You want to vacuum seal those puppies. Roasted beans get nasty after a few weeks. If you want beans to last, buy them green from a place like Sweet Maria's and roast them yourself. Green beans (really, seeds) last for a year or two.
We have a vacuum sealer that we often use for hot-smoked salmon and dried fruit. Not sure if we are prepared to go the extra mile for coffee.....
I suspect that much of our fascination with and attachment to coffee is psychological. As long as the caffeine does not degrade, we are good. Nasty? Add more hot milk. Really concerned about sleep and health? Drink black tea or switch to water or diluted fruit juice.
And I heard that the beans improve over the first few days or a week after roasting because of off gassing the nasty stuff. Then they start to go stale.
Right. Our roaster said they figure 4 days minimum to get the best flavor, then another 10 to use them as "fresh" if opened, but in theory the roasted whole beans are shelf stable if they're in a sealed bag with a valve. There's only a tiny bit of oxygen in that bag to begin with (if your roaster is big enough to have a nitrogen-rich packaging line), and most of that is pushed out when the bag puffs up with coffee gases.
But I've never done any A/B testing so who knows. ======
The discussion about Florida coffee was a nod to climate change... Brazil's failing crop, etc.
Not arguing, per se, because I haven't done the research and testing that you have, but I thought most commercial beans are still off-gassing non-oxygen compounds when they're bagged, and that's done in a nitrogen-rich chamber so there's little oxygen in the bag to begin with, then the beans produce more gases over the next several days, pushing the nitrogen/air mix out the one-way valve. The biggest problem with the whole scenario is SAID TO BE that those gases that come off the roasted beans should be going into your cup, so drinking fresh-roasted coffee gets you all of that. Vacuum sealing IS SAID TO just hasten the process of drawing flavor out of the beans. Or so they say.
If we're talking a year's supply, I'd leave them in the original packaging if it's sealed, with a one-way valve, and freeze them. Maybe push any air out of the bag thru the valve first. When they come out of the freezer, don't open the bag for at least a day, to avoid condensation on the beans. Not ideal but it seems like the way to keep them not-awful longer.
And I heard that the beans improve over the first few days or a week after roasting because of off gassing the nasty stuff. Then they start to go stale.
Florida is technically not in the traditional "coffee-bean zone" - between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, plus I believe coffee ideally needs to be grown at elevations at least half a mile or so above sea level (for Arabica at least).
Hawaii's Kona isn't all that, either, but they do bill themselves as the only coffee grown in the USA. But anyway if it's crap coffee now, maybe you can buy in. Are there mountains in Florida?
edit: lol highest point is 345 feet. That's the real reason BDB won't come visit! Nosebleeds.
Florida is technically not in the traditional "coffee-bean zone" - between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, plus I believe coffee ideally needs to be grown at elevations at least half a mile or so above sea level (for Arabica at least).
Not arguing, per se, because I haven't done the research and testing that you have, but I thought most commercial beans are still off-gassing non-oxygen compounds when they're bagged, and that's done in a nitrogen-rich chamber so there's little oxygen in the bag to begin with, then the beans produce more gases over the next several days, pushing the nitrogen/air mix out the one-way valve. The biggest problem with the whole scenario is SAID TO BE that those gases that come off the roasted beans should be going into your cup, so drinking fresh-roasted coffee gets you all of that. Vacuum sealing IS SAID TO just hasten the process of drawing flavor out of the beans. Or so they say.
If we're talking a year's supply, I'd leave them in the original packaging if it's sealed, with a one-way valve, and freeze them. Maybe push any air out of the bag thru the valve first. When they come out of the freezer, don't open the bag for at least a day, to avoid condensation on the beans. Not ideal but it seems like the way to keep them not-awful longer.
CNET argues that beans are stale when you buy them, anyway. Freeze if you donât drink much. I see a lot of folks liking the vacuum mason jar approach. https://www.cnet.com/home/smar...
we do grow some coffee here in south florida and it's unbelievably mediocre at best but it is better than a sharp stick in the eye
Hawaii's Kona isn't all that, either, but they do bill themselves as the only coffee grown in the USA. But anyway if it's crap coffee now, maybe you can buy in. Are there mountains in Florida?
edit: lol highest point is 345 feet. That's the real reason BDB won't come visit! Nosebleeds.
Long-term outlook is for the ideal growing regions to move toward the poles, right? So maybe it's time to plant in Florida. I would expect some lower quality overall, much higher prices for the really good stuff, but unless it spreads to other regions, maybe not a huge blip on availability? I dunno.
This is from a few months ago, and mostly talks about Robusta, but there the farmers covered their debts and then elected to stop selling until prices rise. Coffee's great for farmers in that way.
we do grow some coffee here in south florida and it's unbelievably mediocre at best but it is better than a sharp stick in the eye
Long-term outlook is for the ideal growing regions to move toward the poles, right? So maybe it's time to plant in Florida. I would expect some lower quality overall, much higher prices for the really good stuff, but unless it spreads to other regions, maybe not a huge blip on availability? I dunno.
This is from a few months ago, and mostly talks about Robusta, but there the farmers covered their debts and then elected to stop selling until prices rise. Coffee's great for farmers in that way.
Long-term outlook is for the ideal growing regions to move toward the poles, right? So maybe it's time to plant in Florida. I would expect some lower quality overall, much higher prices for the really good stuff, but unless it spreads to other regions, maybe not a huge blip on availability? I dunno.
This is from a few months ago, and mostly talks about Robusta, but there the farmers covered their debts and then elected to stop selling until prices rise. Coffee's great for farmers in that way.
You want to vacuum seal those puppies. Roasted beans get nasty after a few weeks. If you want beans to last, buy them green from a place like Sweet Maria's and roast them yourself. Green beans (really, seeds) last for a year or two.
Not arguing, per se, because I haven't done the research and testing that you have, but I thought most commercial beans are still off-gassing non-oxygen compounds when they're bagged, and that's done in a nitrogen-rich chamber so there's little oxygen in the bag to begin with, then the beans produce more gases over the next several days, pushing the nitrogen/air mix out the one-way valve. The biggest problem with the whole scenario is SAID TO BE that those gases that come off the roasted beans should be going into your cup, so drinking fresh-roasted coffee gets you all of that. Vacuum sealing IS SAID TO just hasten the process of drawing flavor out of the beans. Or so they say.
If we're talking a year's supply, I'd leave them in the original packaging if it's sealed, with a one-way valve, and freeze them. Maybe push any air out of the bag thru the valve first. When they come out of the freezer, don't open the bag for at least a day, to avoid condensation on the beans. Not ideal but it seems like the way to keep them not-awful longer.
You want to vacuum seal those puppies. Roasted beans get nasty after a few weeks. If you want beans to last, buy them green from a place like Sweet Maria's and roast them yourself. Green beans (really, seeds) last for a year or two.
first I heard of it. Crap. 