I remember being asked this questions many times as a barista and even more so as a coffee roaster.
An I answered in a number of ways and very much like the speciality coffee industry in general, there isn’t really a defining answer that encapsulates every coffee.
However, with a little bit of science and common sense, I’ll try to answer it as best as I can.
How Long Does Coffee Last?
The short answer is coffee is at its best between 7 days to 28 days after the roast date. After that the flavours will shortly subside. However you can still enjoy coffee beans that are 3-6 months old but they will not be at their best.
It is really hard to quantify how long coffee lasts for, because technically it coffee doesn’t really go off for a long time.
Here’s the long answer:
Coffee arrives at a roastery in the form of green coffee normally from a coffee importer.
This would have already been processed at origin in various different methods, dried and packed into sacks.
The age of the coffee when it reaches the roastery from when it is picked can be anything from a few weeks up to (generally for speciality coffee) 6 months.
There are many stories about coffee roasted and consumed upwards of 2 years from harvest, however, these tend to come from larger roasting companies that use commercial grade coffee and mix it with their espresso blend.
Older greens tend to take on odours and tastes of their environment, typically vegetal qualities and sometimes that of burlap sacks.
Normally around 6 days after the roast date the coffee has been rested enough and is typically at its best for around a four week period.
This is providing the coffee is sealed in an airtight bag and obviously unground.
This again can also be taken with a pinch of salt, for example, if you have a particularly dark roasted coffee, the flavours tend to be fairly distinct and overpowering, these sort of notes may recede quicker than a medium roasted coffee and the profile may dull after a couple of days.
On the other side of the roasting scale, lighter roasted coffees may not perish in this sort of time frame and still be prevalent many weeks after the roast date, this is typical of light roasts that are well processed, well harvested and dense.
Something else that I have noticed is that with some naturally processed coffees they seem to have a longer period of resting after roasting before they reach their peak in flavour.
This can change quite significantly between origins and varietals however sometimes many weeks after the roast date the coffee evolves a completely new flavour profile.
However, if you want to just stick the coffee into your freezer then know this will have a negative effect on the taste of your coffee.
This is because, although the freezer is good at taking moisture out of the environment to prohibit bacterial growth, the delicate balance of moisture in the coffee beans creates the flavour profile of complex tasting coffee.
The condensation on icy coffee when defrosted will also get reabsorbed into the coffee and taste flat and dull.
Can You Keep Coffee In The Fridge?
Keeping coffee in the fridge is also unadvisable.
The fridge isn’t cold enough to prevent them from going stale and will have a significant impact on the overall taste of the coffee.
How Long Does Coffee Stay Fresh For After It Is Ground?
Speciality coffee should always be ground right before you brew the coffee. Buying ground coffee whether it’s from a supermarket or coffee roaster will have a huge impact on the taste.
Finer ground coffee that you would use on your espresso coffee maker or stovetop will deteriorate in flavour ninety seconds after been ground.
That is why you will see baristas grinding, tamping and then brewing the coffee at once.
Courser ground methods like pour-over or cafetiere will stay fresh for longer but only up to an hour.
The best advice for any keen coffee drinker is just to grind the coffee right before you brew. Here’ are some of our favourite hand coffee grinders and electric burr grinders.
How To Store Coffee Beans
The best place to store speciality coffee is in a cool dry cupboard. Once the coffee is opened, reseal the bag if possible or empty into an airtight container.
Buy small amounts of coffee more frequently to ensure the coffee you have is at its peak freshness.
How Can You Tell If Coffee Has Gone Off?
There are a few key methods of determining whether your coffee is off and has gone off.
While drinking coffee that has gone off won’t hurt you, it will certainly taste off and won’t possess the attributes that the roaster and farmer worked hard to create.
The first thing to do is obviously look at the roast date on the side of the bag.
If this is more than a month ago the coffee may have deteriorated in flavour, anything over 6 months I would say the coffee has gone off.
Now open the bag and get your nose in there. If you can smell any subtle flavour notes like chocolate or fruit then your coffee is ok.
If it just smells super roasty, vegetal, cardboard-like or you struggle to smell anything then there is a chance your coffee is off.
If you are unsure about the smell take a look at the beans, depending on the roast profile the beans may present a few different characteristics.
If you opted for a darker roasted coffee the beans will have already had a glossy appearance, as the coffee has a more fragile shell that seeps oil quicker.
If your beans look dull and matt then there is a good chance that the coffee has gone off.
Typically this may be the opposite for lighter roasted coffee which will have a matt appearance when purchased but may start to lose flavour and complexity when the coffee starts releasing oils.
Brewing the coffee is the best way to see if it is bad. If you don’t want to go through the process of making an Aeropress or cafetiere then just pour water on the grounds and let it settle as if you were cupping the coffee.
If the taste is flat or non descript then there is a good chance your coffee has gone off.
How Long Do Coffee Beans Last Unopened?
This question may have various responses depending on the coffee roaster, the type of coffee and the amount of time the coffee roaster/coffee seller deems the coffee ok to drink.
Basically as discussed above, coffee beans shouldn’t go bad as fruit would. The coffee beans will however taste pretty bad when they have been left for a significant amount of time.
At Batch we would always recommend that coffee is consumed within 6 weeks of the roast date with the optimal coffee taste between 7-21 days post roast.
6 weeks to 4 or 5 months after the roast date the coffee will still be ok and depending on the roast profile may still taste almost as good as it did prior.
Lighter roasted coffee will hold onto more of the balanced complexities that darker roasted coffees, if you open a bag of 5 month old darker roasted coffee you will see the coffee has a shiny appearance.
This is where oils have escaped from inside the bean which will have a negative impact on the overall taste.
If your coffee is older than 6 months and it has yet to be opened, fear not. If it smells ok try to brew it.
The coffee will undoubtedly taste different to what it once did, normally flat and unbalanced but if you manage to brew the coffee well (it may be harder to brew older coffee as the beans will have a different consistency) you may be able to extract a half decent cup.
Do Coffee Beans Stay Fresh Longer Than Ground?
Coffee beans certainly stay fresher than ground coffee.
As soon as those beans hit those burrs the grounds have a far larger surface area and oxygen starts to wreak havoc on the complex flavour compounds that make coffee so delicious.
How Long Is Brewed Coffee Good For?
You should consume coffee as soon as it is brewed (well, until it’s cool enough to drink).
The coffee only decreases in quality after it is brewed. If the coffee is kept in an airtight thermal container like some of the ones on filter coffee makers you may still be able to enjoy almost the same delicious coffee a few hours after brewing depending on the type of coffee and the brew method.
I always find natural coffees that have been filtered through paper hold their flavour profiles quite well.
If you leave your coffee for a few hours or even a day and come back to it you will be left with either a flat, lifeless coffee if you have brewed via paper or a bitter tasting coffee if you have filtered with a mesh or metal filter (Espresso, Mokapot or Cafetiere).
Is it okay to drink expired coffee?
I wouldn’t advise on drinking expired coffee as it will certainly not taste very nice. Usually expiration dates on coffee mean that it is commercially produced and therefore could have been roasted many months previously.
Although it is probably unlikely that it will cause you harm, I would just try to avoid.
Does coffee expire if not opened?
Yes, unopened coffee can also expire, albeit at a slower rate than opened coffee. Coffee beans or grounds can lose their freshness and flavor over time due to the gradual oxidation of the oils in the coffee.
It is recommended to use unopened coffee within a year to ensure optimal taste. However, the shelf life of unopened coffee can vary depending on the type of coffee and storage conditions.
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