Freezing Coffee Beans Retains Freshness - True or False ?
How should Coffee beans be stored, so you can enjoy the tastiest coffee from your bean to cup espresso machine One of the suggested methods is to put your ground coffee or coffee beans in the freezer. So does storing coffee in your freezer actually work What are the advantages and are there any disadvantages
Freezing has been used for centuries as a way to extend the life of many foods. Most food types can be frozen Freezing even maintains many of the vitamins and nutritional value of a wide variety of foods. Coffee, however, isn’t as likely a candidate for storage in the freezer.
Coffee Beans have four main enemies against freshness: air, heat, light and moisture.
But doesn’t Freezing protect Coffee beans from these elements?
One problem is that the Coffee Beans are porous,and unfortunately a freezer can contain many other foods which have odours. The porous beans can absorb the flavors of many other frozen foods. Coffee tasting of frozen prawns, meat and sausages yuk!!
Coffee Beans can also absorb moisture. Moisture can cause deterioration and loss of flavor. The more often you take coffee out of the freezer and put it back in, the more moisture absorption takes place into the bean. If you absolutely need to freeze some coffee because you have a large excess you’d like to keep, only freeze it once. The more you take it in and out of the freezer, the more damage you do.
Freezing also breaks down the oils in the beans. The flavours of the coffee are enhanced by the oils it contains. As the oils are broken down the coffee loses its flavour and the distinctive taste of the coffee is lost.
The freezer is not the place to store your coffee beans. Keep coffee stored in a cool, dry, airtight container away from light. So although Coffee can be frozen it is best only to freeze it the once. The resulting loss of flavour and quality from repetitive freezing makes it a method of storage to stay away from.
Your best bet is to purchase only enough beans or ground coffee to supply you for 1-2 weeks. That way you will enjoy Coffee from your Expresso Coffee Maker or Coffee machine at its freshiest and best.
