Does Coffee Go Bad? Shelf Life & Storage Tips
Much like flavor, the topic of proper coffee storage is often debated. There are definitely some best practices to utilize but no catastrophically right or wrong ways to store your specialty coffee if you practice a little common sense. In this article we share what Evil Coffee believes are the best practices to store it's specialty coffee.
Whether your Evil Coffee specialty coffee is pre ground or you grind yourself, coffee does have a shelf life. The first observation should be your coffee's roast date or sell by date printed or even stamped on your bag. Consider this the start of your timeline for maximum flavor.
How Do You Get The Freshest Coffee?
- Try to brew your specialty coffee 4 - 14 days after roasting date, this is the mega robust flavor window.*
- Purchase whole bean specialty coffee and a quality grinder. Freshly ground coffee packs more flavor than pre ground coffee.
- Not into grinding? No worries! Each time you store your coffee away, squeeze as much air out of the bag as possible. Another alternative, transfer your coffee into an airtight container of some sort.
And it goes without saying store your coffee in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight, your pantry is the perfect spot. Many have asked if they can store their coffee in the freezer to prolong life and the round about answer is yes, just make sure you're not rapidly warming and cooling to avoid moisture development. However we prefer to avoid the freezer all together, brewing our way through our coffee bags and refilling with fresh coffee as promptly as possible .
Avoiding the freezer was a driving force in why we settled on 12oz quantities and instated the Evil Coffee Club. We would rather ship you the freshest coffee frequently than see someone stockpile 5 pounds of coffee purchased on a sale and expecting peak freshness a year later.
We hope this answers a few questions surrounding Evil Coffee specialty coffee storage however if you see something we missed, please leave a comment and we'll do our best to get back to you asap.
-Cheers!
*Flavor Window: Coffee is ever evolving, yes there is a maximum flavor window however many pallets find their referred flavor at different durations past the roasting date. We at Evil Coffee continually sample our coffee over time. Most recently at 3 months, 6 months, and even a year post roasting date. Our discovery was the coffee still tasted great, slightly less robust flavor profiles, a little more acidity here and there, but still great tasting cups of coffee. We're rambling a bit here so we'll wrap it up. Extract, Experiment & Enjoy 🤘 ☕️