Coffee bean storage

[Stewart Fan]

I bought a Capresso burr grinder the other day. The bowl will hold a couple cups of beans. The instructions with the grinder say that you can store the beans in the bowl for two weeks before the beans lose their aroma.

For our use,a bowl full of beans will only last a couple days. After grinding what we need for the morning,should I put the unused beans back in the bag,or will storing them in the grinder bowl be sufficient?

 

[440Magnum]

Is the bowl fairly air-tight? It doesn't have to be hermetically sealed, but if its just wide open to the air, I wouldn't leave the beans in it. However if its closed pretty well so that air isn't freely circulating over the beans, then leaving them there a couple of days won't hurt.

We were in Hawaii a few years ago and toured a coffee plantation and as a souvenir I picked up a coffee bean storage urn that has an airtight plunger that you force down on top of the beans so there's no air void above them. It keeps beans much fresher than a bag does, and I've had beans in it up to 3 weeks before they start to get a little stale.

Its like this one except it has the Greenwell Farms logo on it:

https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/airscape-coffee-bean-canister-32-oz

 

[Rand]

The bag isn't significantly better than the grinder bowl.

Fill it and use it with confidence.

You should also buy coffee beans that are less than 3 months old.. but most store beans are dated for 1 year or longer.

Dont store in freezer or refrigerator either.


The whole 2 weeks thing is kinda arbitrary and not necessarily relevant to coffee beans as a whole.

For example ground coffee lose over 50% of the aromatics in 1 day.. but you still see plenty of ground coffee being sold.

 

[racer12306]

Congrats, I just got a Cuisinart burr grinder for Christmas.

Nice little device. I'm sure there are better, but now that I've honed in the "number of cups" per batch, I'm in good shape. I've never been a connoisseur, but I like good coffee and I stumbled on a batch of beans from the local grocery store that has been excellent so far.

 

[Stewart Fan]

Originally Posted By: racer12306
Congrats, I just got a Cuisinart burr grinder for Christmas.

Nice little device. I'm sure there are better, but now that I've honed in the "number of cups" per batch, I'm in good shape. I've never been a connoisseur, but I like good coffee and I stumbled on a batch of beans from the local grocery store that has been excellent so far.


I stumbled across this grinder at Costco for $29. I'm not sure its any better than the Krups blade grinder I'd been using.

I only bought the burr grinder so I can go back to using the blade grinder for spices only.

 

[Reggaemon]

I always put unused beans back into their original bag. The bags have that one way air valve so the beans can out gas but no air gets in. I don't know why that matters but maybe it does. I've always wondered why the bags are not just air tight.

Congrats on the grinder. I have the same one and really like it.

 

[racer12306]

Originally Posted By: Reggaemon
I always put unused beans back into their original bag. The bags have that one way air valve so the beans can out gas but no air gets in. I don't know why that matters but maybe it does. I've always wondered why the bags are not just air tight.

Congrats on the grinder. I have the same one and really like it.


With that valve you can squeeze out the excess air, to a point.

 

[Rolla07]

I wouldnt worry over a couple days. Leave it in.

 

[JJ717]

Originally Posted By: Reggaemon
I always put unused beans back into their original bag. The bags have that one way air valve so the beans can out gas but no air gets in. I don't know why that matters but maybe it does. I've always wondered why the bags are not just air tight.



Freshly-roasted coffee gives off CO2 for a time, so the valves are there to prevent bags from inflating and possibly popping. That should stop after 8 or so hours, so I'd recommend storing coffee at home in mason jars or another airtight container. Keep them in a cool dark place, but not the refrigerator. You can freeze beans for long-term storage, but I prefer to buy fresh beans as I need them.

For the original poster, I'd be fine leaving beans in the grinder's hopper for a few days. The loss of aromatics in that time shouldn't be too bad.

Capresso makes a good grinder, just be sure to clean the coffee dust out every couple days. There should have been a small brush included for just that purpose. You'll also want to clean the burrs every so often - once a month works well for me - to remove the oils and help prevent off flavors.