S1: Episode 3: Why Coffee Storage Matters More Than You Might Think
In this episode we explore the impact of how coffee is stored on how it tastes - for better and worse! This week’s FACQ tackles the best way to store roasted coffee at home to keep it tasting good.
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Green (raw) coffee before it’s roasted
A typical specialty coffee sack - the coffee inside is also protected by a plastic liner
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Hello and welcome to The Coffee Drinker’s Guide, a podcast for the coffee curious where I explore and explain the world of specialty coffee to make your daily coffee better and more satisfying.
I’m Angela Holder a coffee roaster and writer on a mission to fight back against bad coffee by giving you the knowledge you need to help you get good coffee and a happier (coffee) life in coffee-break sized episodes. So grab your coffee, pull up a chair and take a break…
This week we are talking about storage. Yes, storage. You may think that this is a bit random but storage can actually have a huge impact on the flavour of your coffee…and later I’ll be answering the age-old question on the best way to store coffee at home…
Do you recognise this situation: your friends and family all know you love coffee so they give you a gift of some really expensive coffee and because its so expensive you decide to save drinking it for a special occasion - only to be disappointed in its flavour when you do finally drink it? If so you just discovered that coffee has a shelf life - and the window for drinking it at its best is not as long as the use by date on the packet optimistically suggests. Your expensive coffee’s flavour has been affected by storage…
So how can the way that coffee is stored affect the brew?
It's a good question as the impact of the way that its stored will not be obvious before you start brewing the coffee. Freshly roasted and ground coffee expands and bubbles up when it comes into contact with brewing water as it releases carbon dioxide and other volatile gases produced during the roasting process. If freshly roasted coffee is stored in an airtight container that stops oxygen reaching the beans but allows carbon dioxide to escape through a one way valve, you should be able to see these gasses bubbling up whenever you brew it for up to 3 or 4 weeks after its roasted. If not put into an airtight container these gases escape quickly and are replaced by oxygen which robs the coffee of its flavour. If it doesn’t bubble up at all and especially if the ground coffee goes concave in the filter paper when brewing with a filter cone, then the coffee is stale and it will taste flat and bitter. So the way that coffee behaves when brewing is both a sign of its freshness and how it has been stored.
Next how storage affects the taste
Storing coffee well is crucial to preserving its good flavour. This applies to the storage of both the raw and the roasted beans. Coffee is absorbent so if it is exposed to air, moisture and environmental contamination during storage it is at risk of tasting flat, musty, dirty or otherwise unpleasant. But no matter how well it is stored eventually the coffee’s flavour will degrade. For example raw coffee that has been stored for over a year before roasting will have papery and woody notes overlaying its main flavour; while roasted coffee that has been stored for over 2 months before brewing becomes stale, losing flavour and tasting flat. Roasted coffee will not ‘go bad’, in inverted commas, and make you ill if it has been in storage for too long, but if it has been exposed to sunlight during storage the coffee oils may turn rancid and that will taste unpleasant!
Finally storage and the bean
Raw coffee beans are called green beans in the coffee industry. They are dried to between 10 to 12% moisture content so that they don’t go mouldy while they are waiting to be roasted. Specialty green coffee is often stored and shipped within special protective plastic bags which are then placed in fabric sacks commonly made from jute fibre. When full, each sack typically weighs 60-70kg. I’ll put a photo in the show notes to show you what green coffee and coffee sacks look like. The very best green coffee is vacuum packed in foil or plastic pouches to preserve its freshness and placed in cardboard boxes each weighing between 12-30kg. Green beans may be stored safely for up to 4 years after harvesting before they are roasted. However beyond the first year in storage the flavour begins to deteriorate with the papery and woody notes mentioned earlier becoming the dominant flavour as the coffee dries out further. Specialty coffee roasters usually try to have the most recent harvest in stock in enough quantity to see them through a year of roasting or they buy small batches that run out quickly in order to keep their coffee stock fresh and tasting lively. If you have ever wondered why your favourite coffee seems to run out quickly at your local roaster, this may be the reason. It’s worth asking your roaster for a coffee’s crop year, which is when the coffee was harvested, to assess its freshness.
In each episode I will be answering a Frequently Asked Coffee Question
This episode’s question is: What is the best way to store roasted coffee at home?
This is a great question, and is perhaps the question I get asked the most when people find out that I am a coffee roaster.
Coffee is best stored in a cool, temperature stable, dark place - like a cupboard - and away from heat sources. So definitely don’t leave it on the counter next to the cooker! Air, moisture and light are the enemies of good flavour with coffee so its best to store it in a clean, dry, opaque and airtight food-safe container - or reseal the packet it came in, having eliminated the air first. Contrary to popular belief, the fridge is not a great place to keep coffee. Keeping coffee in the fridge is unnecessary from a food safety standpoint - as coffee poses a low risk of food poisoning due to its low water content - and the fact that it has effectively been sterilised by being roasted. In fact keeping coffee in the fridge will degrade its flavour faster. The temperature changes the coffee experiences as it's taken in and out of the fridge means water will condense on the coffee, robbing it of flavour before you get to brew it. Also coffee will absorb fridge aromas. Leftover curry flavoured coffee anyone? If your circumstances mean that you have to buy large quantities of coffee, meaning it would go stale before you get to drink it, it’s OK to store it in the freezer in airtight containers. What you should do though is break larger quantities down into smaller amounts so that you can take some out to use without exposing the rest of the batch to air, moisture and temperature changes. To really ensure you are getting the best tasting coffee, buy only as much as you will use in a week from a roaster who will tell you when its been roasted and use it all up
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Coffee Drinker’s Guide and that was all about storage. I hope you found this useful. Let me know if you stopped storing your coffee in the fridge after listening to this episode and if it made a difference. The next episode is about a crucial step towards making great coffee and that’s getting the grind right, so make sure you listen to that. If you know someone who is also into coffee tell them about the show - they’ll thank you for it! - and rate and review this podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts to help other coffee curious people find the show too. If you have a question about coffee or a topic you would like me to cover please get in touch. I’m on Instagram @thecoffeedrinkersguide or email me at thecoffeedrinkersguide@gmail.com. Thanks to my executive producer Viel Richardson at Lusona Publishing and Media Limited. You can find him at lusonapub.co.uk. Until next time I’m Angela Holder thanks for sharing your coffee break with me - the best way to tackle life is one coffee at a time and here’s to better coffee!
The Coffee Drinker’s Guide is a Blue Sky Coffee Project
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