True coffee connoisseurs only drink their coffee from freshly ground beans. If your favorite coffee is on sale, you would like to grab it without limits and secure a large supply. If it weren’t for the fear that the valuable aromas could evaporate if it was stored in the kitchen cupboard for a long time and the delicious coffee would only taste bland.
In general, it is always advisable to use fresh coffee beans as soon as possible. Nothing beats the full flavor of freshly roasted beans. However, if it is not possible to always get your beans fresh and in small portions, you have to store them.
Freezing larger amounts of coffee beans seems a good alternative. This is to preserve the aromas and give the coffee its full, fine taste even after it has been stored for a long time.
However, opinions differ on this topic. True advocates of freshly ground coffee call freezing coffee beans a vice because they don’t want the taste to be the same after thawing.
If you decide to freeze for practical reasons, it’s important to make sure the beans are frozen in an airtight container so that no moisture can get in. Even after removing the beans from the freezer, they should first be completely thawed to room temperature before they are removed from the packaging, otherwise condensation will form. Since roasted coffee beans contain hardly any moisture that freezes when they freeze, you can alternatively put them directly into the coffee grinder.
A problem when storing large quantities in the freezer is the need-based removal of portions. Every time the beans are taken out, they are exposed to temperature fluctuations, which damages them in the long run. Therefore, if possible, only freeze in portion size.
Although freshly roasted coffee is always preferable to stored coffee, if it is stored correctly, good quality coffee can be obtained, even over a long period of time. With or without freezing, coffee beans should be kept dry, airtight and stored in the dark. It is best to leave them in their original packaging to avoid loss of flavor when decanting. With the packaging, you can then store the beans in a ceramic jar or other airtight and lightproof container.
But since fresh coffee still tastes best, you should only buy as much coffee as you can use within a week. During this time, the beans stay fresh even with normal storage, without losing their aroma.
