I use freezing my coffee a lot for cupping. When I finish a bag I freeze down 9 grams of it. Then when I have enough different coffees I use them to cup with.
I have frozen coffee for years. I only recently started vacuum sealing (last 2-3 years) and it makes a huge difference. Before, no vacuum seal, the coffee might last 12 months and still have great flavor. I stumbled across a bag I had forgotten (for about 16 months), and I expected it to be bad, but when I opened it up, it smelled and tasted just as fresh as the day I got it
Quick tip I've found for the DIY vacuum seal; If you fill your sink with cold water, leaving the ziplock open, and stick the part with the contents under the water it will push most of the air out so then when you seal it (before lifting it put the water) it creates a pretty good DIY vacuum seal 😁
I think it is important to make the distinction between manual and self-defrost freezers. That thing over the refrigerator won't preserve coffee for nearly as long as a dedicated freezer. That is because the temperature is constantly rising and falling to accomplish the self defrost function. In a manual defrost deep freezer, the temp gets down to about 0°f and stays there. This makes a big difference in how long something can be frozen without losing quality.
Kyle, That is exactly the technique I have used for years to preserve my coffee. I shrink wrap the coffee using a food saver and then store it in a freezer that does not get opened frequently. I always let the sealed coffee warm up overnight before opening the bag to reduce the risk of condensation.
Great information! I like to freeze single doses in 50 ml plastic test tubes. I store the test tubes in a freezer bag for extra protection. That way everything can be reused 👍
This is a good summary of the current info out there on freezing. There's still work to be done in determining best practice for freezer storage, but this covers the key points well. For what it's worth, freezer burn probably isn't that big an issue for roasted beans, but moisture likely is. Keeping it sealed up and removing what air you can are the main considerations though for sure. Having a bunch of choices on the go and "fancy bag" for special occasions, or just the weekend, has changed how I drink coffee completely. ❄️❄️❄️
Been portioning and freezing in small mason jars for a couple years. I usually receive it within a week of roast and freeze immediately. I do 28 or 30 gram portions and then measure out 14/15 grams. Let thaw before grinding. The longest I’ve had any frozen is about 6-8 months and find the brews come out right on point! Don’t forget to note your recipe and grind setting for perfect results!!
Man! I’m really curious, plz tell me how long did it take you to prepare for the video? Dare I say, this is the best and most thorough coffee freezing video on TH-cam! I had watched many, many of the coffee freezing videos on YT, but none covers all areas & answers all questions that come to mind during watching like this one. I’m surprised how you could fit all that info in 10 minutes 😂👌🏻👍🏻! Btw, I love the straw tip; I’ve always had a hard time removing air from the zip lock plastic.
2y later and I still found your video most informative. I received a 2kg coffee beans as a gift 3 weeks post roast. I only consume 0.2kg every 10 days and needed the beans to stay fresh as long as possible. Will try this method and hopefully 3 months later I'm still enjoying a good espresso rather than a stale one 😉
When I first started freezing coffee, I thought it was weird the first day and 2nd day I used it, it was good! 3rd or 4th day the coffee quality went downhill a lot. This was before I was really into coffee and even had great gear, and I still noticed a sharp decline. I didn't know why that happened, but it turns out it was due to the condensation. It's possible if your in a low humidity environment maybe you can open a bag of frozen coffee and not have it get destroyed by condensation but I wouldn't risk it just take the bag out earlier and let it come up to room temp before breaking the seal! If you freeze coffee in single dose vials or small jars, then sure take it out and use from frozen! One down side of freezing in single doses though, that many people may not think of, especially with a light roast, if you froze it 7 days after roasting, it's still likely effectively going to act and taste like it's about 7 or 8 days post roast, but it's possible that was NOT the coffees peak and it has never reached its potential, so you might get a more consistent experience but you could be missing out on the coffee when its at its best. If you're organized enough, you could freeze some the coffee early, like lets say 7 days post roast, continue to use that same coffee fresh /unfrozen as it ages, and document when espresso shots seem to be pulling better and you get better results with it, then from there, if you had it frozen for a few months, you froze it at 7 days, but it was best at around 14 days, then let that frozen coffee sit out of freezer for another 6 or 7 days before using it, that way you get it approximately at the peak again! That's what I'm planning on doing with my current 5lb bag, saving some for later and going through some now :D
Excellent video. I have been using the method you recommend for the last 6 years. The longest storage interval so far has been 18 months in vacuum sealed in FoodSaver bags, and I've not seen any negatives, bringing them to ambient for 24 hr before opening.
@@mopikozz no. But for me crema is just an appearance aspect and more of an annoyance than anything else. Some even recommend removing it before stirring and consumption. But if it's crema you're after, you should draw your shots soon after roasting!
This is a great video, super informative and entertaining. I read a lot of the comments, but I didn’t notice anyone pointing out the error in your Tom Fitch slide…you state 1 day in the freezer is the same as 90 days at room temperature, but shouldn’t it be the other way around? 90 days in the freezer should be equivalent to 1 day at room temp.
Great video Kyle! One thing I'd like to point out is that some people might think of putting some oxybuster packets or silica gel with the coffee. While that does sound like a good idea, it actually negatively affects the flavor of the coffees. It's best to just seal and freeze :)
I went to vacuum sealing my coffee beans and freezing back in May 2023 and it’s the best thing I’ve done! I like to have many different beans on hand and rotate. So I get bags and divide them into smaller portions, vacuum seal, & freeze. Then when I want to use one, I pull it out and let it come to room temperature before dumping it into my airscape. I refill my individual bean cellars from my airscape. My coffee is always fresh and I have lots of options to choose from. Love it! But I’ve never reused the bags. Interesting.
Best video for coffee beans. We WILL do the smaller portions - vacuum sealed and freeze. We already have a hand grinder in case of an EMP or worse (but, yes, also have the electric one). Thank you so much - now I cannot wait to get some coffee beans. My Husband already has several cans of ground coffee in stock, but the coffee bean process will be for future needs. Judi
I think this is what I need to start doing. I'm the only coffee drinker in my house, and I can't go through the 1-lb bags from my local roaster quickly enough. My current bag was delicious yesterday but suddenly starting to taste stale today, and it's only 13 days off roast and not even half way gone. Coffee sure is a finicky thing. Thanks for the tips; I'm going to start with the ziploc method for now.
Option 3 of vacuum sealing - vacuum seal in mason jars. Can be used over and over. Been doing that for about 10 years. can also be brought up to room temp quickly in tepid water and can be re-sealed after being thawed and opened. Way more practical than bags.
Totally! As I mention in this video, I don’t have space for jars as they do take up a lot of space compared to flat vacuum sealed bags. Otherwise a great option!
Kyle you said that exactly backwards! At 2:50 you said one day in a freezer was like 90 days of coffee aging. You meant it the other way around, I think, freezing for 90 days would be equivalent of the coffee aging one day at room temp.
I guess personal to me, but I did buy a vacuum sealer, (before I saw Kyle's review) and discovered that I taste "the freeze." Then I tried putting the vacuum sealed bag inside a zip-lock bag, and I still tasted "the freeze." So now, no freezing, I keep a very close inventory of my beans, and do my best to drink them before they age beyond 30 days from roasting. This is limiting as I have to sometimes pass on buying beans I'd like to try to avoid inventory overload and stale beans. PS my freezer is not bewitched, eg, I get no bad freezer taste with ice cream. Oh well.
Awesome video. Very informative. I definitely think I'm going to try this because I tend to get multiple kinds of coffee at the same time. I'll probably freeze in individual portions so I'm not exposing the whole thing to the air when I want some.
I know a fanatical barista in London who freezes individual vacuum sealed doses of Cup of Excellence winners (mostly geishas) for filter brewing. He gave me some at Christmas and I've been enjoying them over the past year. Pretty sure he uses a similar sealing machine too. Not only do they taste great, they are easier to brew with due to an apparently lack of CO2 and static. It's a great idea for anyone who wants to preserve rare coffees!
I've been getting fresh roasted coffee from a local roaster for a couple years now, and I've been freezing it all wrong. Thanks for the very informative video.
I freeze coffee, but I don't go through the trouble of using a vacuum sealer. I live in a dry climate so I'm not worried about moisture, and I'd rather not unseal a bag to reseal it again. Also, I use a vacuum canister for my in-use supply aof coffee: I put about 2/3 in the canister and use the bag for the rest that I'm going to use in about 3 days. Then I split it in half between the canister and the bag again when I need more beans, and so forth. The idea beiang, I don't want to reopen the canister every time I need more coffee. This could just be in my head, but I don't think you're getting the full benefit of a vacuum canister if you are opening it up to fresh air all the time.
I use the mason jar, but make sure to use the Food Saver Vacuum sealing attachment to pull out the air. They have it for mason jar specifically, not sure if other vacuum sealers have that function. I mainly open up a bag, dose out 25g each into those OXO TOT baby blocks. Perfect size for 20-25g in most cases. The rest goes into a mason jar in the freezer and when I need to I split out the contents in the mason jar into the OXO Tot stuff. Great for single dose grinders, pop lid, toss and throw it in dishwasher.
I may be on the "overly-spoiled" side of things as I do have a dedicated freezer (manual defrost) which I fill with a combination of vacuum sealed whole bags, vacuum sealed bags which I have taken some doses and a whole lot of tubes with the coffees I am drinking at any given time. As I store in exact doses, I grind them frozen. On top of it, some coffees go to one of my Fellow Atmos, others go to the normal sealed canisters. It's a compete coffee-orgy here at home...and I love it! At the moment I have 27 different coffees in various stages accross this madness, 4 of them SeptemberCoffee (I love Kyle's coffees).
This is some good info, I quite often grab bags when I travel and worry about not getting through them, may start freezing in single doses from now on.
I'm curious what your thoughts are on the various room temp coffee storage devices (AirScape, Fellow Atmos etc)? I honestly just try to get through coffee within a few weeks of roast without the hassle of bagging and freezing/defrosting. Since I have easy access to fresh coffee from work and ordering online, storing in an Airscape or honestly just a fliptop storage jar seems the easiest route.
I bought some vacuum storage bags to keep 3D printer filament dry, they absorb water vapor and don't print well, and while they are larger than the vacuum bags shown in the video, you can put whole coffee bags into them, even with the small sizes, and allow a lot of flexibility in how you freeze it.
Great tip! I've been freezing my coffee in the original bag in a Ziploc. Now I'll do vacuum seal bags. Another way to remove air in Ziploc bags is using the water displacement method!
@@KyleRowsell Actually, this video does a good job of explaining the method since it's where I first learned it! But do be careful of water getting into the bag of coffee! That may be one reason to avoid this method (or practice with...beans or rice?) th-cam.com/video/XrZPLF0ezw8/w-d-xo.html
On my Vac sealer I have an attachment that actually creates a vacuume in glass mason jars, so I'll use that sometimes. It works, but being hard glass and not plastic that deforms to different shapes I think it's not going to be technically as good of a vac seal but still works, it's probably fine unless your really storing it for looong term. I like the glass jars because they're easier to clean and reuse, the bags always tend to keep a weird coffee stink on them, even with a fresh high quality light roast, the bags smell like old bad coffee after a single use sometimes.
I buy my favorite coffee in a 5 pound (2.26 K bag directly from the roaster, and it shows up about 7 days after roasting. I have a vacuum canister that holds about a quarter kilo, so I just bag up 250 gram bags, vacuum seal seal them, and put them in the freezer. Whenever I get low on coffee, I pull out a bag from the freezer and let it slack out in the fridge for a day, then put it in the canister. Seems to work great, but I like a medium roast, so maybe I'll let it hang out for a week or so before processing. Thanks!
"One day in a domestic freezer = 90 days of coffee aging at room temp." Doesn't this mean, freezer aging FASTER than room temp? That's a weird math I have to say...
one thing I would mention is do a double seal on the vacuum sealer. press the seal button a little bit in front of the current seal. then fill up and vacuum. move it slightly again and do another double seal. the first seal may fail accidentally or if the bag is crumpled may have a slight air gap! it's cheap insurance.
Just came across this video. I am moving to the Caribbean and was trying to figure out how to bring a large amount of beans over as over there only a specific type is available. I will definitely be doing this. Thanks.
You can also put the zip locks under water all the way up to the zipping mechanism and the weight of the water will push the air out, maybe suck some air out at well and you'll have as close to vacuum sealing as possible
We just got 50 small Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. Then chucked them in the freezer. Lots of small pouches with multiple fresh coffees for years to come.
I’ve been vacuum packing my coffee for years. I buy 10 lbs at a time to get free shipping from my roaster. I pack them 6-8 oz per bag. I save the empty bags in the freezer in a zip lock bag and reuse the bags. I can get 2-3 uses per bag.
I use a vacuum sealer to save all coffee beans that I won't be able to drink within a month. The only negative that I have found is objective... it seems that after I take a coffee out of the freezer "seems" to deteriorate at an increased rate. Not highly accelerated, but it does seem to occur.
I've been planning on doing this but I figured, I'll just buy coffee in small 200g - 500g portions, I can get specialty coffee in those one way valve packaging anyway. Also, I get to try more varieties lol
I buy my coffee in burlap bags of 25 to 50 lbs units. Fortunately I roast my own as needed. Raw green beans will last for years. Maybe decades. Oh yeah, I can normally find top of the line beans at half the price in bulk. If you are really in to coffee, its a great hobby.
I am not sure why I would want to freeze coffee. Even though I roast a lot of my own coffee, I also purchase whole bean coffee from brands just to have a different taste. I go through a lot of coffee and as soon as I roast the beans, they go into a one way valve bag totally sealed . Each morning I brew 60 oz of coffee. Either the coffee I roast of a brand. At dinner I either have two cup of pour over or brew 40 ozs. I don't keep coffee long enough to freeze. I drink it.
Great video. Have you considered doing a taste test comparison between the various vacuum sealing methods? There's probably not much of a difference between them, but there's the fellow vacuum container, zwilling handheld and reusable bag system, the straw and food saver methods you featured in this video, water dispersion and, this is probably overkill, but vacuum chamber.
I'm buying a 5lb bag from a local roaster. When I'm home we go through 12 Oz of beans every 5 days or so. I'm hoping that freezing in vacuum sealed bags drastically reduces the number of times I have to buy coffee
I personally leave it in the original bags, tape over the one way valve, and toss the bags in my regular freezer (at around -4F) and it seems to work well enough. Even the process of cooling the relatively warm/room temperature bag to well below freezing causes a vacuum affect and the original bag clings around the beans! I guess me leaving a bowl of baking soda in my freezer and replacing every 30 days has kept the freezer taste away.
@@Bungle2010 The baking soda drys out the freezer and absorbs any lingering scents. I've never had the tape peel off on it's own and I'm just using normal clear scotch tape.
@@RealBonk Er every time you open the door you're letting a whole load of new air in, and the air inside a freezer naturally dry anyway. It's a waste of time.
You have some misleading in your video. At 2:54 you say that 1 day in freezer equals 90 days at room temperature. And at 8:53 you say opposite that 90 days in a freezer equals 1 day at room temperature. Sure the last one is correct and lead us to correct math. For example, if I freeze the coffee at day 10 after the roast then in the freezer it becomes like 30 days at around 1800 days of storage. Anyway, great video, thanks!
That's always what seemed most logic to me, since the contact to air make coffee beans taste old or stale. Yet every coffee shop dissuaded me from vacuuming coffee and storing it in the fridge or freezer. I'm just going to try it out, especially since I'm a slow drinker. I consume roughly 1 espresso a day. So even 500g last quite some time and my beans taste best when they're fresh. One question: would vacuuming and storing in the fridge suffice if you were to consume all packs in about 4 weeks? The main benefit might come from the vacuuming, so it seems to me.
I have 8 pounds of Ethiopian coffee, divided into 4 bags of 2 pounds each. Can I put all of this coffee in a vacuum sealer and freeze it? Or should I divide each 2-pound bag and freeze it separately when I open it? Then, can I keep the remaining 4 bags at room temperature?
@@KyleRowsell I am currently vacuum sealing my coffee too. I haven't tried freezing test tubes like lab tubes or bean vaults (craig lyn). You may want to freeze them in a ziploc bag to prevent freezer taste though...
Today I roasted a washed Centroamericano F1 and tomorrow is going to the freezer. I don't have a vaccum sealer, but I do have just a sealer. I use 250g bags tri-ply. I get rid of the air with a straw and then I seal it below the valve. 150g each bag.
2:46 So if I buy a fresh coffee, put it in a freezer for 1 day it is at the same level of staleness as that if that coffee had stayed for 90 days in room temperature... Sounds like a great deal if I want my coffee to go bad real fast. Seriously though, both what you say and what is written there seems to be the exact opposite of what you advocate. The mistake is so obvious that I'm not sure if you're seriously saying you can stale coffee 90 times faster in a freezer...
Vacuum sealing along won’t completely solve the issue. As lowering the temperature is still a big part of the process. But James Hoffman has done studies on vacuum sealed containers and their effects
Been freezing my coffee since lockdown happened and after watching Simon Gautherin on Instagram re: freezing coffee... but did I hear it right tho, if I placed about 200g of beans in a vacuum sealed plastic and freezed it, if I want to dose from that bag I'd have to bring it out from the freezer and wait until room temp before I open that vacuum sealed bag? Just wanted to confirm so I could also avoid the moisture 😅
Kyle, I keep my coffee in an Airscape. I buy fresh beans and then they go into an Airscape 7-10 after roast date. My Airscapes have plungers that push out air and seal down to the coffee level. In addition there's a lid for the container. I try to time my purchases so I'm almost out of beans when my next order arrives. Would putting an Airscape in the freezer make sense if I purchased a larger quantity of beans which would reduce costs? Or is there still too much air in the container? Thx.
nice video! should i squeeze out the air/gas when i freeze the beans in the original bag without vacuuming? some say squeezing out the gas leads to a loss of flavors?
Roast coffee off gases continuously (ever notice the one way valves on coffee packages) which means if you want coffee worth drinking, you need green beans stored as you would rice/beans long term (Mylar and absorbers) roasted wheat berries is a great substitute as well and can be used in other ways and stores much longer
Thanks for the suggestions. I've read somewhere that when using the vacuum sealer you don't want to draw out so much air that the pack is like a solid block as this vacuum process can start the draw out some of the natural oils in the beans. The recommendation instead was to draw out most of the air and then seal. Any thoughts on this?
Sounds like educated BS. It’s near impossible to achieve complete vacuum, much less so with a domestic machine. Also the risk of having a poor seal is far greater irl.
Am I the only one who thinks that 1 day in the freezer being equivalent to 90 days on the counter is bad. That means the coffee would age faster?? I’m not sure your math is right Kyle.
I have frozen 8 50ml test tubes last February 7th but the roast date is beyond two weeks, I'm waiting probably 45 days from 7th to test if it's good or not.
Great video. I have been using vacuum bags for years for my coffee. Seal them up and store them in a dark cool closet, or in my desk when work was done in an office. You could open the bags up to 90 days or so and still have fresh coffee beans to grind either for espresso at home or AeroPress at work. It will be interesting to try it frozen for a lengthy period. Looks like it's time to get some great Guatamalian beens and freeze them up for use next fall and see. Keep up the great content and the studio and new lighting is having an impressive look to your videos.
Hi, thanks for the great video. My question is: is it a must to wait for a few days after roasting to freeze beans in vacuum bags or can we just vacuum seal and freeze right away no matter how close roasting date is? I mean does freezing right away has a negative effect on coffee beans? Thanks
I'm not the expert that Kyle is but I know that when freezing vegetables, they are flash frozen at their optimal ripeness to preserve flavor and nutrient content. I would imagine that freezing coffee at or near it's peak would make sure it actually reached its peak and would preserve it at its best point. Freezing before that might keep it from getting to peak.
I use freezing my coffee a lot for cupping. When I finish a bag I freeze down 9 grams of it. Then when I have enough different coffees I use them to cup with.
I have frozen coffee for years. I only recently started vacuum sealing (last 2-3 years) and it makes a huge difference. Before, no vacuum seal, the coffee might last 12 months and still have great flavor. I stumbled across a bag I had forgotten (for about 16 months), and I expected it to be bad, but when I opened it up, it smelled and tasted just as fresh as the day I got it
Quick tip I've found for the DIY vacuum seal; If you fill your sink with cold water, leaving the ziplock open, and stick the part with the contents under the water it will push most of the air out so then when you seal it (before lifting it put the water) it creates a pretty good DIY vacuum seal 😁
the water dispersion method! It's a great one if you don't mind taking that extra step!
That is a great alternative
I think it is important to make the distinction between manual and self-defrost freezers. That thing over the refrigerator won't preserve coffee for nearly as long as a dedicated freezer. That is because the temperature is constantly rising and falling to accomplish the self defrost function. In a manual defrost deep freezer, the temp gets down to about 0°f and stays there. This makes a big difference in how long something can be frozen without losing quality.
Kyle, That is exactly the technique I have used for years to preserve my coffee. I shrink wrap the coffee using a food saver and then store it in a freezer that does not get opened frequently. I always let the sealed coffee warm up overnight before opening the bag to reduce the risk of condensation.
Great information! I like to freeze single doses in 50 ml plastic test tubes. I store the test tubes in a freezer bag for extra protection. That way everything can be reused 👍
Amazing! Thanks for this response!
@@KyleRowsell do you have any link to this? No freezer taste/burn?
How long will this last buddy?
How many grams of coffee can you get in a 50ml tube?
About 17.5g of dark and 18.5g of medium roast
This is a good summary of the current info out there on freezing. There's still work to be done in determining best practice for freezer storage, but this covers the key points well.
For what it's worth, freezer burn probably isn't that big an issue for roasted beans, but moisture likely is. Keeping it sealed up and removing what air you can are the main considerations though for sure.
Having a bunch of choices on the go and "fancy bag" for special occasions, or just the weekend, has changed how I drink coffee completely. ❄️❄️❄️
Thanks friend! And Thanks for all you do!
Been portioning and freezing in small mason jars for a couple years. I usually receive it within a week of roast and freeze immediately. I do 28 or 30 gram portions and then measure out 14/15 grams. Let thaw before grinding. The longest I’ve had any frozen is about 6-8 months and find the brews come out right on point! Don’t forget to note your recipe and grind setting for perfect results!!
Do you have to do anything special to remove the air? Or do you just scoop the beans into the jars and freeze?
Some Foodsaver models have accessories to vacuum seal mason jars.@@WormyLeWorm
Man! I’m really curious, plz tell me how long did it take you to prepare for the video?
Dare I say, this is the best and most thorough coffee freezing video on TH-cam! I had watched many, many of the coffee freezing videos on YT, but none covers all areas & answers all questions that come to mind during watching like this one.
I’m surprised how you could fit all that info in 10 minutes 😂👌🏻👍🏻!
Btw, I love the straw tip; I’ve always had a hard time removing air from the zip lock plastic.
Ah I appreciate this. I’ve been working on this one for a few weeks. So happy to hear this.
Foodsavers Rock. Been using then since the mid 80s.
2y later and I still found your video most informative. I received a 2kg coffee beans as a gift 3 weeks post roast. I only consume 0.2kg every 10 days and needed the beans to stay fresh as long as possible. Will try this method and hopefully 3 months later I'm still enjoying a good espresso rather than a stale one 😉
When I first started freezing coffee, I thought it was weird the first day and 2nd day I used it, it was good! 3rd or 4th day the coffee quality went downhill a lot. This was before I was really into coffee and even had great gear, and I still noticed a sharp decline. I didn't know why that happened, but it turns out it was due to the condensation. It's possible if your in a low humidity environment maybe you can open a bag of frozen coffee and not have it get destroyed by condensation but I wouldn't risk it just take the bag out earlier and let it come up to room temp before breaking the seal!
If you freeze coffee in single dose vials or small jars, then sure take it out and use from frozen!
One down side of freezing in single doses though, that many people may not think of, especially with a light roast, if you froze it 7 days after roasting, it's still likely effectively going to act and taste like it's about 7 or 8 days post roast, but it's possible that was NOT the coffees peak and it has never reached its potential, so you might get a more consistent experience but you could be missing out on the coffee when its at its best.
If you're organized enough, you could freeze some the coffee early, like lets say 7 days post roast, continue to use that same coffee fresh /unfrozen as it ages, and document when espresso shots seem to be pulling better and you get better results with it, then from there, if you had it frozen for a few months, you froze it at 7 days, but it was best at around 14 days, then let that frozen coffee sit out of freezer for another 6 or 7 days before using it, that way you get it approximately at the peak again! That's what I'm planning on doing with my current 5lb bag, saving some for later and going through some now :D
Excellent video. I have been using the method you recommend for the last 6 years. The longest storage interval so far has been 18 months in vacuum sealed in FoodSaver bags, and I've not seen any negatives, bringing them to ambient for 24 hr before opening.
still got them crema outta freezing beans? curious thou
@@mopikozz no. But for me crema is just an appearance aspect and more of an annoyance than anything else. Some even recommend removing it before stirring and consumption. But if it's crema you're after, you should draw your shots soon after roasting!
This is a great video, super informative and entertaining. I read a lot of the comments, but I didn’t notice anyone pointing out the error in your Tom Fitch slide…you state 1 day in the freezer is the same as 90 days at room temperature, but shouldn’t it be the other way around? 90 days in the freezer should be equivalent to 1 day at room temp.
Good catch, that's correct
Great video Kyle!
One thing I'd like to point out is that some people might think of putting some oxybuster packets or silica gel with the coffee. While that does sound like a good idea, it actually negatively affects the flavor of the coffees.
It's best to just seal and freeze :)
I went to vacuum sealing my coffee beans and freezing back in May 2023 and it’s the best thing I’ve done! I like to have many different beans on hand and rotate. So I get bags and divide them into smaller portions, vacuum seal, & freeze. Then when I want to use one, I pull it out and let it come to room temperature before dumping it into my airscape. I refill my individual bean cellars from my airscape. My coffee is always fresh and I have lots of options to choose from. Love it! But I’ve never reused the bags. Interesting.
Best video for coffee beans. We WILL do the smaller portions - vacuum sealed and freeze. We already have a hand grinder in case of an EMP or worse (but, yes, also have the electric one). Thank you so much - now I cannot wait to get some coffee beans. My Husband already has several cans of ground coffee in stock, but the coffee bean process will be for future needs. Judi
"Dedicated Coffee Freezer" 😳 For when you're trying to get on George Howell's level.
Isn’t that the dream?!
I think this is what I need to start doing. I'm the only coffee drinker in my house, and I can't go through the 1-lb bags from my local roaster quickly enough. My current bag was delicious yesterday but suddenly starting to taste stale today, and it's only 13 days off roast and not even half way gone. Coffee sure is a finicky thing. Thanks for the tips; I'm going to start with the ziploc method for now.
Option 3 of vacuum sealing - vacuum seal in mason jars. Can be used over and over. Been doing that for about 10 years. can also be brought up to room temp quickly in tepid water and can be re-sealed after being thawed and opened. Way more practical than bags.
Totally! As I mention in this video, I don’t have space for jars as they do take up a lot of space compared to flat vacuum sealed bags. Otherwise a great option!
O use jars with small ziplocks holding 15g each. This way i can quickly get the portion out without exposing the coffee in the jar too much.
Great video! Actually getting a stand alone chest freezer next week for multiple reasons but I’m going to try this out now that I’ll have the space!
Thanks for commenting!
Kyle you said that exactly backwards! At 2:50 you said one day in a freezer was like 90 days of coffee aging. You meant it the other way around, I think, freezing for 90 days would be equivalent of the coffee aging one day at room temp.
I guess personal to me, but I did buy a vacuum sealer, (before I saw Kyle's review) and discovered that I taste "the freeze." Then I tried putting the vacuum sealed bag inside a zip-lock bag, and I still tasted "the freeze." So now, no freezing, I keep a very close inventory of my beans, and do my best to drink them before they age beyond 30 days from roasting. This is limiting as I have to sometimes pass on buying beans I'd like to try to avoid inventory overload and stale beans. PS my freezer is not bewitched, eg, I get no bad freezer taste with ice cream. Oh well.
Awesome video. Very informative. I definitely think I'm going to try this because I tend to get multiple kinds of coffee at the same time. I'll probably freeze in individual portions so I'm not exposing the whole thing to the air when I want some.
Good call! Let me know how it goes!
I know a fanatical barista in London who freezes individual vacuum sealed doses of Cup of Excellence winners (mostly geishas) for filter brewing. He gave me some at Christmas and I've been enjoying them over the past year. Pretty sure he uses a similar sealing machine too. Not only do they taste great, they are easier to brew with due to an apparently lack of CO2 and static. It's a great idea for anyone who wants to preserve rare coffees!
I've been getting fresh roasted coffee from a local roaster for a couple years now, and I've been freezing it all wrong. Thanks for the very informative video.
I freeze coffee, but I don't go through the trouble of using a vacuum sealer. I live in a dry climate so I'm not worried about moisture, and I'd rather not unseal a bag to reseal it again.
Also, I use a vacuum canister for my in-use supply aof coffee: I put about 2/3 in the canister and use the bag for the rest that I'm going to use in about 3 days. Then I split it in half between the canister and the bag again when I need more beans, and so forth. The idea beiang, I don't want to reopen the canister every time I need more coffee. This could just be in my head, but I don't think you're getting the full benefit of a vacuum canister if you are opening it up to fresh air all the time.
Hey Nick! Thanks for sharing. Glad you've found a method that works for you!
I use the mason jar, but make sure to use the Food Saver Vacuum sealing attachment to pull out the air. They have it for mason jar specifically, not sure if other vacuum sealers have that function. I mainly open up a bag, dose out 25g each into those OXO TOT baby blocks. Perfect size for 20-25g in most cases. The rest goes into a mason jar in the freezer and when I need to I split out the contents in the mason jar into the OXO Tot stuff. Great for single dose grinders, pop lid, toss and throw it in dishwasher.
I use mason jars too and seal the top with plastic wrap before closing the jar with a lid. It worked for me!
I may be on the "overly-spoiled" side of things as I do have a dedicated freezer (manual defrost) which I fill with a combination of vacuum sealed whole bags, vacuum sealed bags which I have taken some doses and a whole lot of tubes with the coffees I am drinking at any given time. As I store in exact doses, I grind them frozen. On top of it, some coffees go to one of my Fellow Atmos, others go to the normal sealed canisters. It's a compete coffee-orgy here at home...and I love it! At the moment I have 27 different coffees in various stages accross this madness, 4 of them SeptemberCoffee (I love Kyle's coffees).
This is some good info, I quite often grab bags when I travel and worry about not getting through them, may start freezing in single doses from now on.
Do it! And let me know how it works out! I think it will change the way you purchase coffee.
I'm curious what your thoughts are on the various room temp coffee storage devices (AirScape, Fellow Atmos etc)? I honestly just try to get through coffee within a few weeks of roast without the hassle of bagging and freezing/defrosting. Since I have easy access to fresh coffee from work and ordering online, storing in an Airscape or honestly just a fliptop storage jar seems the easiest route.
I bought some vacuum storage bags to keep 3D printer filament dry, they absorb water vapor and don't print well, and while they are larger than the vacuum bags shown in the video, you can put whole coffee bags into them, even with the small sizes, and allow a lot of flexibility in how you freeze it.
Great tip! I've been freezing my coffee in the original bag in a Ziploc. Now I'll do vacuum seal bags. Another way to remove air in Ziploc bags is using the water displacement method!
Right on! And yes! Want to explain it so others can learn from this comment?
@@KyleRowsell Actually, this video does a good job of explaining the method since it's where I first learned it! But do be careful of water getting into the bag of coffee! That may be one reason to avoid this method (or practice with...beans or rice?)
th-cam.com/video/XrZPLF0ezw8/w-d-xo.html
@@Waisonian love it!
On my Vac sealer I have an attachment that actually creates a vacuume in glass mason jars, so I'll use that sometimes. It works, but being hard glass and not plastic that deforms to different shapes I think it's not going to be technically as good of a vac seal but still works, it's probably fine unless your really storing it for looong term. I like the glass jars because they're easier to clean and reuse, the bags always tend to keep a weird coffee stink on them, even with a fresh high quality light roast, the bags smell like old bad coffee after a single use sometimes.
I buy my favorite coffee in a 5 pound (2.26 K bag directly from the roaster, and it shows up about 7 days after roasting. I have a vacuum canister that holds about a quarter kilo, so I just bag up 250 gram bags, vacuum seal seal them, and put them in the freezer. Whenever I get low on coffee, I pull out a bag from the freezer and let it slack out in the fridge for a day, then put it in the canister.
Seems to work great, but I like a medium roast, so maybe I'll let it hang out for a week or so before processing. Thanks!
"One day in a domestic freezer = 90 days of coffee aging at room temp."
Doesn't this mean, freezer aging FASTER than room temp?
That's a weird math I have to say...
Yeah, it's got to be backwards right? 90 days in a freezer effects coffee the same as one day at room temp.
Interesting. I might have to buy a separate mini freezer just for my coffee then...and a vacuum sealer.
Love it!
Mini freezer to start with... Can always upgrade to a chest freezer later ❄️
You can just dip the freeze bag into water to “squeeze” most of the air out first, shouldn’t have much more to suck out after.
These seems like the best way. I love the tip to leave space in the plastic bag.
Nice video man, definitely agree with freezing smaller portions! Love the hat too ;) Love from from To!
Appreciate it!
one thing I would mention is do a double seal on the vacuum sealer.
press the seal button a little bit in front of the current seal. then fill up and vacuum. move it slightly again and do another double seal.
the first seal may fail accidentally or if the bag is crumpled may have a slight air gap! it's cheap insurance.
I have the FoodSaver FM5200 which has an optional mason jar kit. I've been using this for freezing my beans.
I use a chamber vacuum sealer.. PUlls a stronger vacuum than Food saver. Also, you can use mason jars to seal, and revacuum and freeze again.
Really feel like you are finding your groove, man! Loving the content!
I appreciate that!
Just came across this video. I am moving to the Caribbean and was trying to figure out how to bring a large amount of beans over as over there only a specific type is available. I will definitely be doing this. Thanks.
You can also put the zip locks under water all the way up to the zipping mechanism and the weight of the water will push the air out, maybe suck some air out at well and you'll have as close to vacuum sealing as possible
Sweet and super cool info for us coffee lovers, keeping the coffee beans fresh as time marches on, good stuff
Glad you enjoyed it Orrin!
We just got 50 small Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. Then chucked them in the freezer. Lots of small pouches with multiple fresh coffees for years to come.
2:52 if 1 day in the freezer ages a coffee bean at 90 days...why would you want to freeze beans to speed up the aging?
I’ve been vacuum packing my coffee for years. I buy 10 lbs at a time to get free shipping from my roaster. I pack them 6-8 oz per bag. I save the empty bags in the freezer in a zip lock bag and reuse the bags. I can get 2-3 uses per bag.
Thanks for sharing!
I use a vacuum sealer to save all coffee beans that I won't be able to drink within a month. The only negative that I have found is objective... it seems that after I take a coffee out of the freezer "seems" to deteriorate at an increased rate. Not highly accelerated, but it does seem to occur.
Great video. As a shelf like expert I found actually nothing to disagree with.
I've been planning on doing this but I figured, I'll just buy coffee in small 200g - 500g portions, I can get specialty coffee in those one way valve packaging anyway. Also, I get to try more varieties lol
I buy my coffee in burlap bags of 25 to 50 lbs units. Fortunately I roast my own as needed. Raw green beans will last for years. Maybe decades. Oh yeah, I can normally find top of the line beans at half the price in bulk. If you are really in to coffee, its a great hobby.
Your coffee looks great and I can offer you a compostable coffee packaging solution
Thanks for this video, I just found your channel. Great information 👍
I am not sure why I would want to freeze coffee. Even though I roast a lot of my own coffee, I also purchase whole bean coffee from brands just to have a different taste. I go through a lot of coffee and as soon as I roast the beans, they go into a one way valve bag totally sealed . Each morning I brew 60 oz of coffee. Either the coffee I roast of a brand. At dinner I either have two cup of pour over or brew 40 ozs. I don't keep coffee long enough to freeze. I drink it.
Man ! Best explanation about when or why you can freeze coffee! Thank you so much 👏👏
Happy to help!
Great video.
Have you considered doing a taste test comparison between the various vacuum sealing methods? There's probably not much of a difference between them, but there's the fellow vacuum container, zwilling handheld and reusable bag system, the straw and food saver methods you featured in this video, water dispersion and, this is probably overkill, but vacuum chamber.
I'm buying a 5lb bag from a local roaster. When I'm home we go through 12 Oz of beans every 5 days or so. I'm hoping that freezing in vacuum sealed bags drastically reduces the number of times I have to buy coffee
I personally leave it in the original bags, tape over the one way valve, and toss the bags in my regular freezer (at around -4F) and it seems to work well enough. Even the process of cooling the relatively warm/room temperature bag to well below freezing causes a vacuum affect and the original bag clings around the beans!
I guess me leaving a bowl of baking soda in my freezer and replacing every 30 days has kept the freezer taste away.
Wouldn't the tape just peel off? And what purpose is the baking soda supposed to serve?
@@Bungle2010 The baking soda drys out the freezer and absorbs any lingering scents. I've never had the tape peel off on it's own and I'm just using normal clear scotch tape.
@@RealBonk Er every time you open the door you're letting a whole load of new air in, and the air inside a freezer naturally dry anyway. It's a waste of time.
@@Bungle2010 okay
Great video, thank you. For your algorithms.
Thanks for the great video bud. I'll be giving this a go! I need long term...
Awesome video! Lovin the Jays cap!
Always reppin
You have some misleading in your video. At 2:54 you say that 1 day in freezer equals 90 days at room temperature. And at 8:53 you say opposite that 90 days in a freezer equals 1 day at room temperature. Sure the last one is correct and lead us to correct math. For example, if I freeze the coffee at day 10 after the roast then in the freezer it becomes like 30 days at around 1800 days of storage. Anyway, great video, thanks!
That's always what seemed most logic to me, since the contact to air make coffee beans taste old or stale. Yet every coffee shop dissuaded me from vacuuming coffee and storing it in the fridge or freezer. I'm just going to try it out, especially since I'm a slow drinker. I consume roughly 1 espresso a day. So even 500g last quite some time and my beans taste best when they're fresh.
One question: would vacuuming and storing in the fridge suffice if you were to consume all packs in about 4 weeks? The main benefit might come from the vacuuming, so it seems to me.
I have 8 pounds of Ethiopian coffee, divided into 4 bags of 2 pounds each. Can I put all of this coffee in a vacuum sealer and freeze it? Or should I divide each 2-pound bag and freeze it separately when I open it? Then, can I keep the remaining 4 bags at room temperature?
Great Monogram coffee selection there in the freezer!!! 😍
Good eye!
@@KyleRowsell I am currently vacuum sealing my coffee too. I haven't tried freezing test tubes like lab tubes or bean vaults (craig lyn). You may want to freeze them in a ziploc bag to prevent freezer taste though...
@@AnOtterCoffee thanks for this response! Glad you’ve found something that works.
Today I roasted a washed Centroamericano F1 and tomorrow is going to the freezer. I don't have a vaccum sealer, but I do have just a sealer. I use 250g bags tri-ply. I get rid of the air with a straw and then I seal it below the valve. 150g each bag.
Right on! Thanks for sharing Xavier!
Thanks I had heard otherwise. You made it clear.
I heard that freezing makes certain coffees makes more complex flavor than just normal resting
Thank you! This video became life-changing for me 👍💫🙂.
2:46 So if I buy a fresh coffee, put it in a freezer for 1 day it is at the same level of staleness as that if that coffee had stayed for 90 days in room temperature... Sounds like a great deal if I want my coffee to go bad real fast. Seriously though, both what you say and what is written there seems to be the exact opposite of what you advocate. The mistake is so obvious that I'm not sure if you're seriously saying you can stale coffee 90 times faster in a freezer...
Awesome video once again!
much appreciated
Great video with such a nice and useful advice. Thank you so much!
Amazing info to the world of coffee!
Thanks!
Simple soloution I buy only 250 gr
Coffee beans its used in a short time!
Great video and super informative!
Thanks josh!
If the problem is the oxigen, How much time can keep my coffee only sealed vacuum, at room ambient temperature?
Vacuum sealing along won’t completely solve the issue. As lowering the temperature is still a big part of the process. But James Hoffman has done studies on vacuum sealed containers and their effects
Timing: should we freeze it freshly roasted or should we wait 10-14 days before freezing?
Been freezing my coffee since lockdown happened and after watching Simon Gautherin on Instagram re: freezing coffee... but did I hear it right tho, if I placed about 200g of beans in a vacuum sealed plastic and freezed it, if I want to dose from that bag I'd have to bring it out from the freezer and wait until room temp before I open that vacuum sealed bag?
Just wanted to confirm so I could also avoid the moisture 😅
This was so helpful! Thank you!
Kyle, I keep my coffee in an Airscape. I buy fresh beans and then they go into an Airscape 7-10 after roast date. My Airscapes have plungers that push out air and seal down to the coffee level. In addition there's a lid for the container. I try to time my purchases so I'm almost out of beans when my next order arrives. Would putting an Airscape in the freezer make sense if I purchased a larger quantity of beans which would reduce costs? Or is there still too much air in the container? Thx.
Great Channel. learnt a lot from watching your videos! oh and has anyone ever said you look like Jerry Ferrara
I have done this and have found that my coffee has lost flavour after I defrost it for drinking later, so it may not work.
nice video! should i squeeze out the air/gas when i freeze the beans in the original bag without vacuuming? some say squeezing out the gas leads to a loss of flavors?
Are there air extraction, vacuum packed devices to draw air out of a mason jar? How long would coffee last vacuum packed if you don’t freeze it?
Roast coffee off gases continuously (ever notice the one way valves on coffee packages) which means if you want coffee worth drinking, you need green beans stored as you would rice/beans long term (Mylar and absorbers) roasted wheat berries is a great substitute as well and can be used in other ways and stores much longer
Thanks for the suggestions. I've read somewhere that when using the vacuum sealer you don't want to draw out so much air that the pack is like a solid block as this vacuum process can start the draw out some of the natural oils in the beans. The recommendation instead was to draw out most of the air and then seal. Any thoughts on this?
Sounds like educated BS. It’s near impossible to achieve complete vacuum, much less so with a domestic machine. Also the risk of having a poor seal is far greater irl.
Can you do this with organic coffee beans?
whats the dimensions of the vacuum bags you are using?
Pure GENIUS!! 🧊☕️
Ah thanks friend.
0:52 are those frozen potatoes? 😨
3:11 I need a peer-reviewed study on this
I have a vacuum sealer and buy bags of peets dark roast. If i vacuum the whole bag can i throw in a silica pack in with it?
Am I the only one who thinks that 1 day in the freezer being equivalent to 90 days on the counter is bad. That means the coffee would age faster?? I’m not sure your math is right Kyle.
I think he has it backwards
great vid!
I have frozen 8 50ml test tubes last February 7th but the roast date is beyond two weeks, I'm waiting probably 45 days from 7th to test if it's good or not.
right on! Let me know how it turns out.
I sorta feel like my upshot here is that I’d just be happier if I drank more coffee :-)
Wouldn’t we all ☺️
I prefer to store green beans long term and roast small batches as needed.
Amazing! Not everyone has that Luxury though!
@@KyleRowsell a popcorn popper is only $19
Exactly. When you hit the jackpot on some great greens buy a big bag. That way you can enjoy 20 pounds of a great coffee for years in 8oz doses.
Great video. I have been using vacuum bags for years for my coffee. Seal them up and store them in a dark cool closet, or in my desk when work was done in an office. You could open the bags up to 90 days or so and still have fresh coffee beans to grind either for espresso at home or AeroPress at work.
It will be interesting to try it frozen for a lengthy period. Looks like it's time to get some great Guatamalian beens and freeze them up for use next fall and see. Keep up the great content and the studio and new lighting is having an impressive look to your videos.
Yes glad you liked it!!
And the studio is still not finished yet! Stay tuned 👀
Do you vacuum seal the unopened original bag?
THem shots with the beans? Did you get the LAOWA lens?
It's a tight shot isnt it... ;)
Hi, thanks for the great video. My question is: is it a must to wait for a few days after roasting to freeze beans in vacuum bags or can we just vacuum seal and freeze right away no matter how close roasting date is? I mean does freezing right away has a negative effect on coffee beans? Thanks
I'm not the expert that Kyle is but I know that when freezing vegetables, they are flash frozen at their optimal ripeness to preserve flavor and nutrient content. I would imagine that freezing coffee at or near it's peak would make sure it actually reached its peak and would preserve it at its best point. Freezing before that might keep it from getting to peak.