I get this question a lot. Always scrambles my brain a bit trying to figure out how to answer. Why? Because what comes to my mind is “It depends”, and that’s not usually what anyone wants to hear. But “it depends” really is the best answer to this question because, frankly, “How long will these beans last?” is the wrong question.

Think of coffee as cooked food. Soon after cooking, it’s all downhill from there. I think bread is a good analogy. The question “How long will this last?” takes on new meaning then doesn’t it? At least when I bake a loaf of bread (okay, w/ the help of modern machinery), I know that the question really is “How long before it grows mold?”. I’m also aware that the bread quality drops with each passing day, AND that if I leave the bag open, and/or slice it in advance, things go south in a hurry.

It’s similar with coffee beans, (but without the mold :^). In fact, those beans will last a good long time – probably years without growing mold. But the flavor is sneaking away the longer you keep it, and there’s no stopping that. After coffee comes out of the roaster, unlike bread, it’s flavor seems to peak at 2 to 3 days out. There’s a certain “magic” or nuance that can be coaxed out of a coffee bean initially, but that’s going to go away no matter what you do (okay, maybe think about it like a love affair?). Then there’s a place where the flavor is still pretty darn decent, if not extraordinary, but with no obvious stale or off flavors. And after awhile, the flavor continues to get lost (or get less interesting) and a stale flavor begins to set in. Or at least so I’m told. If I smell stale coffee I’ll drink tea, water, or nothing… (I plead the 5th on the love affair analogy at this point).

So how long does all this take you ask? Well, it depends. It depends on how old the coffee was when you bagged it. Do you know? It depends on what you do next. Do you fill up a glass container, squeezing most of the air out and leave it closed until you need it (great idea!)? Do you leave it in the kraft bag you purchased it in – which doesn’t seal anyway?Toss it in the freezer and pull it out each time you make a pot (no, no, no)? What if each pot’s worth of beans were one slice of bread. Would you put it in a bag and fill the bag up with air? Would you grind it into crumbs and then be disappointed that it dried out in a few hours?

Consider this example: Two people each buy a pound of the exact same coffee that will last them exactly TWO weeks. Connoisseur  “A” divides her beans into 3 small glass vessels and fills them to the brim (I use jelly jars). She uses the coffee from one jar before moving on to the next. Addict “B” leaves his beans all in the same bag. At the end of the 2 weeks, which person’s coffee will taste the best? Who got their money’s worth? 

If you think of coffee beans as bread, you’ll know what to do and not do with your beans. The question isn’t about how long they will last. The question is more about the implications of aging on the flavor of the bean, and what you can do to slow that down a bit – or speed it up. For some guidelines, check out the brewing guide on freshness. You’re certainly welcome to grind your coffee at the store, or to leave it on your counter in a bag, or to keep getting in the same bag over and over, versus dividing it up into smaller portions and sealing them. You can do whatever you want, but hopefully you now have a better idea of the cost you may be paying.

And for me, at least, I ask myself how I’m honoring all the effort, passion and energy put in to getting these beans to my home. I choose to honor the natural and human worlds that produced this lovely seed. And why not?

Good Brewing!  ~Z

So you’ve got those fine, fresh beans home. You could smell the coffee in your car on the way home. You know this first pot (or cup) is going to be great, but you have some nagging doubts about whether you’re doing all you can to brew ALL the good flavor out of the beans? All the “guides” of brewing tell you to use X amount of ground coffee per X amount of water. Our guide is 2 tablespoons per 6 oz of water – or 5 Tbs per pint (16 oz). But then your brain starts to fizzle when you’re brewing a whole pot. See if this helps:

• IGNORE the “fancy” aspects of your grinder. If you’ve got a grinder that has a big ol’ hopper on the top that holds 1/2 lb of beans and maybe even some knob or timer with a setting for number of cups etc.
• Measure the beans, not the grounds: If you know you need 3/8 of a cup of ground coffee, just add 3/8 of a cup of beans to your empty grinder, and grind ALL of it.
• Know how much water you’re using: “Cups” on a drip brewer are not the same as a cup of water (8 oz). Your carafe and/or the markings where you fill water are NOT a standardized measuring device like a measuring cup (hopefully) is. Those “cup” numbers are likely only 5 to 6 oz. per “cup”. In my world, that means my 16 oz cup of coffee is actually THREE “cups”. So, consider measuring before you pour in the water – maybe make a little chart and put it on the inside of your cabinet door.
• (note to self: use fewer quotation marks in your blogs)
• Do the conversion: I keep a little chart taped on my cabinet door, kinda like the one below. And note that your brew basket may not hold that much coffee. Hence, the recommendation on our Brew Guide to brew only 2/3 of a pot (assuming you have a 12-cup brewer).