# Keeping Freshly Roasted Beans in the Freezer... Yey or Ney



## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Here's a question that may open a can or worms (or a can of beans)?









Should you keep beans in the freezer?

I've recently started buying beans from a local roaster, who roast the beans while you wait. He always recommends storing the roasted beans straight away in the freezer.

However I have read that some people leave them out for a few days before doing this.

Or alternatively would they be OK in an air tight tin in a cupboard?

My other question regarding keeping beans in the freezer is should you let them warm up a bit before grinding


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

for me, never. If you can buy them fresh from source (and you are not paying postage) just buy what you need for a couple of weeks, then buy again? I'd only ever freeze if I had to bulk buy, in which case let them rest for 2 days or so then decant into glass jars and seal tightly. When you take the jar out let it defrost thoroughly before you open it, and never put it back in the freezer again (they'll likely get freezer burn, and certainly loose some of their taste).

Never use beans fresh from the freezer, and never ever ever put your beans in the fridge.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Ive had stunning espresso from beans 4 weeks past roast date. No longer worry about stale beans, just make sure they are stored optimally.


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## RoloD (Oct 13, 2010)

There was an extensive Home-Barista report that came to the conclusion "There is absolutely nothing in the results that would suggest that the fresh coffee made better espresso.... Freezing remains a viable method for the preservation of coffee roasted for espresso, for a period of at least 4 months."

Read it here: http://www.home-barista.com/tips/freezing-espresso-coffee-part-two-t10301.html


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## painty (Jul 25, 2011)

I used to freeze beans in le Parfait jars when I home-roasted and was happy enough with the results, but never did a side-by-side comparison. It's good to see the H-B test confirms it's a viable method. You can roast more batches at one sitting thus making it more time-efficient.


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## bubbajvegas (Jan 26, 2013)

I've just taped over the one way valve,popped into a freezer bag then into freezer,then when taken out just left overnight to defrost naturally and I couldn't tell any difference,mind you I'm no expert


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## 4515 (Jan 30, 2013)

This is something that I've been thinking about.

I understand the need for the one way valve but was wondering if vacuum sealing the beans and then freezing would cause a problem or am I better off, if I feel the need to freeze, putting the beans into plastic storage boxes ? I'd then leave the beans in the one way valve bags once thawed out


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Ignoring the hb thread, I know several people over here who I respect, who suggest that the beans absorb moisture. If you freeze a freshly roasted bean, before it has finished releasing its natural gasses, then you are going to end up with problems, as the beans will just sit in their own gasses. With bans lasting a minimum of one month providing they are stored properly, why would you want to freeze anything?

Another thought pattern says that once the beans have de-gassed, then to store long term you should store them in vacuum bags, so that the bean is not exposed to the air.

Personally, I would concentrate on how much you buy and how you store them.


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## 4515 (Jan 30, 2013)

dfk41 said:


> Personally, I would concentrate on how much you buy and how you store them.


Fair point. I'm currently buying less than a months worth of beans at a time but was considering buying more and reducing the P&P per bag


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## Spazbarista (Dec 6, 2011)

I use about 250g a week, but buy in kilos, so I tend to freeze 3x250g bags. Certainly tastes better towards the end of the month than it would have done if I hadn't. I wouldn't bother freezing if you are only having open bags for a week or two.


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## t-c (Feb 23, 2013)

Hi folks. I'm mainly reading the forum while I chose which espressomachine to get (R58, Izzo IV, ECM Technika IV or Bezzera but nearerthe time I'll start a thread and ask









Backon topic, I understand that the coffee bean degrade with age and mixing with air, so would something like this not help preserve thebeans longer? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-Quality-Vacuum-Sealer/dp/B001HBP7HW/ref=sr_1_2?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1365703832&sr=1-2&keywords=food+vacum+sealer


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## painty (Jul 25, 2011)

dfk41 said:


> Ignoring the hb thread, I know several people over here who I respect, who suggest that the beans absorb moisture. If you freeze a freshly roasted bean, before it has finished releasing its natural gasses, then you are going to end up with problems, as the beans will just sit in their own gasses.


Can I ask, dfk41, why do you think beans sitting in their gas is a bad thing - does it contain a lot of moisture? I've tended to assume the moisture is driven off the beans during roasting and so thought of CO2 bean gas as a good storage medium, and with the possible advantage that if the beans are still off-gassing when they are frozen, this will reduce the likelihood for potentially moist air from the freezer being sucked in as the warm air inside the jar contracts. I stand to be corrected though, as that's speculation.

My method for bean freezing was to pre-warm the Le Parfait jars in the oven to about 40 °C to ensure they were dry, dump the beans in while still above ambient, leave the lid on, but not fully locked-down, for a couple of hours, and then lock-down and freeze.

Re: vacuum sealing, I seem to remember reading that it hastens staling by drawing out the volatiles (and oils, in the case of dark roasts). In an ideal world I guess a positive pressure of inert gas would be best, which is sort of what the Parfait jar method with fresh-roasted approximates.


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## t-c (Feb 23, 2013)

painty said:


> Re: vacuum sealing, I seem to remember reading that it hastens staling by drawing out the volatiles (and oils, in the case of dark roasts). In an ideal world I guess a positive pressure of inert gas would be best, which is sort of what the Parfait jar method with fresh-roasted approximates.


So really, just keep the freshly roasted beans in an air tight preserving jar is the best way to store them? I only ask because I had intended to use a vacuum pump and pack them into shot packs ready for grinding as and when I wanted to use. But pleased you have advised not to (you may have saved me some money so thank you)


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## painty (Jul 25, 2011)

^ To be honest I'm not sure how much difference it makes once beans have cooled and finished off-gassing, but as long as the container is dry and airtight, that will be as good as you can do to keep moisture away from them.

The other enemies of fresh beans are high ambient temperature and light (one summer I left beans in the grinder hopper in direct sunlight in a hot kitchen and they went bad in a day or so) so somewhere out of daylight and cool is best. If they are kept really cold though, e.g. in the 'fridge, the moment the container is opened, moisture from the air will begin to condense-out on the beans and then they'll stale quickly...


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## rodabod (Dec 4, 2011)

Just try freezing if you think it would help you, and see how it's tastes.

I often have five or so different beans in the go, so freeze all my beans at some point. And I find it works very well.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

t-c said:


> Hi folks. I'm mainly reading the forum while I chose which espressomachine to get (R58, Izzo IV, ECM Technika IV or Bezzera but nearerthe time I'll start a thread and ask


Hi t-c, welcome to the forum. You've got an interesting shopping line up there. What are you currently, drawn too?

Your posts are coming up a bit small in font size - might be an idea to up the size one notch.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Read somewhere coffee has in excess of a 1000+ aroma elements and components - once roasted, its biggest enemies are exposure to air and moisture in terms of degradation. Freezing, putting in vacuum bags etc are fine if the coffee tastes OK to you. But I challenge anyone to place two bags of coffee of the same variety, say, one frozen for two or three months and the other freshly roasted and then open them. The freshly roasted one will have much more aroma IMHO.


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

rodabod said:


> Just try freezing if you think it would help you, and see how it's tastes.
> 
> I often have five or so different beans in the go, so freeze all my beans at some point. And I find it works very well.


Thanks for then tip, what do you store them in when you freeze them?

I've been keeping then in their original bags and putting them into air tight tins


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## rodabod (Dec 4, 2011)

I use sealable bags like the ones which Has Bean provide. I squeeze all the air out before placing in the freezer. When I dispense frozen beans, I'm careful to do it quickly to avoid condensation.


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Thanks rodabod

are your on about these http://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/gold-250g-resealable-coffee-bags

Do you leave the beans out of the freezer or put them back in once you've dispensed them?


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Thanks for all of the advice....brilliant! I've learnt a lot. I was completely unaware that beans gassed!

From what I can gather the general consensus seems to be:-

If I'm getting beans that were roasted that day there is no need to even consider freezing them if I'm planning on using them in a couple of weeks.

My local roaster min batches is 500g and although he bags them up in 125g bags, they are literally plastic bags tied at the top not vac packed.

So I need some other type of storage device to keep them in. I have been using air tight tins or kilner type jars, is there any better alternatives or are these my best option?

If I do want to store bean longer term (say over 4 weeks) let them rest for a couple of day before freezing them (if I go down the freezing route).

While beans are 'gassing' is it best to keep them in air tight containers or open air?

With the frozen beans I've been taking them out of the freezer, grinding a shot an then putting them back in the freezer again.

Would I be better off to take out a batch of beans at at time an leave then out in an air tight container that they were frozen in?


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## rodabod (Dec 4, 2011)

urbanbumpkin said:


> are your on about these http://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/gold-250g-resealable-coffee-bags
> 
> Do you leave the beans out of the freezer or put them back in once you've dispensed them?


The same bags, yes, except I use the red ones which Has Bean provide when sending beans.

Once I start freezing a bag of beans, I just dispense 50-100g in a Kilner jar, and put the bag back in the freezer. I write with a Sharpie marker on the jars with the bean name, dosage, and grind setting on my Mazzer.


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

Get some of the hasbean bags in the link, they have a one way valve that lets out the gasses but keeps air away from the beans. If you are going to just use your beans up in 4 weeks then just keep them in the bag, tightly resealing it each time.

I've heard you can reuse the bags too, although I haven't tried.


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