A debate about coffee storage!

by Helen Thornton
(England, Bristol)

QUESTION:

My friend and I have a long standing debate! Do Coffee Beans loose flavour rapidly if not stored in the fridge? I have recently opened a restaurant, and have installed a 3 arm espresso machine.

All the staff received training and in this training the barista explained that the ground coffee has a 15-20 life span before drying out, but the Beans will last a lot longer, even a week before losing flavour even if they are at room temperature.

My friend still insists that the unground Beans will lose flavour after hours and always comments on the grinder hop being full!!! Please put me out of my misery and let me know one way or another so that I can email her with conformation that I might not of been hearing things during the training!!!

Cheers,

Helen Thornton


ANSWER:

I fear your friend is right!

Roasted coffee beans start to lose flavour the instant they come out of the roaster.

Ground coffee loses flavour as a rate that is too scary to contemplate.

So...to impress your clients with your coffee, be sure to grind small batches at a time. That way, their coffee will always be fresh.

At the end of the day you should absolutely remove any beans from the grinder hopper.

The enemy of coffee is air and oxidation. The most important thing with roasted beans is to store them in an air-proof container.

As for the fridge, it’s not really necessary and, if your coffee container isn’t totally airtight, the coffee could absorb flavours from other items in the fridge.

If you buy very large bags of roasted coffee beans from your supplier, you can store the sealed bags in the freezer section.

But as I mentioned, the key to keeping your coffee fresh is not about the temperature, it’s about keeping the coffee away from air.

So...airtight storage...grind small batches at a time...and clean out that grinder hopper at the end of the day!