Keep Your Coffee Fresh!

Keep Your Coffee Fresh!

Nothing is better than a fresh cup of coffee. Whether you choose to use drip, espresso, or a french press, you want to keep your carefully selected coffee beans as delicious as the day they were roasted.

From the moment your bag of beans is opened, oxygen and moisture start to degrade the quality of the coffee. That's no good. Here are some tips to keep your bag of magic in the best condition. You can enjoy your coffee just as the roaster intended.

Buy Fresh.

There's a time limit to coffee. Most coffee roasters recommend purchasing coffee regularly, and direct from the roaster if possible. You can find many coffee shops in Dubai using our directory. This will ensure freshness. You don't know how long the coffee at the supermarket has been in transit sitting on the shelf. There are plenty of online suppliers of coffee, from both large and boutique coffee roasters.

Most deliver within a day or two. Going online is a great way to try new beans, support local businesses, and get your coffee delivered straight to your door directly. It will be as fresh as possible.

Buy Small.

Most coffee roasters recommend using your coffee up within a week or two of purchasing. There is a time limit to coffee, so you don't want to purchase more than you need. If you only use one pound per week, then it's better to buy two one-pound bags than one two-pound bag. If you do find yourself with too much coffee, the other tips on this page will help.

Grind Your Own.

Using whole beans and grinding them yourself will improve the quality of your coffee. This isn't an option for everyone, but if you can, try to purchase whole beans and grind them yourself. You want to grind coffee beans " to order". Pre-grinding coffee beans increases the surface area. The large surface area of ground coffee is what allows the hot water to extract all the goodness from the beans the caffeine and the flavor.

Pre-ground coffee, however, is bad news. It allows air to have more access to the delicious oils in the coffee. Air will begin to oxidize and destroy the delicate flavor compounds. The coffee begins to taste stale. Yuck. There is a huge range of coffee grinders available that you can find in our directory in the Consumer Electronics category. There are hulking industrial machines that grind to precision, measuring precise quantities as well as the exact size of the parties. There are smaller machines, perfect for home use.

What you don't want is the generic"coffee grinders" that look like bullet blenders. These chop up the coffee into different sized particles. That will lead to an uneven brew. You want consistency. For the best cup of joe, you want a uniform size of the grind. That type of grinder is fantastic for pulverizing whole spices for use in cooking. Similar to coffee, fresh ground spices have better flavor than pre-powdered. Your food will step up a notch- but back to coffee. If you don't want to invest in a dedicated electric coffee grinder or don't have the bench space for it, there is another option. Manual coffee grinders exist.

These use the power of your muscles to grind the beans. They do result in a good quality grind. The wrist workout is also a great way to get your blood flowing in the morning too, before the caffeine kicks in. Bear in mind that the tips here will work for pre-ground coffee as well. Having said that, it does pay to purchase pre-ground in smaller bags than if it were whole beans.

Bag it Up.

When you purchase coffee, it usually comes in a special bag. There is often a tiny pinprick valve for ventilation. These holes keep oxygen and moisture out, and the goodness in. As soon as you open the bag though, the benefits of this hole disappear. What should you do? When you first open your new bag of coffee beans, split it up. Sealable sandwich or freezer bags are perfect for this. Make sure you split the coffee into a suitable size packages bag is recommended.