How Long is the Shelf Life of Coffee Beans? What Does the Production Date of Coffee Beans Represent?

Recently, many friends have been sending private messages to FrontStreet Coffee asking questions like, "How long can coffee beans be stored?" and "What is the shelf life?" Today, FrontStreet Coffee would like to address all your questions about coffee bean shelf life.

Shelf Life ≠ Best Tasting Period

Let's start with a common concept from our daily lives: when purchasing food products, we need to check the production date and shelf life. How is this shelf life determined? China's food regulatory agencies establish shelf life requirements for each type of product, indicating that the food remains safe to consume within this period. For coffee products, the requirement is 365 days, which is set according to corresponding production standards when coffee bean roasting companies apply for production licenses.

The concept of shelf life originates from most commercial products. However, with the emergence of specialty coffee, we not only require that food is safe but also that it expresses flavorful characteristics. Therefore, we propose a concept that goes beyond the food safety shelf life requirement—the best tasting period. This refers to the timeframe during which coffee beans, when brewed, can fully express their aromatic characteristics, rather than just being a safe coffee product.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends a best tasting period of 30-45 days after roasting, so we don't suggest purchasing too much at once. This 30-45 day period represents the coffee bean's "best tasting period"! Although coffee beans can be stored for up to a year in suitable conditions, their flavor compounds cannot last that long. This is why we emphasize both shelf life and best tasting period.

Coffee Bean Degassing and Development

During the roasting process, the internal structure of coffee beans expands and produces carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide is rich in volatile flavor compounds and also prevents the loss of these volatile aromatics. As the roast level deepens, the internal structure of the beans becomes more porous, and carbon dioxide content increases. This explains why when brewing dark-roasted beans, we often see an attractive "burger bloom" during the blooming phase (more gas). Of course, some lighter roasts or beans with harder densities don't expand as much as dark roasts after baking, because they retain less air inside, resulting in a smaller "burger."

Freshly roasted coffee beans release 60-70% of their carbon dioxide within about 4-7 days. After this period, carbon dioxide emission becomes less urgent and is released slowly and minimally, reaching a stable state. This is also when coffee flavor performs at its best! At this point, even the "burger" of dark-roasted beans begins to gradually diminish. From the roasting date marked on the coffee bean packaging and the "burger" performance during brewing, we can roughly determine if the beans were recently roasted.

The "Resting Period" for Coffee Beans

Most baristas suggest letting freshly roasted beans rest for a few days before tasting to achieve more stable flavors. According to research, coffee bean aroma peaks between days 10-25 after roasting, while freshly roasted beans may lack many flavors initially. Therefore, the concept of coffee bean resting was introduced. Generally, light to medium roasted coffee beans require about 4-7 days of resting, meaning that starting from the roasting date, waiting 4-7 days before tasting will yield better flavors. Medium to dark roasted beans (or espresso beans) require about 7-10 days to reach optimal flavor.

On the other hand, we also suggest ignoring the concept of resting period and recommend enjoying coffee as soon as you receive the beans. Isn't this contradictory?

Indeed, coffee beans need several days after roasting to gradually reveal their aromatics. However, if you've never experienced freshly roasted coffee beans and always wait until the "resting period" suggested by the roaster before drinking, there will be only one outcome: you'll never know what unrested coffee beans taste like. In other words, you'll never develop the ability to judge whether coffee beans have properly rested. On the other hand, in most cases, FrontStreet Coffee's roasting production schedule is planned based on 5-day usage needs. In the least ideal scenario, you'll receive beans roasted at most 5 days earlier, plus transit time to your hands. Based on these two points, the resting period is optional.

Of course, if you receive beans we roasted yesterday, FrontStreet Coffee still recommends paying attention to the daily aroma changes of fresh coffee beans. This is where the true joy of specialty coffee beans lies—not in blindly following others' opinions about requiring a resting period.

How Long Can Ground Coffee Be Stored?

When you grind coffee beans, you can smell a faint dry aroma—this is actually some of the volatile flavor compounds being released. After coffee beans are ground into powder, the surface area in contact with air increases, carbon dioxide escapes more quickly, and coffee flavor compounds dissipate faster. Additionally, some carbon dioxide and flavor compounds are lost during the grinding process, so ground coffee cannot be stored for too long. So how long is this period? In fact, within a few hours of grinding, coffee beans have already lost most of their aroma. Pre-grinding only provides convenience. If conditions allow, FrontStreet Coffee recommends having a grinder to experience the aroma of freshly roasted, freshly ground coffee.

Pre-ground pour-over coffee beans won't show a "burger bloom," and espresso won't show crema—this is already a significant deficiency during the brewing process. Does this mean pre-grinding is absolutely forbidden? Of course not, but while gaining convenience, you must give up expectations for aroma. Whether to prioritize convenience or flavor always requires a choice between the two.

Nitrogen Flushing and Refrigeration

Some might ask, can't we use nitrogen flushing or refrigeration for preservation? We need to understand that nitrogen flushing technology was developed as a solution when coffee beans needed to cross oceans for transportation. Shipping roasted coffee beans from one continent to another takes dozens of days, making this a necessary solution. Today, the pursuit of specialty coffee aroma is built on the foundation of fresh roasting. When you can drink fresh coffee, why pursue preservation? Buying small quantities of freshly roasted beans each time—isn't this already a perfect preservation solution?

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FrontStreet Coffee
No. 10, Bao'an Qianjie, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473