Paul12644 wrote:I have a 6-12 month supply of green coffee beans and I've started to wonder about shelf life. If the beans are stored in good conditions at room temperature in sealed tight bags, is there much deterioration in their quality over time? How long can the beans be safely stored to provide good quality outcomes when roasted?

Greens a year from harvest are considered "past crop" and usually consigned to the roaster's least discriminating blend customers. As another poster mentioned, George Howell swears by freezing greens, which would be one solution. A better solution would be buying less greens at a time.

I'm always fighting the economies of scale, ordering 10 or 15 # of greens to minimize the percent of my order that goes to shipping versus trying to buy only what I can roast in the near term. Splitting coffee with a local home-roaster is helpful but the one I sometimes split with has more greens backlog than I do so it's stash reduction and buying only the very special lots.

farmroast wrote:I found a 1lb bag of a wp ethiopian I got this spring from SM and had forgot to vacuum in a jar. Upon opening last week, very little smell compared to fresh or ones from my vacuumed jars. Roasted it wasn't woody yet but had lost much of what made it special.
Still have vintages of vacuumed jars going back to '07 to pull out and test occasionally.

I roasted one of my favourites a bit lighter than usual (barely to 1Ce just for the purpose of finding the more delicate tastes) and the first thing that struck me and a friend of mine was "wood". Is that a typical defect due to the age of the beans?

Marshall wrote:Greens a year from harvest are considered "past crop" and usually consigned to the roaster's least discriminating blend customers. As another poster mentioned, George Howell swears by freezing greens, which would be one solution. A better solution would be buying less greens at a time.

I really enjoy spending more time with some lots that I fall in love with. You really get to know them, not like the typical 2 or 3 roast seasonal fling. Most of my roasts are from fresh lots but it's also nice to be in the mood to roast something up from the vault.

Was glad to have packed away some great ethiopians '06 and '08 before the ecx etc changes and a few years of slim pickins.

As a homeroaster the extra effort and tech to adequately maintain quality for 2+ years is easily doable.

Several years ago I was gifted ten pounds of green Kona beans a friend had taken in trade for a debt four or five years earlier. They'd been sitting in a big ziplock in his kitchen ever since. I found them to be a mild, nondescript coffee in almost any roast profile, certainly not the best caliber, but with no off-putting notes.

Saying that the greens from last years harvest usually go in the least discriminating blend got me thinking...does anyone stash up well before end of season and freezes the remainder? I mean, it's not as if we know how or how long they were stored or that we can buy any new beans until a new crop has arrived and has flowed down the whole supply chain.

So far I only had some greens I liked less than others but couldn't say that any of them tasted bland or even stale. Anyone getting samples before buying larger qties ? (Hey that gets me to build a micro sample roaster:-) )
Guess one would need to buy serious qties before samples make sense, I' d probably prefer to visit the supllier in that case.

There is the old 15/15/15 rule. Green beans (stored properly) will last 15 months, roasted beans will last 15 days, and ground coffee will last 15 minutes. I keep my greens in 3 gallon food grade plastic buckets with lids. I used to buy from a guy who gave the buckets away for free as long as I bought greens from him.

Some folks will say that certain high moisture greens actually age well like wine. I personally like Sumatran Mandheling beans. If you have ever inspected this green bean, you will notice the deep green color it exhibits. This is due to higher moisture content, and that's why the bean keeps better. I have kept them as long as two years and they still look darker than say an Ethiopian or Central American that's six months old.

I've tried double vac bagged then stored in a freezer (not a non-defrosting chest freezer), and have since stopped because for me there's noticeable degradation after just 3-4 months. Now I just buy with the seasons. While its saddening not to stockpile my favorite beans, its also liberating and makes for more exploration of beans I might not normally try if I were still working through a stash of known favorites.

If I have a green that I particularly like and want to stock up and use them for an extended period I vacuum pack them and put them in my chest freezer at around -20F. I have kept greens in that state for 2 years without any noticeable degrade. Normal shelf life will vary by the bean. Many of the delicate nuances will dissipate in around 6-8 months. As general rule if I am not going to use up a green inside of 6 months I will vac pack and freeze the greens to preserve the coffee. I have also had very nice coffee's that were flat in 6 months.

rama wrote:I've tried double vac bagged then stored in a freezer (not a non-defrosting chest freezer), and have since stopped because for me there's noticeable degradation after just 3-4 months. Now I just buy with the seasons. While its saddening not to stockpile my favorite beans, its also liberating and makes for more exploration of beans I might not normally try if I were still working through a stash of known favorites.

+1
I now have fewer greens on hand, and only buy when a particular region is getting low. I no longer worry about my "old coffee", since everything is used up within 12 months.