frozen beans?
- Thread starter rooster
- Start date
- Aug 14, 2003
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- 67
Did you taste the coffee yourself? I have been in the coffee biz for a long time...anyway...here are some other "professional" opinions on storing coffee. Oh and see where it says keep away from moisture? Try this...take an empty air-tight container and put it in the freezer or fridge..open it the next day...feel inside the container...it will be wet.
SBC-Storage
To preserve the flavor of your coffee beans, you must protect them from moisture, light, and above all, air. That's why at Seattle's Best Coffee, we package our beans still warm from the roaster in our special flavor-lock valve bags.
To ensure you experience all the unique flavors of our coffees, take the following steps when storing your coffee: Always keep your coffee in an airtight, opaque container and store in a cool, dark place between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Coffee will remain fresh in our valve bags for up to five months if unopened. If you purchase larger quantities of coffee and have opened the valve bag (but go through the coffee slowly), store your beans in several small airtight containers. This will keep the beans you don't use right away fresher longer.
*$'s-What is the best way to store coffee? How long will it stay fresh? Once roasted, coffee begins to lose its flavor the longer it is exposed to air and moisture. Starbucks recommends buying your coffee weekly, storing it in an airtight container in a cool, dark place and grinding it just before brewing. Coffee in an unopened FlavorLock™ bag (see below) will stay fresh for several months. You can learn more about how to brew great coffee in Coffee Education,
Gloria Jeans Coffee-Hints for storing coffee at home
1. We recommend storing unused coffee fresh in airtight containers in a cool and dry place. Glass is good because it doesn't retain odours or oils from previous usage. Otherwise a plastic snap-lock bag with the air squeezed out is ideal.
2. Keep coffee away from the following:
• Extreme temperatures (too hot or too cold)
• Light
• Moisture
• Strong odors (coffee attracts and absorbs foreign odours)
3. Do not freeze or refrigerate coffee.
4. Purchase your beans fresh and use them within two weeks for peak taste.
5. We recommend you purchase coffee weekly and then grind the beans immediately before brewing because ground coffee rapidly loses its flavour, no matter how it is stored. Whole beans stay fresh longer than ground coffee. However, it is recommended that coffee be ground nearest to the time of brewing. Be sure that the coffee is fresh at the start.
Hope this helps :|
SBC-Storage
To preserve the flavor of your coffee beans, you must protect them from moisture, light, and above all, air. That's why at Seattle's Best Coffee, we package our beans still warm from the roaster in our special flavor-lock valve bags.
To ensure you experience all the unique flavors of our coffees, take the following steps when storing your coffee: Always keep your coffee in an airtight, opaque container and store in a cool, dark place between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Coffee will remain fresh in our valve bags for up to five months if unopened. If you purchase larger quantities of coffee and have opened the valve bag (but go through the coffee slowly), store your beans in several small airtight containers. This will keep the beans you don't use right away fresher longer.
*$'s-What is the best way to store coffee? How long will it stay fresh? Once roasted, coffee begins to lose its flavor the longer it is exposed to air and moisture. Starbucks recommends buying your coffee weekly, storing it in an airtight container in a cool, dark place and grinding it just before brewing. Coffee in an unopened FlavorLock™ bag (see below) will stay fresh for several months. You can learn more about how to brew great coffee in Coffee Education,
Gloria Jeans Coffee-Hints for storing coffee at home
1. We recommend storing unused coffee fresh in airtight containers in a cool and dry place. Glass is good because it doesn't retain odours or oils from previous usage. Otherwise a plastic snap-lock bag with the air squeezed out is ideal.
2. Keep coffee away from the following:
• Extreme temperatures (too hot or too cold)
• Light
• Moisture
• Strong odors (coffee attracts and absorbs foreign odours)
3. Do not freeze or refrigerate coffee.
4. Purchase your beans fresh and use them within two weeks for peak taste.
5. We recommend you purchase coffee weekly and then grind the beans immediately before brewing because ground coffee rapidly loses its flavour, no matter how it is stored. Whole beans stay fresh longer than ground coffee. However, it is recommended that coffee be ground nearest to the time of brewing. Be sure that the coffee is fresh at the start.
Hope this helps :|
I just have to interject about this subject. We have experimented with coffee in regular storage, refrigerated, and in the freezer. You DO NOT have to throw this coffee away. Though it will not be super fresh, the coffee will still have a good taste as long as it has not been moved in and out of the freezer. My point to the matter is, once put into the freezer and then taken out, the beans should not be put in the freezer again. If you are buying in larger bulk first take out the amount you will need for 5-7 days. When you need to refill, take your container to the freezer and refill. Do not take the bulk bag out of the freezer. Coffee deteriorates due to light, temperature, and air oxidation. I will add though that the taste will slighty change because of the freezing process, but the coffee is not ruined. We have even found that some brews taste better when they have been frozen. Just do what you think tastes best with your own experimentation. Are all good wines and beers produced the same way?
P.S. Never refrigerate coffee!
P.S. Never refrigerate coffee!
- Aug 14, 2003
- 3,923
- 67
donlp37....Hey That was just my opinion...I too have experienced frozen coffee and to me it is not as good as fresh coffee. Personally I perfer to drink fresh coffee..I feel people should buy less and more frequently...well that is just me....
Alun_evans
New member
- Feb 4, 2004
- 1,065
- 1
Although its slightly off the subject.... I would like to add this comment. For all of us in specialty roasting I would like to think we always encourage our customers to buy small, buy often and to enjoy the really uniqueness of freshly roasted (and ground) coffee. I recently had a visit from a lady who had brought more coffee than she should have from (I hate to say this) one of my employees who should have known better...grrrrr. Anyway she had frozen the excess and commented that it just did not taste the same as it had when she first brought it. I simply took back the original coffee beans and replaced it in "installments" over the next few weeks at no charge. I always, always want my clients to feel the same enjoyment I still get from fresh coffee.
FREEZER BURN
WELL I SEE IT LIKE THIS, COFFEE IS PERISHABLE. ANYTHING FROZEN WILL GRADUALY LOOSE FLAVOR. I FEEL THAT THE QUESTION IS NOT WETHER YOU CAN OR NOT BECAUSE YOU CAN. BUT IS IT AS FRESH AS POSSIBLE? CALL ME A STICKLER BUT I WANT MINE TO BE AS FRESH AS POSSIBLE. YOU CAN FREEZE ICE CREAM TO LONG AND IT GO BAD(AND IT IS SUPPOSE TO BE FROZEN). I'M WITH YOU ALUN_EVANS I DONT THINK FREEZING IS ADVISABLE. WHY GO THROUGH ALL THE STEPS TO MAKE THE PERFECT COFFEE AND COMPROMISE IT WITH SOUR MILK, CHEAP FLAVOR OR STALING BEANS? NOW GO DO THE RIGHT THING,...DRINK COFFEE ITS GOOD! :!:
WELL I SEE IT LIKE THIS, COFFEE IS PERISHABLE. ANYTHING FROZEN WILL GRADUALY LOOSE FLAVOR. I FEEL THAT THE QUESTION IS NOT WETHER YOU CAN OR NOT BECAUSE YOU CAN. BUT IS IT AS FRESH AS POSSIBLE? CALL ME A STICKLER BUT I WANT MINE TO BE AS FRESH AS POSSIBLE. YOU CAN FREEZE ICE CREAM TO LONG AND IT GO BAD(AND IT IS SUPPOSE TO BE FROZEN). I'M WITH YOU ALUN_EVANS I DONT THINK FREEZING IS ADVISABLE. WHY GO THROUGH ALL THE STEPS TO MAKE THE PERFECT COFFEE AND COMPROMISE IT WITH SOUR MILK, CHEAP FLAVOR OR STALING BEANS? NOW GO DO THE RIGHT THING,...DRINK COFFEE ITS GOOD! :!:
Coffee Guy
New member
- Oct 19, 2003
- 874
- 0
My turn :mrgreen: :lol: 8) :shock: Freeze coffee???What? Are you crazy??? Nothing substitutes for freshly roasted coffee. Depending on how long you degas and package, will largely affect the taste. You can experiment with a number storage techniques, but I've always found that keeping in air tight containers stored in the cool darkness helps. O.K. so I have coffee that I've frozen to see how it held up as well and found that some I've kept in deep freeze :shock: for 3 months and tried, in fact I still have some in deep freeze for over 6 years (don't tell anybody). I pull a little out every now and then, and when I do I just put straight in the grinder, but you have to be careful when doing that as well, you don't want to ruin your grinder. I tasted it, it tasted alright, but not as good as a few days from original roast. I guess if you are totally out of coffee and don't feel like firing up the roaster, then it's okay. Just don't tell anyone that's what you are doing :wink:
USUALLY NO LONGER THAN A WEEK. BUT I DID FIGURE OUT THAT BETWEEN MY GRINDER GRINDING AS MUCH AS IT WANTS AND IT SITTING THERE UNTIL I USE IT, (MAYBE 4 OR 5 MINUTES IN SOME CASES) AND MY WATER TEMP BEING 180 I THINK I HAVE FOUND MOST OF MY PROBLEM. ANY TIPS ON HOW TO ADJUST THE WATER TEMP ON A 3 HEAD LE CIMBALI?
Coffee is like any food, fresh is best.
But.... the reason coffee changes with age (or storage) is due to the reaction/oxidation of sulphur compounds , in particular the major impact material furfuryl thiol (mercaptan).
air or water will speed this up (can be within a few minutes, make a fresh coffee and within say ten minutes there will be a noticable sensory difference).
from a professional point of view , a vacuum sealed bag of coffee beans that are then kept at -20c will be the best possible storage conditions, but still not as good as fresh beans.
just my 5 cents
But.... the reason coffee changes with age (or storage) is due to the reaction/oxidation of sulphur compounds , in particular the major impact material furfuryl thiol (mercaptan).
air or water will speed this up (can be within a few minutes, make a fresh coffee and within say ten minutes there will be a noticable sensory difference).
from a professional point of view , a vacuum sealed bag of coffee beans that are then kept at -20c will be the best possible storage conditions, but still not as good as fresh beans.
just my 5 cents
Freezing Coffee Beans
Hey Guys and Girls, I have to freeze my coffee. I get a certain blend of Starbucks coffee that is only availible for one month out of the year \"Casa Ceilo\" in the name. Best coffee I have ever had and I buy it in bulk. Yes, some of the flaver is lost by freezing but I take it out and dry it in the sun for about 4 hrs and it taste great. This blend of mountain grown coffee is only availible in February. after that you have to wait for next years crop...
Hey Guys and Girls, I have to freeze my coffee. I get a certain blend of Starbucks coffee that is only availible for one month out of the year \"Casa Ceilo\" in the name. Best coffee I have ever had and I buy it in bulk. Yes, some of the flaver is lost by freezing but I take it out and dry it in the sun for about 4 hrs and it taste great. This blend of mountain grown coffee is only availible in February. after that you have to wait for next years crop...
fresh versus frozen (stale?)
Frozen coffee may be food-safe, yet will not taste as great as fresh-never-frozen coffee of the same batch.
Frozen seafood never tastes as great as fresh seafood.
Even if you simply freeze, then prepare the food or coffee it will not taste as pristinely flavorful as the never-frozen sample from the identical batch. Then compare a sample frozen for several weeks with a freshly roasted batch of the same green lot, and the differential is even more noticeable between fresh and frozen/staled.
Similarly food-safe, valve-bagged coffee that is 6 months old is no longer fresh.
While some people may not perceive or may not appreciate the differences, the fact remains...frozen may be food-safe, but frozen is not fresh.
Refrigerated roasted coffee is even worse than frozen roasted coffee. Refrigerated ages and stales and attracts moisture even more rapidly than frozen.
Frozen coffee may be food-safe, yet will not taste as great as fresh-never-frozen coffee of the same batch.
Frozen seafood never tastes as great as fresh seafood.
Even if you simply freeze, then prepare the food or coffee it will not taste as pristinely flavorful as the never-frozen sample from the identical batch. Then compare a sample frozen for several weeks with a freshly roasted batch of the same green lot, and the differential is even more noticeable between fresh and frozen/staled.
Similarly food-safe, valve-bagged coffee that is 6 months old is no longer fresh.
While some people may not perceive or may not appreciate the differences, the fact remains...frozen may be food-safe, but frozen is not fresh.
Refrigerated roasted coffee is even worse than frozen roasted coffee. Refrigerated ages and stales and attracts moisture even more rapidly than frozen.
As CafeBlue said frozen fish doesn't taste as good as fresh fish, but even worse than that, most people who eat fish eat something stored with a process called superchill, it's done in the trawlers for weeks while they fish. So they don't have to call it frozed, this fish can then be frozen again. So even "freesh" fish isn't fresh. and many people even say what a huge difference between "fresh" fish and frozen, which there is. BUT I used to go sea fishing and bring friends back fish caught a few hours previously and never "superchilled".....you should have seen their faces....5 years on an I still get asked for it!!
Coffee is the same, you can freeze it, chill it and do lots of things to it, but it never tastes as good as it can fresh. Unfortunately many people take fresh coffee and ruin it. I have written an article on why 1 way valve bags are good and sealed bags/containers are bad for freshly roasted coffee (applies mainly to home roaster, but relevant to commercial roasters as well). Just havn't got around to publishing it just yet.
I was taught that ideally Coffee should be roasted and packed as soon as it is cool enough, in a 1 way valve bag (or one way valve container), with as little airspace as possible within the bag. Once opened coffee should be tranferred to an airtight container, with the minimum headspace, as the one way valve won't do any good after the coffee has degassed. It's also the reason why roats taste/smell better if they are put in a 1 way valve container/bag, than if just dumped into a sealed container.
I once came across a roaster whose coffee tasted very poor and I was roasting at the time and my coffee tasted far superior (it wasn't just me that said so). I even found out this roaster was using far superior coffee beans to me....it was in the handling of coffee after roasting....makes a huge difference.
P.S. Oh I have heard rumours lately about green coffee being frozen (commercially as well) :shock: , I was told than one of the things green coffee should never be exposed to is frost. Mabye freezzing it is different in some way, but wow, I can't imagine freezing green coffee being any good.
Coffee is the same, you can freeze it, chill it and do lots of things to it, but it never tastes as good as it can fresh. Unfortunately many people take fresh coffee and ruin it. I have written an article on why 1 way valve bags are good and sealed bags/containers are bad for freshly roasted coffee (applies mainly to home roaster, but relevant to commercial roasters as well). Just havn't got around to publishing it just yet.
I was taught that ideally Coffee should be roasted and packed as soon as it is cool enough, in a 1 way valve bag (or one way valve container), with as little airspace as possible within the bag. Once opened coffee should be tranferred to an airtight container, with the minimum headspace, as the one way valve won't do any good after the coffee has degassed. It's also the reason why roats taste/smell better if they are put in a 1 way valve container/bag, than if just dumped into a sealed container.
I once came across a roaster whose coffee tasted very poor and I was roasting at the time and my coffee tasted far superior (it wasn't just me that said so). I even found out this roaster was using far superior coffee beans to me....it was in the handling of coffee after roasting....makes a huge difference.
P.S. Oh I have heard rumours lately about green coffee being frozen (commercially as well) :shock: , I was told than one of the things green coffee should never be exposed to is frost. Mabye freezzing it is different in some way, but wow, I can't imagine freezing green coffee being any good.
