# For anyone who thinks pre-ground will be "OK" to use



## chimpsinties (Jun 13, 2011)

Here's a great video from Kat & Gail experimenting with freshly roasted good coffee but pre-grinding it.

They basically taste it every day for a week. The look on their faces says it all. It's NOT a good idea to pre-grind coffee, either for yourself or having the shop do it for you.






Now this coffee has been pre-ground from beans by them and left for only a week. Imagine what it's like when a commercial roaster does it, sends it to a supermarket, then it sits on a shelf for months and months. Eeeek!

Get a good grinder people!


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## mike 100 (Jul 15, 2010)

If that doesn't convince people of the need for fresh ground coffee I don't know what will! always useful video's from Gail&Kat

And please can I have their shop

Thanks for posting


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

I'm not intending here to offer a "verdict", or contrary opinion on this, but I do have some observations & questions...

Is the "packaged in a protective environment to retain freshness" a con?

I have noticed a deterioration in coffee that I have ground, within a few hours...however this is loose grinds, sitting open to the elements (oxygen).

I usually have some "emergency" preground sitting around (Illy or Lavazzo Oro).

2 things that strike me as skewing a comparison (with respect to "shop bought", rather than what Kat & Gail are specifically demonstrating in the video) are the shop bought preground is better packaged and usually nothing like as fine a grind as home ground for espresso.

I have had wholebean supermarket coffee that appears to degrade at a similar rate, if differently, to the preground, although the flavours in the wholebean seem to to subside in strength & clarity, whilst the preground actually has a flavour of dusty "staleness".

I'm not, for a minute suggesting that there is a serious alternative flavour-wise to freshly ground, freshly roasted beans...just that once you move to supermarket pre-packaged, that there isn't such a distinct dividing line perhaps?

In certain scenarios preground makes a degree of sense, like in the office coffee break...it might not go down too well if you have just finished grinding when everyone else is back at their desks, then you spend another 4 mins "brewing"...then you relax & have your coffee, amidst the rolling eyes of your colleagues. I have usually made, drunk, and washed up in the time it takes my co workers to make & drink a mug of instant...& I still catch flak.."get a proper mug, silly little glasses..." 

At home now it's freshly ground all the way (barring unforeseen shortages) & when I have used preground, I have never managed to finish a pack before it is "undrinkable" (well within a week of opening, sometimes much, much less)...so it's no real saving costwise, excluding grinder purchase.

Kat & Gail use a fair amount of purchased pre-ground in many of their videos. Artisan roasters that sell preground charge the same for that as for wholebean?

So, whilst I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment, would not a "like for like" comparison require the same beans, same grind, beans & grounds kept for the same period in respective protective environments?

Yes, you got me, I am a fully signed up member of the Pedant's Society...well at least I will be, once we have straightened out a few glitches in the shambolic paperwork...


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## chimpsinties (Jun 13, 2011)

I personally have never had a super market whole bean or pre-ground that I've been happy with on first opening let alone oafter a week. Maybe I've tolerated it out of necessity, but never been impressed. I still think the weeks/months it spends between roasters to shelf to your cupboard degrades the coffee too much to be acceptable however well it's been "packaged in a protective environment".


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## JohnnieWalker (Aug 24, 2011)

I agree with the findings, although none of will be surprised!

As MWJB mentions, commercial packaging obviously increases the life of both ground and beans.

From my understanding, Costa package their coffee in nitrogen and have a sealed "ring-pull" top on the tins of ground coffee, and a one way valve on the beans.

I regularly get tins of Coffee Beans and Ground from Costa that have a production date of just 3 weeks old.

As many freshly roasted beans, in a normal bag are at their best a few days old, and then should be used within a week or so there's not a huge difference, as well packaged beans would age much slower than beans in an ordinary bag or container.

I too would advise anyone to get a good grinder and buy beans that they grind on demand, Pre ground is probably better suited to stovetops or cafetieres.

The only downside to ordering freshly roasted beans is that you really have to use them quickly or you might as well not bother.

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