What you should know about keeping your coffee as fresh as possible in times of needing to buy more in order to visit the supermarkets less frequently.

One interesting point that you probably are not aware of is that crema, that thick caramel brown layer at the top of your espresso or what your local barista makes that beautiful heart or tulip with is actually gas, CO2 to be exact.  After the roasting process the beans have such a high content of this gas that we as roasters have to rest the roasted beans before dispatching to our customers.

This gas is precious to the domestic consumer, unlike a café that goes through kilogram after kilogram in a day, for a domestic user we have to preserve the CO2.  There are some easy ways to store and look after your beans at home no matter what quantity you have purchased.

As CO2 does work as a preserver, we need to give the beans an environment to do this preservation.  This means a sealed container with no leaks so the gas can’t escape from.  For instance, if you purchase a 1 kilogram bag from the supermarket or online from our website separate the kilogram into two containers when you get home.  Store one in a cool dark place for later use and one for present use.  This will ensure that when you go to use the stored container of coffee it will have been preserved as much as possible by the buildup of CO2, basically entombing the beans fresh for use.

With any container storing your precious coffee beans try not to open the container to much as the more gas, CO2 is released and the more crema you will lose out of your beans.

by Stephanie Clayton