Should you freeze coffee beans?

I get asked this question a lot, and it is time to give you an answer. Broadly, for excess coffee, freezing is a great storage solution.
The coffee giveaway has finished.

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"No More" by lwfi

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[v.sandrone]

A local cafe bought a large number of toilet rolls and gave them out free, without even the need to purchase anything, to the elderly/needy when the shops were empty of them.
I made sure to go in and buy a coffee everyday.
They now cannot serve people to consume food/drinks at their tables and don't get much business due to the lock down of social gathering places in Australia.
Support your local coffee shops or we may lose them.

[askroller]

James: If you’ve ever owned a freezer
Me: looking around cave

[JesusGreenBL]

I'd love to see you revisit this subject with one of your experiments, comparing freezer-kept coffee at different ages/levels of freshness, to work out a rough estimate for how long it can be stored in a typical -18 to -22C freezer, compared to simply keeping it in the cupboard in an airtight container.

[internetshaquille]

vacuum bags are kinda reusable, if you just let em shrink slowly out of existence

[MicrophoneMichael]

Old videos that I haven’t seen, and just pop up are the best. I’ve been storing my coffee in the freezer in an airtight container, for daily use, and grinding frozen beans. Thanks James

[MattyRocco]

I have been vacuum sealing and freezing beans for a while (I have an issue with buying an interesting coffee whenever I see it when I already have plenty of great coffee at home). I avoid the whole issue of waste by re-using the vacuum bags. If you open the bag by cutting just behind the current seal, you can re-use it and you'll only "waste" the tiny bit of bag between the old seal and the new seal.

[sparrow_asdasdasd]

If you want to use a vacuum sealer and cut down on waste then you can reuse the majority of it by using a larger bag than you need then just cutting off the sealed part to open it, then you can reseal the same bag. Means you're using about 5-10mm of bag for each use rather than a whole bag.

[thomascahir]

Amazing James, love your work! As a bartender and barrister who (along with my entire hospitality company) was laid off last week, watching these videos have been great. Best wishes from Melbourne, Australia! Stay Safe all

[TheFinalMB]

“-40 degrees, the magical temperature where it doesn’t matter what units your talking about”

*Kelvins, Rankine, Delisle, Newton, Réaumur and Rømer have rage quit*

[outofthebx]

So in essence we need to 'flatten the (oxidation) curve' and in order to do that we have to implement 'social distancing' between coffee and air.

[emilclaudell]

Woooo! Nothing better than a James Hoffmann video to keep you company while you're trapped in isolation :D

[themousemafia]

This is the process I’ve been using for a while now and I can second that it works great for me: I get a kilo and freeze 3/4 of it in three separate bags. Each come out as fresh as the first!

[jeffersonderrickson]

"do the right thing." Such a powerful statement right now.

[cordeliastockwell]

JAMES, YOU ARE A WONDERFUL HUMAN & DESERVE ALL THE BEST! I have watched your videos for quite some time now, and have been grateful for your level-headed, clear, inclusive information. And now, that you are doing giveaways for those who need it - BRAVO! Keep on keeping on; your work is appreciated!

[ozzy]

Quick Tip: You can (kinda) vacuum seal a ziploc bag by filling it with coffee, sticking a straw in it, closing the ziploc as much as you can (so the straw is still sticking out), sucking the air out through the straw, then quickly removing the straw and completely closing the ziploc.

[ronbalut]

You're advise is excellent. I use a vacuum sealer and purchase 2 lb. bags of coffee. I store about 12 oz. in a counter top container and freeze the remainder in an over sized bag. When I have to remove coffee from the freezer, I defrost it and then open the bag at the top and fill the container. I re-freeze the remainder in the large bag. When it's empty I re-fill and freeze the next purchase. I can easily re-use the bag 10 to 15 times to cut down waste.

[MidwestSlice]

Is there anywhere I can buy a “community bag” or something of the sort for you to donate? Meaning I buy a bag and you donate it! If I can help more people get coffee I would love to!

[taylorwhite]

James --
Vacuum packing.
There is a simple pump to vacuum seal mason jars.
Foodsaver jar sealer + Ziploc Vacuum kit/pump.
Not expensive. Infinitely reusable. Vacuum seal mason jars.

[johannes]

This is an interesting thing to explore.

I’m still a student and therefore the only corona effect is that I now have plenty of time for thing such as this.

I am now at the point where I realise, that I know so little and (even worse) that I have so little experience. I started watching your channel a bit more than a year ago and this journey has been a great pleasure.

Thank you, James!

[TGL_]

One thing people don’t take into consideration, and as a coffee roaster I have cupped many coffees and actually did a test with freeer stored coffee that was stored for one month. Vs fresh coffee stored in a cover vault. The issue is that coffee has oils and we all know when we store items in a freezer that have oils in them the oils break down and separate from the solid mass. This in fact has a lot of the flavor the coffee has to offer.when we cupped the various freezer stored coffees vs the coffee vault stored coffees there was a difference in scoring. The acidity, the mouthfeel, and the flavor were definitely off on the coffee stored I. The freezer. The average person might not notice the difference especially if they add milk, cream, syrups, or sugar. The coffees stored in the coffee vault at room temp definitely scored higher and were more vibrant in the cup. So can you store coffee in freezer? Short answer yes! Does it affect the flavor and cup? Short answer is yes. But it’s really a personal preference to the consumer and how intently they are passionate about that flavor and coffee.