James Hoffmann released another great video this morning in which he takes on some 'conventional wisdom' regarding coffee -- in this case, he answers the question: Should you freeze your coffee?
As with most things, the answer is more complicated than one would guess. For me, I'm a simple rube -- thus, the name -- so I like to keep things as simple as I can; and for a long time my belief has been: Only put coffee in the freezer if you don't intend to drink it right away. Why wouldn't you intend to drink it right away? Well, maybe you're stationed somewhere in Antarctica or Nome, Alaska; and you don't get shipments from the outside world but twice a year. This is an idea I remember my old boss from Counter Culture Coffee, Peter Giuliano, was telling to Joe Rogan on his podcast years ago. Most of us, obviously, don't fit into that category. I don't think that a common 12-oz. bag of coffee is as much as most people think. Otherwise, why else would they even consider storing coffee in the freezer for long-term usage? So to illustrate this, allow me to quickly break that down the numbers below.
Using myself as an example: I usually make for myself and my wife two 12 oz. mugs of coffee in the morning. In doing so, I'm using 40 grams of coffee from a 12 oz. bag (340 g). Given this, even if neither of us have another coffee all day, our coffee consumption would put us on pace for finishing this bag in eight-and-a-half days. However, if I brew for only myself even a second cup each day -- which I always do -- we'd go through that bag in less than six days.
Freshly roasted coffee should stay fresh for two weeks. If, as I illustrated above, the two of us average only three mugs of coffee per day, we'd easily go through two bags in less than two weeks. (That's why I always advise my customers to order at least two bags at a time to save money on shipping. They'll easily go through it before it goes stale.)
If this is the case, then I ask you: Why freeze it in the first place? Just watch Hoffmann's video and ask yourself: Do I really want to go through all of that trouble just to freeze your coffee; and trouble yourself with separating your bags into two-week increments? And remove it from your freezer the night before to prevent condensation from forming on your beans? Etc., etc. -- and all of this trouble when you're just going to drink before it would ever have the chance of going stale, anyway?
Like I said: Don't unnecessarily over-complicate things. That's the smarter route. Don't freeze your coffee. Brew it. Drink it.
Unless, of course, you live in Nome. Then, just put it outside at night.
Dutch Hedrick is the founder and head roaster of Rube's Good-Brain Coffee. He has roasted coffee since 2003 and has previously roasted for Counter Culture Coffee and Joe Van Gogh. He began his career in specialty coffee in 1993. To shop our line of delicious specialty-grade coffees, just click wherever you see 'FRESH COFFEE NOW!'