For as long as I can remember, Sweet Maria's has always advised to store green beans in breathable bags. They still insist on this even though they, themselves, have started storing them in vacuum sealed bags. I have a little home vacuum sealing system called Zipvac http://www.zip-vac.com/ that I would like to experiment with. Anybody vacuum sealing green beans? Anybody freezing them? Anybody vacuum sealing and then freezing?

Inquiring minds want to know....

I break down my SM orders into 227g portions, vac bag & store in one of our storage freezers at -5*F. Some good info on preserving green coffee freshness: http://www.terroircoffee.com/content/view/144/28/

Calico bags are the best & green beans stored in a cool dark & dry place (this is also my method of storage)

Green coffee beans will last for up to 3 years but I acknowledge roasting fresher is better
If you are storing green beans as noted above and roasting your beans within that time then I don't see a problem
Keep it simple

KK

and the other stored in a warehouse

Just a minor question on the warehouse was it able to go up and down with the extremes of temperature and humidity in Chicago or was it a reasonably controlled environment?

I gather choice of bag material is Mylar for reasons of taint from some plastics?

I got pretty interested in storage of greens after several conversations with George Howell at Terroir a few years back. At his open house cuppings he also shows the effects of time and various storage methods and as Jim mentioned the changes are quite dramatic. My approach for the last 4+ years for low cost storage has been Foodsaver vacuumed canning jars stored in a non-running freezer to keep conditions somewhat stable. I've been quite satisfied with this approach as I've continued to test various samples that have now been put away for years for test purposes.
If you store in vacuumed bags in a freezer be sure to check them regularly to be sure the vacuum doesn't leak.
I don't recommend long term storage (much over a crop year) but am a believer in vacuum storage.

I have personally had bad experiences with jute bagged coffee.

Back when the Ethiopian Wondo Bonko was a fresh varietal, I purchased 30lbs of it from SM's. 20lbs came in a jute bag and 10 packed in plastic.

After 2 months the jute bagged green coffee was obviously inferior to the coffee that came in the plastic bags. Having grown accustomed to the taste of the coffee coming out of the plastic bags, it was a rude shock to then roast the jute bagged coffee and see such obviously inferior results. In order to confirm this, I roasted some remaining identical green coffee in plastic that I had received from another source, Klatch. This coffee remained excellent.

Although I could not define a specific taint, the jute bagged coffee had lost most of its fruitiness, which was one of the most defining characteristics of the Wondo Bonko in its youth. Ever since that experience I have insisted with vendors (SM's especially) that I do not want them to send me any green coffee that is packed in a jute bag, that I don't want the damn "free" jute bag, I want plastic bags. A couple of times SM's told me that I'd have to take it in jute. After telling them then to cancel the order, they relented and shipped in plastic.

ken