Things you need to know about freezing coffee bean
Is freezing coffee a good storage method?
It all depends on how you freeze and how you use it!
“What if I freeze the coffee to keep its flavor?”
We believe this thought has come to your mind when discussing coffee storage.
You can find for and against opinions on the internet.
While one freezes the coffee beans, possible outcomes are as below.
Tastes great!
Tastes awful!
Tastes…. umm…can’t really tell the difference!
Why get different outcomes with the same skill, freezing coffee?
We’ll discuss the details in this article. Read on!
Scientific viewpoint on freezing coffee beans
Food science experts Andrew R. Cotter and Helena Hopfer (2018) launched the article “The Effects of Storage Temperature on the Aroma of Whole Bean”.
For more details, check their article.
In brief, they bought the same production of green beans and divided it into two groups based on the roasting level
- light roasted
- dark roasted
Afterward, they divided these two kinds of coffee into three conditions,
- newly roasted
- room temperature
- freezer
They got the test result by evaluating the changes based on the HS-SPME-GC-MS method and the test conducted by 16 coffee consumers
The result shows that lightly roasted coffee doesn’t show an obvious difference in room temperature and frozen. However, the dark-roasted one reveals an apparent difference!
Light roasted pops up in recent decades, which explains why much older coffee pros recommend freezing as the best coffee storage method. At that time most of the coffee is medium or dark roasted.
According to Cotter and Hopfer (2018), you can expect a flavor change if you freeze the medium or dark roasted coffee.
Different using habits of freezing coffee beans
The tightness of the container you choose and how you take out the coffee will also influence the result. A 100% airtight container, whether a jar or bag, would be great.Premium choices are vacuum containers and vacuum bags.
Choosing airtight and vacuum containers keeps the coffee's aroma, preventing interference from other stuff in the freezer and lowering the oxidation reaction between gas in the freezer and coffee.
To dig deeper, you can divide it into every single dose. Then, it can effectively decrease the moisture created due to temperature change.
If you put coffee in whichever bag, place it in the freezer and do not freeze it back soon. After soaking at room temperature, you’ll find that freezing coffee tastes worse than those in the room.
Ankomn talked to many world-stage players and found them vacuuming their beans and putting them into the freezer after roasting them. Then, only unfold it when they’re about to be on the stage. This method is effective but consumes way too many plastic bags, so it’s not an ideal way for home brewers.
Believe you’ve got the idea of why people get different results after they freeze their coffee.Here’s the recap!
- Medium and dark roasted coffee performs better than lightly roasted coffee while freezing
- Make sure it’s in the freezer, not the refrigerator
- Put your coffee into an airtight container or bag to prevent interference by other stuff in the freezer
- Divide the coffee into the single dose volume while freezing
- If you freeze the whole bag, freeze it back right after taking the volume you need
Perfect freezing tips:
Divide your fresh roasted coffee into the exact grams you will brew each time, vacuum with vacuum bags, and freeze it. Take one bag (no need to thaw) and finish it! This is the best way for medium and dark roasted beans.
To freeze your coffee beans,
Ankomn Everlock airtight container
helps you isolate aroma and moisture!
If you don’t want to freeze it, but still want a better way to preserve your coffee bean at room temperature.
Ankomn Turn-n-seal vacuum container
will be the best player to store at room temperature.
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