How Should Coffee Be Stored for Best Results? What Are the Common Types of Coffee Packaging on the Market?

Professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

How to Store Coffee Beans

Many friends are often confused about how to store coffee beans. What should you do when you can't finish them? Put them in the refrigerator? Use sealed jars? Vacuum bags? We generally recommend using sealed bags at room temperature, which is basically sufficient. Normally, freshly roasted coffee beans can be kept at room temperature for about a month. The flavor changes during this month are quite intriguing, and this period also represents the best tasting window for a bag of beans.

Actually, on the first day after roasting, if you pay close attention, you'll notice it has a grass-like aroma, somewhat heavy and muted, as if the flavor is "suppressed." After a couple more days, when you smell it again, the sweet aroma of the beans becomes very active. When the beans are placed for a week, their sweet fragrance reaches its peak, then gradually fades away.

Overall, coffee beans show distinct personality and active changes in the first few days. After about a week, their character becomes milder. Some insist on tasting the coffee's personality during the first few days, while others prefer to let the coffee beans rest at room temperature for a week before enjoying their gentler side.

If you can finish your coffee beans within two weeks of roasting, we recommend keeping them at room temperature. This way, you can experience the diverse flavor changes of the same bag of beans and also improve your ability to judge coffee bean freshness. Everyone knows that the low temperature in refrigerators can slow down food spoilage, making it a good storage place, so naturally one might think coffee can also be stored in the refrigerator to preserve its freshness. However, the air in the refrigerator is cold and dry, which easily evaporates moisture from the beans, causing flavor loss. Additionally, there are too many miscellaneous odors in the refrigerator. Whether refrigerated or frozen, another reason is that when you take coffee beans out from the relatively cold refrigerator, there's a temperature difference between room temperature and inside the bag. Water vapor will attach to the bag's surface, and when opened, this moisture will enter. Putting it back in the refrigerator will actually cause moisture absorption, and damp coffee beans are more prone to mold growth. Therefore, storing coffee beans in the refrigerator is generally not recommended.

So, under normal circumstances, we recommend storing at room temperature, not in the refrigerator. Many friends, especially those just starting to explore specialty coffee, buy coffee powder directly, most of which cannot be consumed at once.

Actually, this is extremely damaging to coffee flavor. Not to mention whether the merchant's coffee beans are freshly roasted, even if they're freshly roasted, once ground into powder, the contact surface with air increases dramatically, causing very fast oxidation. The coffee's freshness is immediately lost, and the original rich flavor gradually disappears.

Freshly roasted coffee beans ground into powder will completely change flavor within two to three days. Therefore, if you're not just drinking a caffeinated beverage but want to taste the specific characteristics of beans from each origin, we suggest not buying coffee powder directly. Unless you can consume it within a week quickly, otherwise, buy coffee beans and a grinder, and grind the beans just before brewing.

Common Packaging Types

Speaking of this, let's also discuss the four common packaging types available on the market:

1. Flexible Non-Airtight Packaging

This is the most economical type of packaging. Usually adopted by local small roasters because they can guarantee rapid supply and the coffee beans can be consumed in time. Coffee beans packaged this way can only be stored for a short period.

2. Airtight Packaging

After filling the coffee, it's vacuum-sealed. Due to carbon dioxide formation during roasting, this packaging can only be done after the coffee has been left to degas for a period, thus requiring a few days of storage interval. Coffee beans last longer than coffee powder. Since they don't need to be separated from air during storage, the cost is lower. Coffee packaged this way should be used within 10 weeks.

3. One-Way Valve Packaging

Roasted coffee is placed in special packaging with a one-way valve. This valve allows gases to exit but not enter. No separate storage phase is needed, but there's some flavor loss due to the degassing process. It prevents the formation of stale flavors but cannot stop aroma loss.

4. Pressurized Packaging

This is the most expensive method but can preserve coffee for up to two years. Within minutes of roasting, the coffee can be vacuum-packed. After adding some inert gases, appropriate pressure is maintained inside the package. Coffee beans are preserved under pressure, allowing aroma compounds to infuse into the oils, thereby improving the beverage's flavor.

At FrontStreet Coffee, we use one-way valve packaging for all our roasted beans. The one-way valve serves two main purposes: first, to release gases, and second, to prevent external air from entering the packaging bag.

Generally speaking, after roasting, carbon dioxide and other volatile gases account for about 2% of the total weight of coffee beans. This 2% of gas gradually releases from the bean's fiber structure, and the release time is related to the roasting method.

When coffee beans release carbon dioxide in packaging bags with one-way valves, when the internal pressure reaches a certain threshold, the one-way valve opens to release the gas inside the bag until the pressure drops below the valve's threshold. The one-way valve then closes, and the packaging bag returns to a sealed state.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473