What's the Best Way to Store My Coffee?


There’s not much point in buying great coffee if you’re not going to store it properly. Storage makes all the difference when it comes to getting a robust, fresh flavor out of your brew.

So what are the keys to storing coffee the right way? In this article, we’ll break them down for you.

Whole Bean vs. Pre-Ground

Before we get started with storage methods, let’s talk whole beans versus coffee that’s ground in advance.

Look, we get it. Maybe you don’t own a grinder, and not everyone has time to grind their coffee fresh every day. You can grind your own coffee at home, but if you grind it up in big batches for the week, then there’s not much difference between that and pre-ground coffee anyway.

But we’re obligated to give you straight talk, so here it is: Pre-ground coffee won’t ever taste as fresh and complex as whole beans that get bashed to bits just moments before they hit the hot water. That’s okay — there’s nothing wrong with sacrificing 10 percent of your coffee’s flavor to save 90 percent of the time, especially on busy weekdays.

At Regular Coffee, we offer both whole bean and ground coffee, so you’ll get no judgment from us. But if you want the absolute most vibrant and robust flavors from your coffee, you’ll need to purchase whole beans and then grind them just before brewing.

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The Four Enemies of Coffee

We’ll talk about individual storage methods in a minute, but before that, you should understand the general principles that determine the best coffee storage methods. Coffee beans have four main enemies, and any storage method that protects them from all four is generally a good one.

When we talk about the “enemies of coffee,” you might start to picture tea and kombucha teaming up and building an impenetrable underground supervillain lair. Actually, coffee’s enemies are a lot more mundane, which makes them much more dangerous to your coffee — they’re everywhere.

The four enemies of coffee are:

  1. Air
  2. Light
  3. Heat
  4. Moisture

Anytime your coffee beans get exposed to some combination of these four factors, it will hurt the freshness and flavor profile of your eventual brew.

Choosing a Storage Vessel for Your Coffee

Now that you understand the logic behind coffee storage, it’s not too hard to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Any airtight, dry storage vessel in a cool, dark place will do the trick. Avoid metal canisters and plastic Tupperware-style containers since it’s tough to get all the air out of them unless they’re chock-full. And never put your coffee in a cabinet next to the oven, where heat tends to leak in.

At Regular Coffee, we use specially-designed airtight bags with a one-way valve that lets air out but not in. Thanks to this nifty invention, you can seal the bag and then push all the air out to keep your coffee as fresh as possible. It also lets you smell your coffee by squeezing the bag without fear of losing freshness.

Finally, remember that coffee is hygroscopic, which means it tends to absorb moisture — and smells and flavors — from the air around it. Translation: Don’t store your coffee next to odiferous items like onions and garlic unless you want some additional savory (or unsavory) flavors in your morning brew.

What About the Fridge and the Freezer?

The rules for putting coffee in the fridge or the freezer are easy to remember because they’re the same as for bread. The fridge is a no-go — it’s way too damp in there. The freezer isn’t ideal, but it can help preserve some flavor in your beans if you’ve got too much coffee on your hands and you need to store some of it for weeks or even months.

Fortunately, when you sign up for a Regular Coffee subscription, you never have to worry about having too much coffee (or about running out either). With our coffee subscriptions, you get fresh coffee delivered to your door in exactly the quantities you need, when you need.

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Regular Coffee: 100% High-Quality Colombian Coffee Beans Delivered to Your Door

At Regular Coffee, we’re bringing simple back. Our coffee is 100% Colombian and roasted shortly before shipment for maximum freshness. If you’re looking for approachable, high-quality coffee that’s delivered to your front door, look no further.

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