How long do coffee beans keep?

JohnK

How long do they keep? I recently discovered some Gloria Jeans Italian Espresso beans that I bought sometime between 6 months to 1 year ago. Would they still be usable or would they be more likely to kill me? I've kept them in an airtight Tupperware container since I bought them if that makes any difference.

Mr Magnolia

Coffee beans are at their best between 24-72 hours after roasting, they start to deteriorate after that. A week after roasting a lot of the original flavour will probably have faded considerably. I generally just buy to use and don't keep them long at all as a result.

Storing them in an air-tight container in a dark place helps but after 6/12months your beans should be binned.

Gran Hermano

What Mr M said.

More relevant info on this recent thread
But you could always grind them up and serve them to your friends who
only drink instant, they will not know any better

red_ice

coffee beans should be binned before they are even opened. Just chuck em in the bin, then make yourself a nice cuppa tea

RE*AC*TOR

The beans certainly will not kill you, most likely, however, they probably won't make great coffee either.

No harm to try - at worst you can just dump it, at best its drinkable.

After roasting the first week is the best. OK into week two, then things start getting bad. I think the whole 24-72 hour thing is overplayed. As someone who has made coffee from beens 24-72 seconds after roasting, I think anything up to 2 weeks is generally good.

rockbeer

I agree with RE*AC*TOR (not for the first time )

I keep a close eye on this as I really don't like serving up sub-standard drinks. I think 24 hours is a little too soon after roasting for the best flavour, which seems to develop after 3 - 5 days. You can notice a little deterioration after about 10 days, but the beans are still fine up to about two weeks. After that you can really taste the acidity and bitterness starting to take over.

But try them and see, they won't do you any harm.

JohnK

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll give them a try so after dinner and hopefully I'll live long enough to report back

Mr Magnolia

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

I think the whole 24-72 hour thing is overplayed. As someone who has made coffee from beens 24-72 seconds after roasting, I think anything up to 2 weeks is generally good.

I do agree with what you're saying about it being overplayed. I still think the coffee is tastier/smoother with a bean that's been recently roasted (1-3 days) as opposed to a bean that's been resting for a longer period (10-14).

Don't get me wrong, I don't throw beans out that have been sitting in the press for a week or 2. In fact I buy a lot of my beans on-line so getting beans that have been roasted between 24-72hrs previously is a luxury I can't often enjoy due to my location.

JohnK

Tasted pretty crap to be honest. Guess I'll just have to buy some more...

Gran Hermano

Buy small amounts frequently rather than enough to last you 6 months.

Check the stickies on this board for shops that supply freshly roasted
beans.

I tend to order from Ristretto every couple of weeks and pick up fresh
stock from M&D when either in city centre or Howth on a Sunday.