Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Freezing whole coffee beans


bobmac

Recommended Posts

My local coffee suppliers all have instructions on the bag not to freeze the beans, but Harold McGee's latest book says you can. I've got a feeling I've got to go with McGee. Beuller?

"Last week Uncle Vinnie came over from Sicily and we took him to the Olive Garden. The next day the family car exploded."

--Nick DePaolo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use a small quantity of coffee each week, so I buy 1/2 pound from my supplier, who roasted it within 48 hours of my purchase, freeze it in small glas jars (1/2 cup size), and use as needed. Works well.

I have not frozen fresh (unroasted) beans, but people here do it all the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After much trial and error, we now buy our espresso beans for our Rancilio Miss Silvia machine from Alterra in Milwaukee, WI. The cost of shipping (we're in RI) prohibit small orders, so we get four pounds at a pop, which last us about two months. We keep it in the freezer, defrost it in the burr grinder, and it's better than anything we can get fresh around here. I'm sure that having our scullery maids roast it each morning would be better, but we don't have scullery maids, so....

Chris Amirault

eG Ethics Signatory

Sir Luscious got gator belts and patty melts

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The key to freezing it is to split your larger bags into smaller portions each good for 3 - 4 days worth of consumption. Take them out one smal lbag at a time the night before you need to use them and.... here's the key....

never ever open the bag until it's fully thawed

Moisture is one of coffee's primary enemies (until it's brewed). Keeping coffee in a larger container in the freezer and repeatedly opening and closing that container introduces moisture into the beans every time. Opening a frozen package before it's thawed will do the same thing.

I've done plenty of freezing and have even (accidentally!) had the opportunity to do my onw A/B tests. Freezing works. It's not a substitute for getting freshly roasted coffee locally every 4 - 5 days but we don't all have access to a good local microroaster.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 19 years later...

I have heard that it's not a good idea to freeze roasted beans, but I've also heard that problems arise when the beans are removed and replaced multiple times from the freezer.

 

A local coffee roaster has a Kenyan coffee that I love, but it's not always available.  It is now, and I was thinking of stocking up and keeping some in the freezer.  It would remain frozen until use ... no in/out of the freezer.  I'd probably freeze smallish amounts, 1/2-lb or so.

 

What do you think about freezing the beans in this manner?  Thanks!

Edited by Shel_B
Spelling (log)
  • Like 1

 ... Shel


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You'll be vac-packing them, yes? If so, the beans will be fine for at least six months. (Although from the sound of it, they'll be long gone by then.)

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends a bit on how you turn them into coffee.  Espresso is much more particular and even a month frozen I can see the degradation in the cup.  That being said, if there isn't a roasting date I'd bet they are already that old when you get them so ymmv.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Deephaven said:

Depends a bit on how you turn them into coffee.  Espresso is much more particular and even a month frozen I can see the degradation in the cup.  That being said, if there isn't a roasting date I'd bet they are already that old when you get them so ymmv.

The coffee I get from the local roasters has been roasted within a week of my acquisition.  I obtained the last batch within four days of the roasting date.  Does that change anything?

 ... Shel


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I put beans in the freezer routinely.   In all honesty, there is probably some small decrement in quality compared to the ones that just go straight into the grinder, more pronounced in lighter roasts than in darker ones (to my palate, in my experience).  I’ve found that placing them in a vacuum seal ( food saver, nothing fancy) mitigates this somewhat as does a shorter stay in the freezer.

 

Also, to the extent it makes a difference, I use a drip coffee machine.   If you’re really into coffee and use a French press, a pour over or frankly just have a better palate you may notice it more.   Or less, I dunno.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Shel_B said:

The coffee I get from the local roasters has been roasted within a week of my acquisition.  I obtained the last batch within four days of the roasting date.  Does that change anything?

Stock up and enjoy your favorite bean. They freeze fine. Some coffee geeks suggest to package for the freezer in amounts for 4-5 days. Espresso geeks will often use containers for one pull. But they often have multiple varieties. 

Most important is to bring your package/canister/bag from the freezer to room temperature before opening. Otherwise you will get immediate condensation in the bag. Why the in-and-out is not recommended.

We roast 2-3 pounds at a time and freeze in 1/2 pound food saver packages. Re-usable bags if given a long cut. But I'm not sure a food saver is necessary. 

No coffee geek or nerd here. Just follow those that are. Similar advice in the link, HERE

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, Annie_H said:

No coffee geek or nerd here. Just follow those that are. Similar advice in the link, HERE

Thanks for the link.  I'll definitely read the article after returning home later today.

 ... Shel


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Shel_B said:

The coffee I get from the local roasters has been roasted within a week of my acquisition.  I obtained the last batch within four days of the roasting date.  Does that change anything?

Yep, if it states the date that means you are getting fresh beans.  I use mine from 3 days after roast until about 2 weeks.  Then they are shot.  Freezing them can double that or more, but it suffers from a slightly different degradation.  You lose mouthfeel before flavor.  Seal them tight and freeze.  It's better than on your counter.  Obviously vacuum packing them and getting as much air out is ideal.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...