How-to properly store freshly roasted coffee longer-term in the freezer without flavor degradation: A Guide Coffee

Seeing as I already went to the trouble of typing this up in a comment in another thread, I figured I should share it with the rest of the /r/coffee community:

Your primary enemy is oxidation and after that, moisture. The freezer does help in reducing the rate of oxidation but you need access to a freezer that is used for non-odorous* items so that the coffee doesn't absorb "off"-flavors. Don't freeze, open, and then refreeze beans because when you open the bag outside the freezer it will introduce humidity from the air into the bag which will then condense onto the cold beans.

Here is what I do when I have excess beans on hand and it has worked well for me in terms of preserving flavor...but it is a bit of a hassle:

• measure coffee beans by mass into a single-serve portion and place into a pint-size freezer ziploc

• put an oxygen absorber in the bag

• squeeze out all the air by submersing the bag into water up to just below the seal

• seal bag

• dry off exterior of bag

• label bag with roaster, bean name, and roast date

• repeat until all beans have been packaged for freezer storage

• place as many single-serve portioned bags as will fit into a gallon size ziploc, then place the larger bag into the deep freezer that we mostly just use for storing frozen raw meat

• repeat until all single-serve bags are organized for storage

Then when you want a cup you can take out a single-serve bag from the freezer, grind the beans while still frozen, and immediately brew!

When I do this immediately after recieving beans in the mail, they still bloom significantly with off-gassing bubbles of CO2 when brewed months down the line and taste just as they did before freezing. It effectively puts the staling process into stasis.

I really ought to buy a vacuum sealer so I don't have to faf about with Ziplocs and water displacement anymore, but the good ones are fairly expensive.

/u/PregnantSuperman's suggestion with Mason jars works too, especially paying attention to letting the beans come up to room temp before opening. The only thing I would do differently is add an oxygen absorber into the jar before freezing. Personally I use the single-serve bag method because I like to brew different coffees on a daily basis rather than working through an entire container of one variety before moving on to another.

Note about oxygen absorbers: the best way to store extra absorbers without them getting used up is to pack them into a mason jar and then fill the rest of the jar all the way to the brim with white rice, then tightly screw on the lid.

*Edit: The note about freezers and odors is mostly to do with refrigerator/freezer combination appliances. They generally share the same air and if a food item in the refrigerator has spoiled the odors produced by it can taint items in the connected freezer.

Submitted December 29, 2016 at 12:01AM by SingularityParadigm http://ift.tt/2htzJKw Coffee