Keep Coffee Fresh - Top Tips On Keeping Coffee Fresh

For the freshest possible coffee you need to obtain unroasted coffee beans, then roast and grind on the same day you plan to brew.

Roasting coffee beans is, however, something of a 'cooking' specialty. Unless you're willing to invest in a fairly expensive coffee maker the results are often less than satisfactory. Not to mention that - even when done correctly - it can fill the house with odours that take time to dissipate and can become annoying especially if you life with somebody who doesn’t like coffee.

Coffee beans, even after roasting, will stay fresh for a while. Freshly roasted coffee beans naturally release small amounts of carbon dioxide which helps to keep oxygen away from the bean, thereby delaying spoilage and preserving the coffee longer. If stored in an airtight container, especially with a drying agent, they'll retain their quality flavour and aroma for up to a week.

Naturally, the closer to roasting they're ground and consumed the fresher they'll be. But even after a few days they can still produce a stellar grind and a top quality brew that even the most unforgiving coffee drink will appreciate. After two weeks the flavour may still be acceptable, even though aroma that good quality coffee brings will no longer be first rate. Whole bean coffee stored at even optimum conditions will be dull after a month.

The key being able to keep coffee fresh is to purchase roasted coffee beans and to ensure that the skin is intact and unbroken. When that happens, all bets are off. Oils underneath the skin and inside the bean will deteriorate unless frozen, in which case the brew will never be first rate.

When storing different types of coffee beans, be sure to use an airtight container. A glass jar of the type used for instant tea grounds is tempting, but inadequate - there is still too much leakage around the lid. A good glass jar with a rubber seal is best. Many online websites provide just the solution.  Be sure to store the jar in a cool, dark place since not only air, but also heat and light can contribute to spoiling the coffee beans.

Even better, but more expensive, are containers which flush air with an inert gas, then inject the coffee beans which then give off CO2, providing natural protection against spoilage.  Coffee beans stored in this way can keep their freshness for several weeks.

The next best thing to home roasting, and an option open even to those with less than stellar cooking skills is grinding coffee beans at home.

Good grinders like the conical burr coffee grinders are available at moderate prices, are generally easy to use and are not difficult to clean. Many are automated to the point that with very minor experimentation, it's possible to arrive at consistently good grinds.

Since coffee grinders necessarily breaks the coffee bean skin, the same 'oil spoilage' problem can arise if the grind isn't used within a few days. Like roasted coffee beans, only more so, any grounds not consumed within a day should be packed in a desiccating canister. Those canisters contain a drying agent, usually beneath a mesh at the bottom, which keeps moisture from introducing mold or excess oxygen into the grounds.

If not stored in a desiccating canister, grounds will lose much flavour within a few hours. Oils will evaporate and, exposed to the air and moisture within the jar, the grounds will deteriorate.

For the best way of keeping coffee fresh, grind only what you intend to brew and drink everything brewed within an hour. With modern, moderate cost coffee makers there's no longer any reason to suffer second-rate coffee.