I split one bag of beans four ways for three weeks
Every coffee forum has the storage argument at least once a month, so I decided to just test it on myself instead of reading another thread. One 1 kg bag of a Colombian washed coffee, roasted on a Monday, opened on the Thursday. Split into four:
- A: left in the original bag with the one-way valve, top rolled down, clip on
- B: an airtight canister with a plunger lid that pushes air out
- C: vacuum-sealed portions of 15 g, kept in a cupboard
- D: vacuum-sealed portions of 15 g, kept in the freezer, ground straight from frozen
I brewed from each on days 1, 7, 14 and 21 on the Kalita with the same recipe, and my partner served them to me in identical cups so I didn't know which was which.
Results, roughly
Day 1 and day 7: I couldn't tell any of them apart. Honestly. I wrote "all good, B maybe slightly sweeter?" which I now think was noise.
Day 14: A started tasting a bit flat. Not bad, just less going on, the acidity was dull. B, C and D were still basically identical.
Day 21: A was clearly the worst, kind of papery at the end. B was okay. C and D were the best and still close to each other, D maybe a touch brighter.
What I'm taking from it
If you get through a bag in two weeks, it doesn't really matter what you do as long as the bag is closed. If a bag lasts you a month or you buy several at once, the freezer works and isn't the flavour killer people warn about, but you need to portion it so you're not thawing and refreezing. The fancy canister was the best value of the lot for normal use.
This is one coffee, one person, one month. Treat it as an anecdote with a spreadsheet attached.