I, as well as many other forum members who freeze, will use mason jars filled tightly to freeze my coffees. In my experience, the coffees don't keep as well in the bags you received them in compared to storing them in the jars for freezing.

You also don't NEED to make sure your frozen coffee comes to room temperature for use. Again, not alone here, I use the coffee straight out of the freezer and I get great tasting shots. Some will mention that they think this process introduces too much warm air into the freezing jar and thus promotes faster deterioration/staling of the coffee beans. This might be so, but faster is relative. I don't notice any real difference as I go through a whole jar of coffee.

Some approaches to freezing and using coffee ignore the fact that most people can't taste well enough to notice insignificant shifts in the coffees decline over time. James Hoffman basically stated that you can only do bad things to your coffee if you are dosing from your freezing jar to the grinder. Well, this may be scientifically true, but this ignores the fact that many people DO dose from their freezing containers and many people do not notice bad things happening to their coffees in doing so. Sometimes we just get lost in science/theory without testing and experiencing to find out if what the science/theory is telling us, actually plays out for your usage pattern.

Try and see for yourself.

Rusty burrs are pretty solid evidence against dosing with cold beans when the dew point is below the bean temperature.

Edit: That should have been the bean temperature below the dew point, causing condensation on the beans.

Jeff wrote:Rusty burrs are pretty solid evidence against dosing with cold beans when the dew point is below the bean temperature.

More people are using RDT and we're not finding that people are tending to their rusty burrs. So, where's the evidence that this is happening en masse or that this is a real problem? I genuinely have not seen this come up regularly even as using RDT with these hyper-aligned flats has become very popular.

I used frozen beans with my K10, Vario, Sette and now my Niche and have never dealt with rusty burrs.

Jeff wrote:Rusty burrs are pretty solid evidence against dosing with cold beans when the dew point is below the bean temperature.

10 years of use on my K10, most of it grinding beans right out of the freezer & no rust issues yet. This isn't surprising as I've never seen any condensation form on the beans either.

Jeff wrote:Rusty burrs are pretty solid evidence against dosing with cold beans when the dew point is below the bean temperature.

And still, many here spritz their beans with water before putting them through their $3000.00 grinder.

I've been taking beans straight from the freezer and using them for the last 9 years without issue. Though the humidity levels in my home in Wisconsin would not be the same as somewhere else.

Humidity levels are definitely a key, as are likely the differences between high-end, coated burrs and low-/mid-range steel burrs.

Have you actually seen rusty burrs caused by grinding cold beans? My K10 burrs aren't coated & there is no AC in my coffeebar area. Dry air in the Winter & plenty of humidity in the summer. No rust ever.

Yes, low-end Baratza in New Orleans with rusted burrs. Replacing the burrs and stopping grinding coffee out of the freezer and they had no further issues. Without a control, hard to confirm the cause, but highly suggestive. Baratza service was exemplary, as ever.

Jeff wrote:Yes, low-end Baratza in New Orleans with rusted burrs. Replacing the burrs and stopping grinding coffee out of the freezer and they had no further issues. Without a control, had to confirm the cause, but highly suggestive. Baratza service was exemplary, as ever.

I'll give my K10 another decade & check back.

There are some insightful quotes from Illy's book on oxygen level, temperature and thawing in the following thread (Posts #40 to 47)

Modified atmosphere for coffee storage at home

Below the most relevant examples :


Quote of Nicoli and Savonitti in Illy's book:
"if the coffee...is not degassed...fitting a one-way valve on the package allows carbon dioxide to escape without letting air in. As CO2 is heavier than air, it tends to stratify at the bottom expelling most of the oxygen gas; the flushing effect reduces residual oxygen and increases product shelf life"

Another quote of Nicoli and Savonitti in Illy's book:
"above 1.1% of oxygen concentration, for each 1% increase of oxygen there is a consequent increase for the rate of degradation of 10%" ..." and later "oxygen consumption is the main cause of deterioration of roast coffee, which should therefore be protected from entering into contact with oxygen as soon as roasted. The lower the level of residual oxygen in the package, the longer the shelf life of the product"

And also:
"The spoilage rate of roasted coffee increases seven-fold with every 10°C rise in temperature."

And here goes a last quote of Nicoli and Savonitti in Illy's book-to keep in mind when thawing beans :
"Cooled coffee beans should, however, be left at room temperature a few hours before grinding to trap the volatile aroma present in the cells in the oil and melanoidins; a large aroma loss at grinding might otherwise dull the flavour of the cup"