Popular articles
Recent discussions on forum
Coffee Canisters
How your coffee is stored impacts its taste; read on to find out more about choosing the right coffee.
Published December 7, 2021
Select language
Daniel Hedlund
Coffee experts@The Coffee Lab
When it comes to making the perfect cup of coffee for you, there are lots of different factors that go into getting it just right. Choosing beans that are of high quality with the right roasting consistency for you is an important step, along with making sure that the coffee beans are the perfect consistency for the type of coffee that you want to brew. Along with this, you will need to make sure that your water is at the perfect temperature for the coffee, which is usually between 195- and 205-degrees Fahrenheit. However, how your coffee is stored will also have a big impact on how your cup of coffee eventually tastes when you brew it. Getting the right coffee container or coffee canister to store your coffee beans can make the world of difference to the taste. The coffee bean holder that you choose will determine how your coffee tastes, so if you want better-tasting cups of coffee in the morning, getting the right one is important.
Finding the Right Coffee Canister
There are plenty of different options to choose from when it comes to getting the best coffee canister, which can make it difficult to figure out which the right one for you is going to be. Coffee canisters can be simple and basic, or they might come with a range of handy features to make storing your coffee even easier, such as a calendar where you can make the expiry date of your coffee so that you know when to use it by without having to keep hold of the bag. Some cannisters come with a vacuum seal, which is an ideal choice if you want to store your coffee beans for a long time since this will help to keep them fresher for even longer. Before deciding on the best coffee container to store your coffee beans at home, one of the most important things to do is consider all the must-haves and nice-to-haves that you want, and then figure out which coffee canisters offer this.
Is a Coffee Canister Necessary for Keeping Your Coffee Beans Fresh?
If you have just started making your own coffee at home, you might be wondering if a coffee keeper or canister is just as essential a piece of kit compared to the other things that you need for brewing coffee like a burr grinder and some kind of coffee maker. The answer is yes – if you are not storing your coffee beans correctly in between brewing, then it won’t be long until they go stale. Over time, one result of the gas build-up that happens during the process of roasting the beans is that carbon dioxide is slowly released. This leads to some of the flavors that you get in your cup of coffee. As the CO₂ leaves the coffee beans, they will naturally begin to lose some of their flavor.
The coffee flavor is reduced, and the acidity balance is thrown off as these gases disperse from the coffee beans. The longer the coffee beans are stored where they are not protected from the elements very well, the less flavor they will have when you grind and brew them. It is also important to consider how the process of oxidation will impact your coffee beans; this is a result of coffee beans being exposed to oxygen, which can cause them to degrade in a similar way to rust forming on metal that has been left outside for a long time. Heat is another element that can also cause damage to your coffee beans, which is why they should always be stored in a cool place that is out of any direct sunlight, as light can also affect the quality of your beans and cause them to go stale faster.
With all of this, it’s clear to see that your coffee beans are actually not that robust. Keeping them fresh by protecting them from the natural elements that can have a serious impact on their quality and taste is important and will help you get the most from your coffee beans for longer. If you want to make sure that you are getting only the best and freshest taste when brewing coffee, choosing the perfect canister to keep them protected from elements like air, heat, light and water is crucial. The right coffee bean jar is the best investment to make sure that the flavor and taste of your coffee is fully protected.
What Seal Should Your Coffee Canister Have?
There are a few different types of coffee canister seal to consider when it comes to keeping your coffee beans fresher for longer and preserving their flavor. You can choose to store your coffee in a regular container with a lid or get a specially designed canister with a vacuum seal that ensures any air, heat, light, and water is kept out. An airtight seal is the best option for storing your coffee and keeping it fresh, since these types of seal are designed to make sure that everything is locked into the cannister, preventing anything from getting in or out. However, these types of seals do have some problems, including the fact that when the carbon dioxide is emitted from the coffee beans in the cannister, it will have nowhere to go. Because of this, it is worth considering investing in the best airtight coffee container that is made with a specially designed CO2 seal; these will keep your coffee fresh by preventing anything from getting into the coffee bean cannister and damaging your coffee, but they have a valve that allows the CO2 to escape the cannister.
How to Tell if Your Stored Coffee is Old
Just like many other food and drink items, it’s possible for coffee to go bad, as it does have an expiration date which should be clearly displayed on the packaging of any coffee beans that you buy. Understanding the factors that go into coffee going bad and how to spot if your coffee has gone bad is important.
Like any type of beans, coffee beans will go bad after some time. While you can use a specially designed coffee storage canister to keep your coffee beans fresher for longer, they will not stay fresh forever. If you have an opened package of coffee beans stored in an airtight container, it will typically stay fresh for around three to six months. On the other hand, coffee beans that have already been ground are unlikely to last as long, and you’ll only enjoy freshness from them for a couple of weeks at the most before they start going bad.
How to Tell if Coffee is Bad
If you have stale beans or coffee beans that have been in storage for some time, simply looking at the beans is unlikely to give you any indication as to whether or not they have gone bad. The best way to tell if your coffee has gone bad is to simply smell it. If coffee beans are fresh and in good condition, they will have that lovely, aromatic, coffee smell with caramel hints. On the other hand, if the coffee has gone bad, it’s going to smell dusty and ashy.
Another way to tell if coffee has gone bad is to brew a little bit of it. Leave it for around an hour after brewing it before taking a sip. Coffee that’s fresh should just taste like coffee, but if it’s bitter and sour, then it has gone bad.
How Long Does Coffee Last in a Canister?
If you want to brew your own coffee at home, finding out how long coffee lasts for is an important step in planning. You can use the amount of coffee you drink each day to figure out how much coffee beans you should be buying and storing at one time to make sure that your beans are still fresh by the time you have finished brewing them all. In an airtight container, you can store your whole beans for quite a few months, usually up to around nine months. Ground coffee will not last for as long since it begins to lose its flavor within just half an hour of grinding, but you can keep it preserved for a long as possible by keeping it in the right airtight canister. When stored correctly, you can usually get around three to five months’ worth of use out of your ground coffee; however, it’s likely to lose its flavor very quickly, which is why buying whole beans and grinding them just before you brew them is always a better option.
Just like any food and drink item, coffee needs to be stored correctly and will go bad after some time. Since coffee beans are often easier and cheaper to buy in bulk, and it’s good to have some in stock for your morning coffee every day, it’s a wise idea to invest in the right coffee canister to store your beans. Something airtight that allows CO2 to escape is the best option.
About the author
Daniel Hedlund
Working with the Era of We initiative and loves knowledge sharing and a really good cup of coffee.
Add comment
More on the coffee lab
Sign up and contribute now