The Facts

A really great cup of coffee is one of life’s simple pleasures: the taste, the smell, the feeling of a warm mug in your hand—it’s just all so good. But if you’re getting your coffee beans from the grocery store, you’re missing out on a giant piece of the puzzle: really fresh coffee. Coffee tastes best as soon as it’s roasted, and for up to around four weeks after, so if you’re buying beans that have been sitting on the shelves beyond that, you’re likely not starting out on the right foot.

How you buy your coffee will have a big impact on the overall taste. Coffee is always best when it is fresh. Green coffee beans can be stored for up to six months, whereas roasted beans will lose their freshness within weeks (aficionados will say a week or two).

From our experience, we estimate that ground coffee loses about 20% of it's flavour in the first ten to fifteen days depending on your environment. It can lose almost 60% of it's original flavour by around forty days and becomes a typical store-bought coffee after that point.

Whole bean coffee is slightly better, because less surface area is exposed to outside air. Whole bean coffee can lose about 20% of it's flavour in about thirty days, and hits that 60% flavour loss by about sixty days.

What you need is a coffee that is:

  • Purchased as green beans regularly, ideally 4 times per year
  • Roasted just prior to delivery, not weeks or months before
  • Ground just prior to brewing.

How to Store Coffee
Coffee is best stored: in a cool place, away from heat that alters the coffee, or in a dark place, away from sun that alters the coffee, or in a dry place, away from moisture that alters 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.