How Stocking Your Pantry With Coffee Could Be Ruining Your Daily Brew

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If you've found an awesome specialty coffee that hits your palate just right, you might be tempted to bulk-buy as many bags as you can and put them in the pantry to gradually use up. Smart move, right? Well, no, because there's a problem: Coffee has a use-by date. No matter how good or expensive the beans are, after a few months sitting on the shelf, they're basically done. The magic's gone as the beans go stale.

Here's why: Roasted coffee is loaded with natural oils and aromatic compounds — they're the whole reason you splurged on the good stuff in the first place. But as soon as the coffee is exposed to oxygen in the air, these compounds start to oxidize and break down. As more and more of the oils degrade in time, your coffee becomes flatter and flatter, up until you brew a cup and it tastes like nothing much at all. It will be weak and dull. You need to take note of the roast date on your coffee package, and ensure that you use it within three months of that point, at the latest.

There's good news, though. You don't actually have to choose between stocking your faved coffee and enjoying it. Store those beans right, and you can keep them fresh for longer without losing any of the quality.

Instead of throwing the bag directly into the pantry, grab an airtight container. Ceramic with a rubber seal (like this Miicol storage canister) or stainless steel (like this large Veken coffee canister) both work great. The moment you get home, transfer your beans from the bag into the container. Find a cool, dark spot in your pantry or a kitchen cupboard away from the stove and direct sunlight, and you're golden — properly stored beans stay fresh for longer. However, ideally, you're using them within a month of purchase, and even more ideally, within a month of roasting.

If you need to stretch it even further, vacuum-sealing is the best move. Pop the beans into a plastic bag, suck out all the air with a vacuum sealer, then toss them in the freezer. One thing though — make sure they've cooled down completely first, or, due to off-gassing, they'll puff up the bag and ruin your seal. Store them this way and your coffee stays fresh for up to four months. When you're ready to use them, just thaw and brew.

But unless you really want to keep a stockpile of coffee, our advice is to buy small quantities of freshly roasted coffee often. Stocking up on a three-month supply tends to defeat the whole point of delicious fresh beans. It's less work to just grab enough to last two or three weeks. That way, you're almost always brewing with beans at peak freshness.