How should Coffee beans be stored, so you can enjoy the tastiest coffee from your bean to cup espresso machine One of the suggested methods is to put your ground coffee or coffee beans in the freezer. So does storing coffee in your freezer actually work Let’s look at the pros and cons.
Freezing is a traditional method used to preserve food and in todays modern kitchen with a fridge or freezer it is easy and convenient A diverse selection of foods can be frozen. Meat, fruit & even bread can be successfully frozen with no major loss in taste and vitamin content. Unfortunately Coffee does not on the face of it have the characteristics of an item that would be suitable for freezing
Four main elements attack Coffee Beans stealing their freshness (and more importantly its taste
At first, freezing doesn’t seem to contain many of the offending enemies. However, appearances can be deceiving.
Coffee beans have been roasted in order to enhance flavor. The beans are also porous. and freezers are full of many strongly flavoured foods, odours and smells. The porous beans can absorb the flavors of many other frozen foods. Flavoured coffees can be pleasant, but no one wants to drink seafood or garlic flavored coffee.
Coffee Beans can also absorb moisture. Moisture can cause deterioration and loss of flavor. The more often you take coffee out of the freezer and put it back in, the more moisture absorption takes place into the bean. The only time you should even consider freezing coffee is if you have too much for normal use, in this situation freeze it only the one time. The more you take it in and out of the freezer, the more damage you do.
Once frozen these oils in the beans begin to break down. The flavours of the coffee are enhanced by the oils it contains. Breaking down the oils means taking away flavour, and let’s face it, a large part of a good cup of coffee is the flavour.
Therefore coffee beans should not be stored in the freezer. Keep coffee stored in a cool, dry, airtight container away from light. So although Coffee can be frozen it is best only to freeze it the once. The resulting loss of flavour and quality from repetitive freezing makes it a method of storage to stay away from.
Your best bet is to purchase only enough beans or ground coffee to supply you for 1-2 weeks. That way you will enjoy Coffee from your Expresso Coffee Maker or Coffee machine at its freshiest and best.
