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Question:
How do I know for sure that the coffee I buy is fresh so I can make great coffee?
Answer:
When you want great tasting coffee, buy the best gourmet coffee beans, freshly roasted, and store them properly once you get them home.
Here are some suggestions for buying fresh specialty beans and proper storage.
DOs and DON'Ts for Buying Fresh Beans
DO ask your retailer when the beans were roasted. Some online retailers like Boca Java employ a small batch roasting technique, roasting coffees to order so the beans are fresh and shipped quickly. Be careful if the retailer keeps roasted beans in open bags or coffee bean storage bins, or even in closed heavy paper bags. Don't buy any beans roasted more than one or two days ago. If the beans were flushed with nitrogen, you can presume the beans are still fresh enough to buy for up to a week. Newly roasted coffee has a resting period of one to three days after roasting, and it is best for the coffee to spend this resting period in a nitrogen flushed bag to keep oxygen away.
DO buy whole beans and grind them yourself at home. Whole beans stay fresher longer.
DO beware of the most expensive coffees. At the coffee shop, the most expensive estate coffees may have been sitting there for days or weeks due to their high price. Even the most expensive estate coffee beans will taste stale after a fairly short time. Talk with the retailer to confirm the date of roasting before you buy.
DO buy smaller amounts of specialty coffee beans. Buying smaller amounts but more frequently will give you fresher tasting coffee. I suggest aht you buy the coffee beans you expect to use in a week. If you buy two weeks, then put the second week's worth into the freezer right away. See below about what you need to know about coffee stored in a freezer.
DO buy from a reputable retailer. There are time-tested online specialy coffee merchants and you can expect a good experience time after time. But nothing compares to the pure pleasure of stepping through the door of your local coffee roasting house and inhaling the enticing aroma of freshly roasted coffee. Plus, actually seeing and smelling the coffee beans makes the buying experience more real, and there is the thrill of possibly finding a new and irrestible coffee that comes highly recommended. If you have a bad experience or two though, you need to start questioning whether you experimented with the wrong coffee beans, or if your retailer is taking shortcuts in the roasting and storage process.
DON'T buy the vacuum sealed "bricks" of coffee. You might think that vacuum packed means fresh. After all, all of the air has been removed from the packaging and nothing can get in or out. But before the beans can be packaged in a brick-form, the coffee beans must be fully degassed. The beans must remain unpackaged for a while and this means the beans are already 'old' and on their way to being stale before they are packed.
DOs and DON'Ts for Storing Coffee Beans
DO store your beans in an air-tight, light-proof container. Don't just roll up the original bag. Get a container that has an air-tight seal. If you have a vacuum container, then use that.
DO keep your beans cool and in low light. The flavor of your coffee beans will deteriorate faster in hot temperatures. The most airtight container can't protect your beans from high temperatures, so don't store them over your oven or near other heat sources. Find a cool and protected area for your storage container.
DO place any surplus supply in the freezer. While I would prefer that you buy only what you will use for this week, we both know you will often find beans thare irresitible and so you buy extra. That's ok. That surplus supply can go into your freezer until you need them in the next few weeks or months. Not a perfect answer but better than letting them sit on your countertop. But once you remove the beans from the freezer, don't place them back in, as cautioned against below.
DON'T store your beans in the refrigerator. Although the cooler temperature in your fridge will slow the deterioration of your beans, it will not stop it. Plus being in the fridge has two really big problems. First, the extra moisture in the air circulating in your refrigerator has damages the beans and outweighs any possible benefit being in cooler air. Also, you likely will notice your beans will almost immediately start absorbing the smell of other foods in the refrigerator.
DON'T put coffee beans back into your freezer a second time. If you must, go ahead and store your surplus beans in the freezer, as mentioned above. But don't make the mistake of thinking that you can freeze your beans, take them out and let them sit, and then refreeze them. Keeping the beans out any longer than a short time (a minute or two at most) will cause big problems. Frozen beans are moisture magnets and condensation forms on the beans each time you remove them from the cold. Refreezing the beans with that moisture is a big no-no.
For a big selection of gourmet coffee beans guaranteed fresh, you can learn more about Boca Java's small batch roasting process.
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