Ground coffee looks great in clear jars; but a day or two later, it doesn’t taste so great. You are probably wondering, “what is the best way to store ground coffee?”
Protect your coffee with the high standards used by law enforcement to preserve evidence: in small, vacuum-sealed packets.
Forget all of the other articles out there – This tip is completely original, and is the most superior method, by far, of storing ground coffee. Read on for more on the specifics, and how this tip is rooted in forensic science!
The Best Way to Seal Freshness into Ground Coffee
The most flawless method you are going to find is to vacuum seal your coffee into packets that will each last a week (view sealer here). I can tell you, from having a husband who preserves evidence for a living, that vacuum sealing is the Fort Knox of food preservation (that bit of insider knowledge is what makes this article the best!).
Store the packets in a canister that will block out moisture and light. Before closing, add a desiccant packet. Desiccant packets are easily obtainable at my favorite price point (free), from pill bottles and other products that include them in the packaging.
How to Store your Week’s Supply of Coffee
Once you open a packet, store the rest of it in a separate, smaller container, similar to the one holding the rest of your made-up packets. The purpose of a separate container is that it means your main container is opened less often. This preserves your packets even longer, because you’re not letting in light and humidity every day.
This line of canisters is perfect (view here). The lids have a silicone seal to keep out moisture; and they’re ceramic, which blocks out light. Best of all, they come in different sizes and are sold individually, so you can get a bigger canister for your packets, and a smaller one for your open packet. Plus, they’re stackable.
Where Place your Coffee Canisters
You need to keep your coffee away from heat, moisture, and light. As homey as canisters look on the counter, it may not be the best place for them, unless you have a surface that is away from sunlight and all of your appliances.
Many would think of the top of the refrigerator as a cool place, but it is really quite the opposite – The compressor that works to chill your fridge produces heat, which makes the outer surfaces of the appliance warm.
This excludes not only the top of the fridge as a good place for your coffee (heat rises); it also means that any cabinets flanking the fridge would be too warm, as well.
The best spot in my kitchen for coffee storage is on the bottom shelf of the cabinet which is farthest away from all of my appliances.
Pantry closets can be good, especially if your house pre-dates modern refrigeration. They are often placed in a way that keeps all of your food away from heat, light, and moisture.
Bonus: coffee experts describe the science behind why opened coffee loses quality
Coffee begins to lose freshness almost immediately after roasting. Try to buy smaller batches of freshly roasted coffee more frequently – enough for one or two weeks.”
National Coffee Association
The villains of [coffee] are heat, air, moisture and light. Basically, once the beans have been roasted, they slowly start losing carbon dioxide, as well as the other gases that were formed inside them during the process. Losing some CO2 is actually preferable for extraction, which is why you shouldn’t drink your coffee less than 24h after it was roasted. If too much of it is gone, however, you’ve also lost most of the volatile compounds that add nuances to your coffee’s flavor and aroma. Those four agents speed up these chemical reactions, so, to keep your coffee fresh, you must protect it from them.
Fire Dept. Coffee
The guys at Fire Dept. Coffee go on to recommend careful freezer storage as a second choice.
Resources for Further Exploration
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