The freezer is a wonderful invention, however, it’s a matter of opinion as to whether it can be a friend to your coffee beans. In my recent article Six tips for storing coffee, I advised you to "store it away from the five dastardly enemies of coffee: heat, humidity, oxygen, odors, and light.
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If your freezer is like mine, it's full of odors. Coffee beans are porous and can absorb those odors, and have you ever come across an old ice cube in your glass of water? I shudder to think of that unique and vile taste penetrating my defenseless coffee beans.
Furthermore, freezing can break down important and flavorful “oils,” which aren't actually oils at all but "very delicate, volatile, water-soluable substances," according to Kenneth Davids, a highly respected coffee expert. In darker roasted beans, the "oils" actually congeal. Congeal!
And yet, let's say it's December. Because everyone knows how much you love coffee, friends, family, and colleagues gave you bags of beans. You're now swimming in beans. Great! But coffee beans retain their optimum freshness for only seven days, so freezing might be better than going on a 24/7 Coffee Diet.
Here are some things to consider when freezing beans.
1. Ideally, you should keep them in their original vacuum sealed bag to prevent condensation. But if you must open a bag, or they came in a non-vacuum sealed bag...
2. Place the beans in a part of your freezer that is not prone to temperature variation when you open and close the door.
3. Take out the amount of beans you want and quickly return the rest to their special spot in the freezer. It would defeat the purpose of putting them in that special spot if you allow the temperature of the beans to drop sitting on your counter.
4. Finally, make sure you thaw the beans before grinding them.
Ultimately, to freeze or not to freeze is a judgment call. Beans will lose freshness. That's a fact. They do it in the cupboard. They do it in the freezer. My freezer is usually full of meat, vegetables, ice cream, and the occasional Sara Lee Poundcake. I would not want to have to pull out a bunch of food everytime I want coffee. So given a choice, I'll just suffer with a cup that isn't at Maximum Freshness. I keep my surplus beans in a cool place in their original vacuum-sealed bags. But everyone is different. My aim here was to give you the facts so you can make an informed decision.
Flickr photo credit: xxstaceyxx
Comments
Generally a good article, but I think you should check your oil chemistry with an expert. "Freezing" refers to the freezing point of water, not to oil or other hydrocarbons, eg. alcohol doesn't freeze in the freezer.
Hi, Jerry! Thanks for your comment. :) I got my information about the "oils" from Kenneth Davids, a very well-known coffee expert. In his book, Coffee, A Guide to Buying, Brewing, and Enjoying (5th edition) he states, "The flavor 'oils' in roasted coffee are not oils, but very delicate, volatile, water-soluable substances..." That's why I put "oils" in quotes. I'll go ahead and amend the article to clarify that fact.
Thanks! Confession: I'm a freezer. Reading this, makes me wonder about the possible benefits of refrigerating. Typically a fridge is 40 F and no crystallization (expansion of the H2O content of the beans) would happen... and certainly no congealing [insert appropriate emotocon here]. Keeping things cool, keeps all other biological-origin things fresh after all. We do know that freezing changes the taste and texture in many things but cooling to 40 degrees does not (generally). I put red wine in the fridge (warms up to proper temp surprisingly fast in a glass) and it keeps better than any vacu-whats-it does. I've put red wine in the freezer and it changes its character. So, what do you and the other experts think of the fridge for beans?
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