lazysusie wrote:One major point that was stressed in these classes is
to NOT refrigerate or freeze coffee/coffee beans

You were misinformed. You may also have misunderstood the intention of this thread, since it is a discussion by people who regularly and successfully freeze coffee. We're not talking about freezing coffee once, but about repeatedly freezing and unfreezing coffee. Many foods that can be frozen once with no major change in taste or texture, like meats, degrade when frozen a second time.

Bottom line (as far as I can tell): If you bought a bag of coffee, you can tape over the valve and freeze it with no degradation. Freezing freshly home roasted coffee after sealing it air tight is even more common and has become the SOP for many home roasters. But once you take it out of the freezer, it's probably best to keep it sealed until it hits room temperature, then not to refreeze it. If it is possible to refreeze successfully, we haven't come up with the bulletproof technique for doing it consistently.

Just FYI, I've continued to have success freezing small amounts of coffee. It tastes just as good as fresh after a few weeks in the freezer.

ok, great, thanks for the info; it's good to read everyone's experiences; as I said, I'm new at this - a novice so all info put out there is very informative to me and will help me develop my expertise. Now to further develop my knowledge will be the task at hand!!! It's a bit of a trek to go to the roaster of my choice so knowing that freezing is an option, I'll be able to increase the quantity/purchase and know that the freshness can be preserved! Thanks again for the info. S

Susan, experiments done with freezing beans have shown that there is no harm done whatsoever . . .

TY: good to know, S

The key is freezing them in an air tight container. If you use the heat sealed coffee bag make sure you use sturdy tape over the one way valve. When they freeze, they will vacuum and the bag condense to a coffee brick. A single piece of scotch tape can actually pop under the pressure. I usually use a small piece of packing tape or two pieces of scotch tape over the valve.

Great! Thanks for the info with options. I do have airtight containers so storage will be easy. Thanks again. ~S~