How to keep coffee beans fresh at home

People often buy a bag of our house beans and then ask why the coffee tastes different at home. Most of the time it is not the machine or the person making it. It is how the beans have been kept. Coffee goes stale quietly, so here is how to look after it.

What makes coffee go stale

Four things: air, light, heat and moisture. Roasted coffee is full of oils and aromas that start to fade as soon as they meet the air. Keep those four away and your coffee stays tasty for much longer.

Whole beans or ground?

Whole beans stay fresh far longer than ground coffee. Grinding breaks the beans into thousands of tiny pieces, so far more of the coffee is touching the air. Ground coffee loses a lot of its flavour within a week or two.

If you have a grinder, buy whole beans and grind just what you need each time. If you do not, that is fine: buy ground coffee, and buy smaller amounts more often.

Getting the grind right

If you buy ground coffee, match the grind to how you make it:

• Cafetière: coarse, like rough sea salt
• Filter or pour-over: medium, like sand
• Espresso machine: fine, like caster sugar

Too fine in a cafetière and it tastes bitter and muddy. Too coarse in an espresso machine and it tastes thin and sour. That is why our house beans come whole or ground for each of these.

Where to keep it

Keep your coffee in an airtight container, in a cool, dark cupboard. Away from the kettle, the oven and the sunny windowsill. A good coffee bag with a one-way valve and a proper seal does the job too, as long as you squeeze the air out and seal it each time.

Should coffee go in the fridge?

No. The fridge is damp, and coffee soaks up moisture and the smell of everything else in there. Nobody wants a flat white that tastes faintly of cheddar.

The freezer is a different story. If you have bought more than you will use in a month, divide it into small airtight portions and freeze them. Take out one portion at a time and do not refreeze it.

How long does a bag last?

Coffee is at its best for roughly a month after roasting, and still pleasant for a while after that. Once you open a bag, try to finish it within two or three weeks. If your coffee starts tasting flat, it is probably time for a fresh bag.

One last tip

Do not use water straight off the boil. Let the kettle sit for a minute after it clicks off. Boiling water scorches the coffee and brings out bitterness.

Our house beans are £9.50 a bag, posted to you or collected from the café on Cheap Street.