Coffee isn’t a food necessity, but if a large-scale disaster were to hit, I wouldn’t want to go without it (and my family certainly wouldn’t want to deal with me going through coffee withdrawal!).
Here are some of the best ways to store coffee, so it lasts years or even decades.
Coffee has very little moisture in it. Because of this, you don’t have to worry about it getting freezer burned. It will stay fresh for years in the freezer.
This isn’t the ideal solution for coffee because there will still be oxygen in the container. However, it will help slow down the oxidation and gassing-off process.
Good-quality coffee comes in vacuum-sealed packaging. This packaging helps protect against oxidation. You can also vacuum seal bulk coffee beans or open packages of coffee to keep it fresh longer.
Nitrogen flushing is a method of removing oxygen from coffee packaging. Very good-quality brands of coffee use this method. It is done immediately after roasting the coffee, so it is stored at its maximum freshness.
Oxygen absorbers are little packets of iron. The iron grabs oxygen molecules. If you put oxygen absorber packets in an air-tight container with coffee, the packets will remove virtually all oxygen and keep the coffee fresh.