Keep Your Coffee Out of the Freezer

The best place to store coffee beans is not the freezer, and it is not the fridge. It is an air-tight container in a cool, dry cupboard. That is the whole answer, and it is the one we give guests who ask.

We are a family roaster here in Santa Barbara, and people ask us how to store coffee beans almost as often as they ask what to buy. A lot of them have been told to keep the bag in the freezer so it lasts. We understand where that comes from. Cold keeps food fresh, so cold must keep coffee fresh. With coffee, it works the other way. We keep this one on our list of coffee myths on the brewing page, right next to the brew guides.

Why not the fridge or freezer

Coffee beans are very porous. They take on flavors from the air around them. Put a bag in the refrigerator and the beans sit there with everything else in it: the leftovers, the onions, the open jar of something. Our brewing page puts it plainly. Store your coffee in the fridge and it could taste like last night's chicken surprise.

The other problem is damp and cold. Coffee should never be stored anywhere damp or too cold. A fridge or a freezer is both. So the bag you bought for a smooth morning cup ends up tasting like the inside of your fridge, and nobody wants that in a mug.

We roast every bag to taste like the coffee it is. Keeping it next to the leftovers works against all of that.

Where to keep your beans at home

Keep it simple. Pick an air-tight container. Close it every time. Set it in a cool, dry cupboard, not on a damp counter and not in the cold. That is the setup our brewing page recommends.

A few habits help it stick:

• Keep the container closed between scoops so the beans are not sitting open to the room.
• Give the coffee its own spot in the cupboard, away from anything damp.
• Leave the freezer for ice cream.

If you buy whole bean, grind what you need when you brew, then put the rest back in the container. If you buy ground, the same rule holds: air-tight, cool, dry.

Buy what you will drink

The easiest way to keep coffee tasting right is to buy a bag you will finish, then come back for the next one. We roast more than 50 coffees, from blends and single origins to flavored, decaf, and Naturally Grown, so the next bag can be a new one. You can browse the full coffee collection online.

If you are in town, come by the cafe at 321 Motor Way, where we have roasted since 1989. Pick up a fresh bag, take it home, and keep it in the cupboard. Then let the coffee do the talking.