Any info on this?
Thoughts?

Thats how I do it and have found it works very well. Store in dark, stable temp. on coolish side. Reusable canning jars and a foodsaver lid sealer. In the recent HB roasting competition Tom found no normal signs of age with my 2008 Gesha SO brewed stored this way.

farmroast wrote:no normal signs of age with my 2008 Gesha SO brewed stored this way.

Thanks.
I recall reading posts to this effect, but it hadn't registered that your time range extended to 3 +/- years.

The Kenya I submitted to the SO competition was also vac packed and not frozen- although it was only for a few months. Not sure if it matters for such short periods, but after having beans sit open much longer than I originally planned, I make it a habit of splitting up 5+ pound purchases into individual vac packs.

I recommend canning jars for longer term and the bags are fine shorter term. I check the lids occasionally.
If anyone else can report on vacuumed canning jars at least 2 years old I'd like to hear about your results.

Martin wrote:Any info on this?
Thoughts?

COE and other auction coffees are now mostly shipped in mylar vacuum packed bags. It used to be that pre-ship cupping reports were the equivalent of vapor ware; but compared to jute bags, this prevents the degradation one gets during shipping. Conventional wisdom is to freeze for long term storage; but if a coffee can survive an unairconditioned tropical warehouse and freighter hold for a few months just vac packed, why shouldn't it do OK in a climate controlled home for a few years?

But the real key to large scale improvement would be getting more coffees vac packed at origin.

Here is an interesting article from Coffeeshrub.com.

http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/conten...-packaging

i havent read that coffeeshrub article yet but ive had several COE coffees shipped in, that packaging really makes a difference over the long haul (my opinion). Changes still happen though and im at the very end of some 2008 '~2009 that ive been saving for a special occasion, its still great but in a different way than before.

Gismar wrote:Here is an interesting article from Coffeeshrub.com.
http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/conten...-packaging

Interesting article. This is a big shift from 7-10 years ago when prominent vendors of green coffee suggested that with common-sense care (cool, dark place with some attention to humidity,) greens could go for years on the shelf.

A higher profile given to green coffee storage might spur along low-volume home roasters and the coffees they have access to. I'm thinking of the current Green Coffee Coop offering. Previously, I'd pass up 5 or more lbs of a pricey coffee because of the trade-off between drinking more of it in one stretch than I'd want and letting it sit in storage for longer than optimal.

I store roasted coffee in Food Saver vac bags and freeze. Think I'll start with greens as well, separating into roast-sized parcels, though not freezing. I object to the cost, waste, environment effects, but the "system" is very smooth. Like much of home-craft coffee, the empirical evidence is thinner than we'd like, but vac storage may be ready to move from an "option" to a "recommendation."

I have no proof, however I'd bet that a very large portion of the improved aging noticed in vac packed green coffee is due to the absence of damage inflicted by storage in jute bags. I am less than convinced that the vacuuming itself does much of anything, but would be happy to be proven wrong.

ken