I encourage people new to freezing coffee to just jump in and try it and see what differences you can taste in the cup. It's very easy to set up an experiment and check this yourself, if you can't tell the difference between freezing single doses and freezing all your coffee and pulling out your does daily and returning it to the freezer then you don't need to worry about freezing single doses. There's no one right answer, it's going to be what works best for you.

I do something different than others. I freeze the beans directly after roasting them. I take the beans and put them in the hopper and let them age in the hopper (usually have 3 days worth). Works well for me

Randy

JohnB. wrote:You might think so but that hasn't been my experience. I vac seal the rested coffee in mason jars & store in a short, upright storage freezer. I keep a scale & small plastic container on top of the freezer. When I'm ready to start using that coffee I unseal one of the jars, pour out the dose, screw the lid back on & back in the freezer. The lid is only off only for a few seconds. Been doing it this way for years with no issues.

Nice to here this as common sense leans towards it having a negative effect. I don't know if vac sealing is the key here as you pull out air where in a normal container, everytime you open and close it, you'll introduce more air and thus the change for added moisture which does have a negative effect.

Edit: reread your post and you're not vac sealing after pulling out some coffee.

JohnB and I have discussed this several times and he has a good system that works for him. My reason for going to individual dosing is as aforementioned I dislike weighing beans just before use if I am not fully awake and also sitting in the middle of Iowa where we grow lots of corn the normal summer humidity is quite high. Since I only extract a couple of doses per day I was noticing changes in my espresso as I neared the bottom of the jar. Your situation may be different. I also already owned a chamber sealer for other purposes and bought my quart size and mini Mason jars at an estate sale for pennies on the dollar which makes it convenient for using the method I chose. Depending on your personal volume of use and local weather conditions one system may work better for you. I have found that freezing the beans seems to be the major difference in maintaining freshness but vacuum packing also seems to extend the roasted bean flavor profile for a longer time.

Weird everyone has to go through all these measures to keep their beans fresh when freezing. I usually buy 4-5 lbs at a time, and go through about a pound a week. I freeze all bags unopened, and when I get to a new one I open a bag and pour it into a mason jar. From there, I simply open the jar, pull out a single dose, and close the jar. I'd like someone to come over and show me how this is destroying my beans. In fact, keeping beans fresh over the course of several weeks is literally why I started freezing to begin with; we have a local roaster in Denver who recommends freezing, and I noticed they stayed fresher way longer than anything else I was buying... so I started experimenting.

Deebo,
I suspect your relative humidity or dew point if you will is considerably lower than where I am. If I pop the lid off a Mason jar that has not reached room temp I can see water on the beans in short order and the inside and outside of the jar will begin to sweat almost immediately. I really do not need to RDT under these conditions. This does not lead to good recap and refreeze for me if I want to keep the flavor profile. I am glad you have a system that works for you in the environment where you live but I was just presenting what works where I reside and others may encounter.

I just put them in a ziplock freezer bag and write the dialed in parameters on the outside. I pour and weigh my doses directly from the bag and then push all the air out of the back and return it to the freezer. I don't worry about exposing a bunch of coffee to air and returning it. I've not been able to notice any degradation of coffee over time. If someone can detect that difference they have a better palate than I do, and I'm pretty sensitive to stale coffee.

The exposure to air here is so minimal and the air is flushed out that I just don't believe that individually separating the doses is a meaningful change. I would be impressed if anyone could detect the difference in shot from frozen beans being exposed to oxygen for less than a minute. That's not really how oxygenation or oxidizing works. Freezing slows down these processes so much that it should be negligible and less than standard room temperature of storing in a coffee bag.

Deebo wrote:Weird everyone has to go through all these measures to keep their beans fresh when freezing.

I don't think there is any evidence out there to support any that those measures are keeping the beans any fresher than just limiting exposure to air. A little air does not ruin the whole batch.

bettysnephew wrote:If I pop the lid off a Mason jar that has not reached room temp I can see water on the beans in short order...

That's something I've never witnessed. It would give me pause to do what I do -- open the bag from the freezer and then return it to the freezer.

Dew point where I am is usually in the mid-50's (°F) so one would expect condensation on beans at -5°F. But although there is measurable condensation I've never been able to actually see it. It is a small amount and it's absorbed.

If I did see condensation I would test the idea that it matters rather than merely assume that the moisture is ruining my coffee. Moisture content of roasted coffee varies quite a bit to begin with. So is the condensation you're seeing adding so much that it puts the moisture content out of the typical range? And is it affecting the storage life in a way that you can perceive?

I'd find out.

jpender wrote:That's something I've never witnessed. It would give me pause to do what I do -- open the bag from the freezer and then return it to the freezer.
Dew point where I am is usually in the mid-50's (°F) so one would expect condensation on beans at -5°F. But although there is measurable condensation I've never been able to actually see it. It is a small amount and it's absorbed.

Same here except the dew point is much higher here. We've had a brutally humid summer around here & it's back again. Dew point today is 70* & climbing as Florence heads our way. Doors & windows are open. Just pulled a shot & paid attention when I dumped the beans from the freezer cold mason jar into my plastic container. Even kept the jar open longer then usual yet absolutely no sign of any moisture on the beans in the container or in the jar.