Coffee Storage
Coffee degassing
When it comes to brewing freshly roasted coffee, you will hear people say that beans have to ‘degas’ before they’re ready to be brewed. There is some contention on how long to wait before beans are considered ‘sufficiently’ degassed, and the reality is that there is no one ‘correct’ length of time that will work for every roast. That said, below is a general guide on how long to wait before you brew your fresh beans.
- Light roasts: 14+ days post-roast
- Medium-light to medium roasts: 10-14 days post-roast
- Medium-dark to dark roasts: 7-10 days post-roast
Freezing coffee
Coffee can be stored in the freezer to slow down (or practically stop) the aging process of the beans.
For a quick video guide, see:
General rules:
- Coffee can be safely stored in the freezer, either in its original bag with valve taped over (ensure it’s a waterproof bag), freezer ziplock bags (double bagged for extra safety), air tight mason jars, centrifuge tubes (for single dosing), or the gold standard - vacuum sealed packs.
- Freeze in single doses or 1-2week portions to maximise freshness
- Freeze when beans have sufficiently degassed and are ready to be brewed, as freezing also essentially halts degassing
There are two ways to use beans that have been frozen
- If you’ve frozen a larger batch and do not intend to use all the beans immediately, allow the beans to come to room temp before exposing the beans to air. Opening the container while the beans are still cold can cause condensation to form onto the beans.
- If you’ve frozen in single doses, you can experiment with grinding the beans immediately after removing them from the feezer - effectively grinding them “frozen”. The small amount of condensation on the beans can act like RDT and mitigate static. You may also see an improvement in particle-size distribution due to how beans shatter at low temps.
NOTE: Cold grounds can clump if you live in a humid environment, as moisture can condense onto the cold grounds while you are prepping your puck. YMMV