Has anyon done Long Term Storage of Ground Coffee ?

[610Alpha]

I admit it I am a coffee nut, I drink well over 1/2 gallon a day M-F, not as much on the weekend. I know I drink way too much of it but it is sooooo good. I don't want to run out of it like they did in "Patriots" so I was hoping someone has some experience with this.

Grounds vs. Whole Bean?

How long was it stored?

I assume mylar and food buckets.

Thanks,
elittle

[Klayton]

Roasted, ground coffee rapidly develops a weak and stale flavor. If coffee is not hermetically sealed it will absorb odors affecting the flavor.

Also storage temperature greatly effects the shelf life.
For example ground coffee in the can (unopened of course) will store for 18 months at 40 degrees, versus only 5 months if stored at a constant 90 degrees.

Hope this helps...

[protus]

ive got stuff thats 2 years old...wouldnt say thats long term,since even from teh store most are dated to be "used" by the 1-2 year mark anyway.

[crossbow]

I don't drink coffee anymore, but here is some from about 1997 that we took out of the factory cans and vacuumed sealed about 2002, my wife drinks it and serves it everyday and have had no complaints from the same leaches, it's her own mixture of plain old maxwell house and a little french vannila mixed in.

[eeyore]

From what i have heard is that you should store coffee long term unground in the bean, found this online, hope it helps

Storing Coffee
There are popular misconceptions on the way roasted coffee should be stored and maintained. The enemies of roasted coffee are moisture, air, light, and heat. Storing your coffee away from them will keep it fresher longer. Therefore, an airtight container stored in a cool, dry, dark place is the best environment for your coffee.
Freezing Coffee - Not as Good as an Iced Mocha
Some people store their coffee in the freezer thinking it is going to keep the coffee fresh. Here are a couple of reasons why storing coffee in your freezer is a bad idea:
•Coffee is porous. This is a good thing for fans of flavored coffee as the beans absorb the coffee flavoring syrups and oils that are used to make flavored coffee. However, if given the chance, coffee can also absorb other things like the flavor of seafood or the moisture that your freezer produces. This moisture will in turn deteriorate the coffee and even make it taste like, well... like a freezer.
•When coffee is roasted, the beans release their oils and essences to give the coffee its distinct flavor. You'll notice these oils are more prominent on dark-roasted coffee and espresso. When you break down these oils by freezing, you are removing the flavor.
Think about it...if coffee tasted better and fresher from the freezer, then you would buy it in the frozen food section, your local coffee shop might look more like an ice cream parlor, and our power bills would be through the roof trying to maintain a meat-locker the size of a warehouse.
When to Freeze Coffee
How long does coffee stay fresh? A good rule to use is two weeks. Now, if you happen to have found a great price on bulk coffee, and you don't plan on using it within two weeks, the freezer can be an acceptable one-time shot. What this means is that once you take it out of the freezer, it should never go back in. The constant changes in temperature will wreak havoc on your coffee. The frozen moisture on your coffee will melt and be absorbed into the bean. When you put it back into the freezer, you are repeating the process.

The goal in freezing coffee is to keep it away from moisture. If you have a five-pound bag of coffee to store, divide it up into weekly portions. Wrap those portions up using sealable freezer bags and plastic wrap. I've even read you should go so far as to suck out the excess air from the freezer bag using a straw!

Remove the weekly portion when you need it, and store it in an air-tight container in a dry place like your pantry. Do not put it back into the freezer!
When to Refrigerate Coffee
Never, unless you are conducting a science experiment on how long it takes to ruin perfectly good coffee. The fridge is one of the absolute worst places to put coffee.
Buy whole beans and keep them whole as long as you can.
Would you cut a cake into pieces the day before you plan to serve it? Would you buy it pre-sliced? Of course not! The pieces would quickly become stale and the frosting would start to dry out. The same goes for coffee. Grinding the coffee breaks up the beans and their oils, exposes the beans to air, and makes the coffee go stale a lot faster, no matter how you store it.

This holds especially true for flavored coffees!

For the best tasting coffee, buy your beans whole and store them in a sealed container in a dark place. Grind right before serving.
Vacuum-sealed coffee
Vacuum-sealed coffee does not equal fresh coffee. When coffee is roasted, it releases carbon dioxide and continues to release it for days afterward. Fresh-roasted coffee can be packaged in valve-sealed bags to allow the gasses to escape and will taste best about 48 hours after roasting. To be vacuum sealed, the coffee has to first release all its CO� or it will burst the bag. The vacuum bag will indeed help preserve coffee longer while it ships and maybe sits on a store shelf, but before it shipped it had to sit around for a while before it was "sealed for freshness." Vacuum sealing is best for pre-ground coffee, which we already know is not going to taste as good as fresh-ground coffee.
A quick review for serving the best coffee:
1.Buy whole beans directly from a coffee roaster if possible.
2.Look for valve-sealed bags, not vacuum-sealed.
3.Store your coffee beans in a sealed container in a dark place.
4.Grind your beans just before brewing.
5.Enjoy!

http://www.coffeeam.com/coffee-storage.html

[Lowdown3]

Back in 96-97 I bought a couple of cases of Folgers from Walmart for my Pops who is a coffee drinker. I didn't drink coffee at the time.

A couple years back we opened a couple cans when money was tight. It tasted the same to me and showed no deteriotation.

Nothing special, just kept in the then still metal #10 cans it came in.

[Klayton]

crossbow how are you inserting pics?

[crossbow]

first transfer pictures from the camera to the computer in a my pictures account,then opened an account with Photo bucket, transfered the pictures from my pictures to photo bucket and from photo bucket to the forum.

http://photobucket.com/

[Klayton]

ahh bummer, cant just upload pic from computer?

[610Alpha]

@Klayton -- Yes you can, I just did on another post about long term storage. I uploaded a the HDPE #2 recycle image, it only allows certain formats. Click on the "Go Advanced" button --> then click the "Insert Image" button it is in between the envelope button and the film strip (insert video) button. Hope that helps.

elittle

[monkeybird]

I have stored hard brick vacuum coffee in my freezer. I forgot I had it there, and when I 'discovered' it, it was 2 years later. The coffee was out of date, but it tasted just as good as the fresh.

I am now storing freezed dried instant coffee. Someone told me it last a lot longer. Anyone try it?

[gkmiami]

Thought I

[Lowdown3]

"I know some of you insist that you’ve opened your 10 - 15 year old can of Folgers and noticed no difference. Well, respectfully speaking, it wasn’t very good coffee before so I wouldn’t expect you’d notice any difference so many years later. Just saying - do it this way and you’ll keep your coffee stored fresher longer and have the best tasting coffee ever after tshtf."

Yes, and I think I specifically stated that I'm not the kind of person that "has" to have fancy pants coffee ;) I.e, a coffee snob. So YMMV on that.

My argument remains the same- folks that are not currently homesteading and growing a good portion of their own food, raising their own animals, and living as close as they would to how they would "when something happens" really have no idea the amount of LABOR involved in living this way.

ANYTHING we can do within reason to cut down on excess time spent and labor AFTER TSHTF is a smart investment.

We've washed our clothes by hand on more than a few occasions. We've made videos about it. That being said, it's ridiculously wasteful of TIME and LABOR (both will be in short supply when something happens). So when our older washer started giving us problem, we had it fixed and bought a new one. The still working older one is in a metal building in storage. With AE we will have a clothes washer in the PAW, thereby cutting down on a lot of TIME and LABOR involved in washing clothes by hand. We do still hang clothes out obviously.

If you are currently homesteading, raising a good part of your own food, etc. then you have an idea how much time is involved in these tasks. Now ADD IN a 24/7 security watch, regular patrols, grinding grains, cooking from scratch, schooling the kids, baking bread, putting up fresh food, improvements to the retreat, cutting and putting up firewood- I won't even go into to hauling, fetching and purifying water if you don't have a steady reliable supply you can get without power...... I could go on and on.

I submit onto you, do this for a while and tell me how willing you would be to spend a bunch of time roasting, grinding and making coffee. I have a feeling once most people have lived this way for even a 3-4 day stretch, they'll reconsider time and labor intensive frills. If they don't, they either have 100 people backing them up, or didn't take the exercise seriously.....

No one is going to be sitting around playing Yahtzee in the PAW.

That has been and will remain my argument on the "we can't live without french roast" deal. Although I haven't had coffee in over a month, I do like it from time to time. I'm not going to add more time and labor involvements for something that nets very little to nothing from it.

To each his own. I would submit that if you are dead set on storing the green beans, etc. that you also keep some of the stuff us peasants store- the already ground stuff. At least for those days in the PAW when sipping a latte and playing Yahtzee won't be possible. ;)
Lowdown3

[610Alpha]

What no yahtzee time?? Oh my gosh....I think I will stock up on some freeze dried instant coffee:)

[Lowdown3]

What no yahtzee time?? Oh my gosh....I think I will stock up on some freeze dried instant coffee:)

LMAO!! ;)

Well you guys get the point right?