How to Select and Store Packaged Coffee Beans_The Relationship Between Packaging Materials and Shelf Life

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

Freshness: The Key to Quality Coffee

Regardless of the type of coffee bean, freshness is a crucial factor affecting quality. When selecting packaged coffee beans, chew one or two beans in your mouth - they should be crisp and audible (indicating the coffee hasn't been moistened) and leave a pleasant aftertaste. However, it's best to feel them with your hands to ensure they are solid, rather than buying brittle-shelled coffee.

If coffee beans have lost their fragrance or smell stale, it indicates they are no longer fresh and unsuitable for purchase. Freshly roasted coffee beans are not immediately suitable for consumption; they should be stored for about a week to allow the gases inside the beans to be completely released. Generally, the optimal drinking period for coffee is one week after roasting, when the coffee beans are freshest and their aroma and flavor perform best.

Additionally, the purity of coffee beans is another consideration. When professionals select coffee, they don't necessarily look at the size of the beans, but rather grab a handful of single-origin coffee beans (Regional Coffee), about several dozen pieces, to check if each bean's color is consistent and whether the particle size and shape are similar, to avoid buying inferior products disguised with mixed beans. However, if it's blended coffee, differences in size and color are normal phenomena. Furthermore, dark and medium-dark roasting will cause coffee beans to release oils, but if lightly roasted beans also release oils, it indicates they have deteriorated, not only reducing their richness but also producing astringent and sour tastes. In summary, when purchasing coffee, attention should be paid to its freshness, fragrance, and absence of staleness, with the ideal purchase quantity being what can be consumed within a month.

Storage of Packaged Coffee Beans

Factors Affecting Coffee Storage

Factors affecting coffee storage include light, oxygen, humidity, and temperature. Therefore, when storing, it's best to maintain these four factors at low levels.

Time Changes After Coffee Roasting

Roast level has a direct impact on coffee storage. The darker the roast, the faster the oxidation and deterioration rate; the lighter the roast, the slower the oxidation and deterioration rate. Unroasted green beans can be stored for 3-5 years or even longer in appropriate environments. What cannot be resisted is the natural degassing decay phenomenon of coffee after roasting.

Time Changes in Coffee Beans After Dark Roasting

Packaging Materials for Packaged Coffee Beans

One-way degassing aluminum bags, regular aluminum bags, soft transparent PE bags, hard transparent PP bags, sealed iron cans, vacuum packaging

Shelf Life

There are still many opinions on how coffee beans should be stored, with shelf life indications from various manufacturers ranging from two weeks to 18 months. So how long can coffee actually be stored? Here is a one-year storage test conducted by our establishment on coffee beans for reference by coffee enthusiasts.

Recommended Packaged Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee's freshly roasted single-origin packaged coffee beans have excellent guarantees in both brand and quality, suitable for brewing with various equipment. More importantly, they offer extremely high value for money - a half-pound (227 grams) bag costs only about 80-90 yuan. Calculating at 200ml per cup of single-origin coffee with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, one package can make 15 cups of specialty coffee, with each cup costing only about 5-6 yuan. Compared to cafe prices that often run dozens of yuan per cup, this represents exceptional value.

About FrontStreet Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small storefront but diverse bean varieties, offering both famous and lesser-known beans, as well as online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473