in jars, tupperware, etc., but I find the coffee can't breathe in those airtight containers. Most packaging comes with vents which allow just enough air to circulate.

 

[Randy G.]

Hey everyone! I'm new to this forum. Most packaging comes with vents which allow just enough air to circulate.

Wrong.
Those one-way vents in coffee packaging are to allow the CO2 that is naturally released from the coffee to escape so the bags will not burst during shipping and storage before they are sold , and for no other reason.

 

[espressoguy2011]

Those work fine as do standard canning jars. Just don't wash the sealing portion of the lid in hot water and they can be reused over and over for coffee and no aroma escapes.
Best to grind coffee and use it right away.

Once a bean is roasted it immediately begins degassing...releasing CO2..nothing you can really do to stop that process. As was already said...Best to grind and use it right away

 

[kifucoffeeroaster]

thanks for your reply

i wish i can do it everytime i need it.. but it's quite time consuming especially when cleaning up the grinder. anyway, thanks

If we're honest....most of us out there never clean our grinders

As for storing coffee in the refrigerator (a la alsterling), I would not recommend it. Too much moisture! Remember, the three biggest enemies of coffee: (1) water; (2) oxygen; and (3) light. Basically, you need to put your beans in a tomb!

 

[Randy G.]

I always purge all the grounds out of my grinder at the end of each session. It is modified to allow full access to the exit chute and I made a special brush that reaches all the way into the grinding chamber.

 

[espressoguy2011]

I always purge all the grounds out of my grinder at the end of each session. It is modified to allow full access to the exit chute and I made a special brush that reaches all the way into the grinding chamber.

A great piece of advice. I do the same.

 

[ImaLittleTeaPot]

is it safe to leave it in the bags for a while if you have a few on hand? if so, what temp should they be stored at?

 

[alsterling]

If we're honest....most of us out there never clean our grinders

As for storing coffee in the refrigerator (a la alsterling), I would not recommend it. Too much moisture! Remember, the three biggest enemies of coffee: (1) water; (2) oxygen; and (3) light. Basically, you need to put your beans in a tomb!

I appreciate your input, and would like to restate some very important points, and clarify some things..........

Yes, moisture would ruin the coffee. But this is about storage temperatures; both refrigeration and freezer. We can agree that moisture has to be taken out of the equation up front. In all storage, it's a given that the container must be reasonably air tight. My plastic jars are not "certified air-tight"... and that's not critical for the fridge, but more important for the freezer. I worry less about "light" as most storage locations are closed areas. Obviously, light as UV energy will cause oxidation damage, and light which translates to heat energy is, well, obviously not wanted. I sometimes will put small lot coffees, still in their retail bags, into containers and then into the fridge. But the point being that the coffee is closed off from atmosphere..... more or less. You don't need to obsess with wax seals, etc. Everything goes into a plastic screw-top container, gets marked with source, product ID and date received/roasted. And yes, my default storage is the fridge. This wasn't a preference but the objective result of testing storage methods; cool dry cabinet, fridge and freezer, vacuum or reasonable air-tight containers.


I didn't theorize this...... I started doing storage tests 6 years ago with Malabar Gold, and counseled with Dr. John of Josuma Coffee when I was buying 10 pound sacks of this/his trademarked blend. Joseph is a Phd physicist. We've discussed storage many times, and he's agreed that storing his roasted product in a freezer works, if packed and placed immediately after receipt. If you're the roaster of your own product, as quickly as the roast cools. I've also done this over the years with coffees other than Malabar Gold, both using vacuum sealing and not. And the reason for recommending plastic in the fridge over glass is for obvious "drop and break" issues. I've only used vacuum packing with plastics in the freezer.

Vacuum packing seems to have no positive, or negative effect. And this entire discussion is, of course, for "small lot storage", (for home roasters... 250 gram/half pound roasts, typically), and certainly not necessary for retail operations where "cool and dry" is sufficient when you're working through inventory within one to two weeks after shipping/outgassing. Shipping times from the roaster of 2-4 days sometimes allows for sufficient outgassing while in transit, and can include another couple days of inventory control and shelving, where desired flavors can continue to develop. As an example, a retailer orders on Monday, it ships on Tuesday, received on Thursday or Friday, and ready to start using that weekend to Monday. When you go through your inventory in a week or less, common sense storage is just that; cool and dry.

When I got into specialty coffee I obsessed over alot of issues, primarily because I have a technical background, but also because I just didn't have any experience working with coffee. After handling it, like many of you, for years, I just know results from experience. And my most basic instinct with roasted beans or grounds is to store them in the fridge, in a resaonably decent closed container; it's just that simple.

And if you're a roaster, commercial or home, there have been some very interesting articles in Roast Magazine regarding "new tech" versus tradition green bean storage. Much of the discussion I remember in the articles was inconclusive, regarding some new materials versus traditional burlap sacks, etc. I've seen storage threads in forums for as long as I've been in this industry, and trust those who have actually approached it objectively and from a hands-on, practical application basis. No need to theorize...... just do your own tests and see if your methods of storage make any difference once the product hits your taste buds? And remember.... the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. Doing your testing with crap beans to begin with, or not brewing properly, pretty much negates the results. Just sayin' is all, Al

BTW..... I use a 1" foam brush to clear the chute on my Macap stepless doser. I grind 18 grams at a time, and don't use the doser for storage. This is a test bar, not a retail facility. So there's not enough constant action to keep the hopper filled, run the grinder timer for each porta-filter load, and disregard what's left in the chute. Like Randy G., I pulled all of the guards out of the doser to get easier access to the chute. A 1" brush is exactly the same width as the chute opening.

 

[iluvcoffee]

Fresh Coffee Beans Online

I use one of those jars too!