Coffee Appreciation

Mine is kept in the cupboard. But I now have an air-toight container for a bag o' beans. It's about as good as you can get I fink.

My machine is working great guns again after the descale. Massive crema on the new bag of Monmouth SomethingorOtherBeans.

I have a minute to kill, so here's my impression on storing coffee:

I'm told it's pretty unnecessary to worry about airtight containers for for whole bean, because the oils should keep the insides of each bean fresh. I believe it, as my beans are very "wet" looking, and i can't imagine much air getting in there. The local shop here roasts their own beans in house and take their trade pretty seriously, so i trust them when they say it's unnecessary to keep your coffee in a sealed container at home. That said, it's fun ot have cool shit in your kitchen and a sealed container for coffee can be one of those items. I do it because it can't hurt and it looks better than a brown bag.

Hippy is right that putting your coffee in the fridge is a terible idea. It just makes the beans wet. The air in a fridge is incredibly humid, and further more when you open the fridge 9 times a day, you insantly send in tons of fresh water particles to condense on beans. Then you shut the door and it just sits there.

If you must store your coffee for longer than a week put it in an air tight container and put it in the freezer. You shouldn't thaw/open/look at/think about this coffee until you are going to use it within a week.

Finally, I've learned that, for a french press, if you're using truly fresh coffee beans, you should expect the grounds to bubble up to a foamy "head" or "bloom." If your coffee is past it's prime, it just sits there like a wet towel. It it's fresh you literally see bubbles form and pop. Once you look for this, you can't miss it. It's pretty remarkable.