About Coffee Freshness

How you purchase, handle, store and prepare your coffee will affect it's fresh, and can make the difference between mediocre coffee and delicious coffee. Here are a few tips to give you the best possible cup.

How to Buy Coffee

How you buy your coffee has a huge impact on the taste. Coffee is best when it is FRESH.

Green coffee beans can be stored for up to 6 months, whereas roasted beans will lose their freshness within weeks (aficionados will say a week or two).

We estimate that ground coffee loses 20% of it's flavour in the first 7-14 days. It drops to about 60% of it's original flavour by around 30 days and becomes a typical store-bought coffee after that point.

Whole bean coffee is slightly better, because less surface area is exposed to air. It loses about 20% of it's flavour in about 30 days, and hits the 60% flavour point by about 60 days (2 months).

Coffee that you buy from grocery stores or even your local cafe will have been roasted, then transported from the roaster on a truck, then sat in inventory, then put on shelves before you finally get to pick it up, then it takes you a week or two to go through it. The end results is a stale coffee that is long past it's prime.

What you need is a coffee that is:

Purchased as green beans regularly, ideally 4 times per year
Roasted only when you order it, not weeks before
Ground just prior to brewing, or ground only when you order it

We do all of this for you! We're excited to offer our beans at prices that are competitive with grocery stores, while roasting and grinding (if selected) AFTER your order is placed.

How to Store Coffee

Coffee is best stored:

in a cool place, away from heat that alters the coffee
in a dark place, away from sun that alters the coffee
in a dry place, away from moisture that alters the coffee

Our roasted coffee is shipping in 1-way valve-seal composite coffee bags (unless you request otherwise). These coffee bags are specifically designed to prevent moisture and air from entering the bag, and are not transparent so that light doesn't affect them.

This isn't always possible, so storing just enough coffee for immediate use (a week or two) in the proper container is key. For the best possible experience it should be roasted, ground and brewed on a daily basis.

Back in the real world, it's just too much hassle for the average person. We suggest that you purchase roasted coffee regularly (from a roaster, not something that has been sitting on store shelves) and grind just a couple days worth at a time.

Some coffee shops offer a discount for you to sign up for regular shipments. This ensures you have a steady supply of fresh, quality coffee at whatever interval you need.

To preserve as much freshness as possible, store your coffee in a cool, dark, dry place in an airtight container.

Does the shipping time cause a problem?

No - the beans remain relatively unaffected by the shipping time, and the shipping time is much, much less than the time coffee spends on shelves.

Some coffees actually benefit from "sitting" for a few days as they continue changing slightly after being roasted, and taste better after 3-4 days.

In general, we've found that the shipping time has no affect on the quality of the coffee.

How Much Coffee Should I Use?

General guidelines are for two (2) level tablespoons (approx 10 grams) of grounds per 6-oz (1 cup / 177 mL) brewed coffee. This equates to about 55 grams per liter of brewed coffee.

What is Fair Trade Coffee?

You can find information about fair trade coffee here.