I'm talking about these:



The canister holds a pound of coffee and has a replaceable CO2 valve in the BPA-free polymer lid.

Has anyone used or seen one? I found them purely by happenstance and am considering a purchase.

http://www.buyfriis.com

If you visit the website, be sure not to miss the video. It boasts that the Coffee Savor will keep your coffee fresh "week after week after week."

On their regular website (http://www.friiscoffee.com/) they also suggest replacing the valve monthly. Though I don't see the need for this frequency, the replaceable nature of the valve is partly what makes it a viable and useful long-term enhancement to ordinary canisters.

I will probably pull the trigger on this unless someone has advice to the contrary.

Thoughts, por favor....

I never have any roasted coffee around that lasts more than a week and a half at the outside, so a opaque ceramic jar with a silicon gasket has been working fine for me. Got a couple of nice 1 lb. canisters at Cost Plus last weekend for $5.99 each.

I notice the web page you linked to doesn't say how much they're going to charge you for the valve that they want you to replace monthly. Are they following the Gillette model where the razor's cheap but they make it up on the blades?

I've already got a ceramic canister but have been looking to get a pair of stainless steel canisters, which is how I came to learn of these.

George, I thought of the razor blade analogy immediately when I first read that they recommended monthly changes. My original post actually had a comment to that effect that I edited out before posting.

$1.25 for a single valve. Cheaper in packages of six, twelve, or via a "lifetime" subscription that lasts five-years. (These guys certainly do a thorough job of marketing speak.) What's the effective life of a one-way valve of this nature? I'm not sure they'd ever need replacing, but if so I think a six-pack would probably cover me for the duration.

I've liked these http://visionsespresso.com/cart.php?m=p ... tail&p=721 a lot. Very easy to use and good at keeping things fresh. The air gets "pushed" out through a valve every time the plunger is inserted in the canister.

All these sorts of solutions are (IMO) based on false assumptions that coffee will only stale when in long-term exposure to "air" (oxygen). I will, once again, use the example of Illy canned whole roasted beans which are packed under pressure of nitrogen. These taste quite fresh immediately after opening the can, but in one, or at the most two days they taste months old, because they are. The beans were aging in the can but with no O2 they could not oxidize. Once opened and exposed to air, they stale and very quickly act their age.

Once roasted, coffee begins a process of chemical changes, and while keeping the beans in a cool place, out of light, and in a sealed container is good practice as it would be with any food product, these magical containers will do noting except lighten your wallet. I think sealed containers keep out moisture as much as anything else. Every time you open the container air will enter and the beans, thirsty for oxygen, will gladly accept it. Flushing that air out with CO2 does not change that, nor will it do anything to slow or stop the changes taking place in the bean.

A deep freeze is the only way I have ever heard that has been shown to slow the staling process and chemical changes taking place in the bean in order to effectively preserve flavor.

I'm just talking about storing freshly roasted coffee for the couple of weeks that it takes to finish a pound, not for "Illy time."

I'm going to buy stainless steel containers anyway, so my wallet will be lightened whether it's for a pair of these or some other choice. So if the only advantage is freshly roasted beans not popping the lid off their unopened container while sitting for days when degassing (which I've experienced) then that's that. Any latched canister will take care of that

Do what I did. Go to your nearest cafe serving Illy coffees, and buy the used stainless steel shipping canisters from them for a buck. They're already decorated with a coffee theme. Get the one-way valve off the coffee that you've purchased recently, and pop a hole in the tops of the Illy canisters. VIOLA, stainless steel canisters decorated in a coffee theme with a degassing valve for about a buck a piece and two minutes time.

Or get those, and replace the valves in the lids with the ones from the coffee bags from the coffee you purchase.

Good suggestion Chris, though I don't know of any nearby places using the bulk Illy canisters. Food for thought nonetheless, and you hit the nail on the head re: valve replacement. I was beginning to think that I somehow had given the impression that these canisters were professed to do something other than simply enable CO2 to escape. But in the process of posting and reading this thread I did think of a side benefit: The place would smell a little more like coffee.