I have seen many threads regarding various storage methods people use and the reasons behind all of them seem to make sense in theory but I have never seen an actual blind cupping to determine which is best. I am thinking of something similar to what was done to give the definitive "To freeze or not to freeze" answer. My initial thought would be to take a roast and split it into 4 (initial thought) containers.

1. Open air - no lid
2. Sealed jar
3. Container w/ one way valve
4. Vacuum container

My thought was cup at 7 days and 14 days which would show a typical use interval and a end of freshness life period. Obviously all these variables are just initial thoughts. One question would be if the containers should be opened daily as someone might typically use them - I would lean this was as I think most people are using the coffee they roast

I would humbly submit that I have nowhere near the palate/cupping ability to pull this off, so I am putting the idea out there to see if there is interest.

Jon

jkoll42 wrote:... I have nowhere near the palate/cupping ability to pull this off, so I am putting the idea out there to see if there is interest.

Suppose an expert, using a very tight cupping protocol, found a barely perceptible difference. Would you switch storage methods?

Go ahead and do it yourself. Make sure you cup blind, make sure there are several cups of each sort in the test, makes sure you try the coffee at various temperatures and smell the dry aroma, that's basically all there's to this. If the differences aren't fairly easy for you to spot in this side by side format, they are probably too small to make a difference your daily one cup at a time practice.

For testing two alternatives, I much prefer the 5 sample test to the triangle test whenever you can prep two samples of one kind, and three of the other. The chance is one in ten of guessing right, while it is only one in three in a triangle test. The test also compensates for same sample, cup to cup variation, while the triangle test does not. So one of these tests gives you as much info as two or three triangle tests. For brewed coffee, where prepping multiples samples is easy, this is the way to test preparation alternatives.

I think the OP was looking closely at short term, while being consumed, storage -- one to two weeks. This may be a new subject for us hobbyists. Does any dark, air tight, cool container work equally well? Or is there better and worse?

From general experience with a whole lot of different coffees stored at room temperature over a number of years, I'd be shocked if any of the room temperature storage methods changed the aging dynamic enough to be noticeable across a range of coffees. The one thing that seems immutable (to me) is that coffee stored at room temperature changes rapidly, and after 6 or 7 days the changes are almost all in the negative direction, with perhaps an occasional exception.

Taking the most obvious exceptions, they can be observed to "get better" after more extended storage because their objectionable elements degrade faster than their more attractive taste components. A Yemeni single origin is perhaps the classic SO example. Some of the more "in-your-face" blends also fall into this category which perhaps explains why many of these blends tend to be updosed so much, because they are already well along the path to staleness by the time they become usable.

Speaking only for myself, I generally prefer the taste components of fresh coffee before they have aired or oxidized off. For me, this means that I seldom find 9 day old coffee to be anywhere as enjoyable as 3 or 5 day old coffee. Unless one home roasts constantly in very small quantities, I can think of few economical strategies for enjoying the freshest coffee, that do not involve at least some element of freezer storage.

ken

Just to clarify, I am looking at home roast beans. I typically use them within 7 days (if it will be longer I will freeze half batches). I see people vacuum sealing, cutting holes in the ball lid to install one way valves, consulting with CERN scientists about vacuum vessels (I kid). I am a geek at heart so spending a few bucks on a vacuum machine or trying to explain to my wife why I am cutting little plastic circles out of 'perfectly good' coffee bags and drilling lids to glue them in is fine with me. On the flip side, dumping them in a bowl and scooping them out each day is fine also if the other methods provide no real benefit for short term storage of fresh roast beans.

As Jim suggested, I can certainly try to do this myself and I probably will. I would still be very interested in hearing what someone who actually knows how to cup properly has to say. If they said it is slightly better to do 'x' or 'y' I would follow suit. I would think that the beans are degrading in a way that would impact all brew methods and not be specific to a certain bean or roaster or way you are running water through them.

Jim to answer your question - if a cupper found a very minor difference in one method over another I would likely employ it. None of them would be that big of a change over my current ball jar in the cabinet method. The KISS side of me would love to find out that you could throw them in your dog's bowl and leave them sitting in the open air and have no short term reduction in quality

I say you go for it. I'd like to read what you have to say after it's over.

I just started home roasting and I've got a theory I want to test as well. I'm thinking that if I put all my roast into Ball jars and then burp the one I want to use the first week and tightly seal the second one and leave it in the dark perhaps I'll get that freshly roasted flavor for longer. Who knows? But it's worth a try

Randy G. wrote:I believe that Greg S. or Andy or some others got together and did a similar test and found that the only long-term method that worked was deep freezing (a refrigerator's freezer was found to not be cold enough). Don't quote me on the findings, as I am reporting from memory and not research, but I believe that they were reported in alt.coffee about 4 to 6 years ago. Maybe someone with a memory not so challenged as mine can remember the details.

Perhaps you're thinking of this:

http://www.home-barista.com/store-coffe...eezer.html
and
Freezing Espresso Coffee, Part Two

OP, FWIW, my personal storage process (for coffee, I've suspended espresso for now) is to roast 6-7oz, split into two glass jars with stock lids, and whichever isn't going into my grinder in the next 24 hours will go into the freezer. Remove any beans from the freezer the night before to allow for thorough thawing before grinding.