So, you spent lockdown without your local coffee shop and decided it was time to start making your own morning coffee.
You carefully researched which brewing method you wanted to use, the best value for money equipment and browsed the endless different coffee roasts, blends, single origins and processes before settling on your favourite beans.
However, did you research how to store your new coffee beans?
Even if you have the best state of the art coffee machine, a high-tech grinder and expensive coffee beans, your coffee will still taste no better than average if they are not being stored correctly.
As the central ingredient in coffee, it is vital that you store your coffee beans properly once you open the bag to keep them as fresh as possible.
If simply thrown into a cupboard between use, oxygen will quickly start to oxidise the beans, and this will rapidly make them go stale. Once stale, the incredible flavour and tasting notes that you originally purchased the beans for will be lost and your coffee will become disappointingly tasteless.
The best (and most obvious) solution to fixing this problem is to keep the open bag of coffee beans airtight as this prolongs the oxidising of the beans and keeps them fresher for longer. Although keeping your coffee in a sealed freezer bag or tying the top will help to seal it, neither of these methods are reliable or sustainable.
As an alternative, we highly recommend the traditional yet trustworthy method of keeping your coffee sealed in a storage tin.
This is proven to be far more airtight than the methods above and will last you far longer than your trusty ziplock bag. After extensive research into the different types and brands, our favourite on the market currently is the new line of containers by Joe Frex, specially designed for coffee storage.
Firstly, these are no ordinary cookie storage tins. They contain a tight locking seal that means that your coffee is kept 100% airtight, preventing the oxidisation of your coffee while being stored. Although this feature is not necessarily unique amongst tins on the market, these tins also contain a pressure vent valve and this is what makes these tins unique compared to others currently on the market.
Why it is so important to have a valve for coffee storage though?
After coffee is roasted, the beans release CO₂ as a by-product. A valve plays the important role of allowing a one-way exchange of CO₂ out of the container without allowing the entry of oxygen. You may have noticed a valve on your coffee bag, and it serves this exact purpose (as opposed to allowing you to smell the delicious coffee aroma as commonly thought!)
There are three reasons why it is important to allow for the CO₂ to escape from your coffee while being stored. Firstly, and most practically, without this valve your coffee will continue to release CO₂ and this accumulation of gas and pressure can potentially burst your bag or loosen your tin lid, sabotaging your airtight seal. Secondly, CO₂ has a distinctively sour taste, and if left trapped with your coffee, it will gradually infuse into your beans and taint the flavour. Thirdly, if your beans become infused with high enough levels of CO₂, when you brew your coffee (either by pour over or espresso) the CO₂ will repel the water and this will cause uneven extraction. Therefore, the valve plays an essential role for the safe and best storage of coffee beans possible.
Tins are available in 5L, 10L and 30L sizes and so can be used by the casual home barista or for larger café and industry use. If you would like to know more about the best products for coffee and tea storage, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us
You can even get a discount on all orders using the code here.
