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This Will Change How You Store Coffee — Transcript

by Lance Hedrick · 4,088 words · 585 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00You just bought a [clears throat] great
0:00bag of coffee. What do we do now? How do
0:03we store it? Do we toss it into some
0:06sort of canister that we bought at a
0:07HomeGoods store? Do we take it out and
0:09single dose it into little vials, vacuum
0:11seal it into pieces of plastic, chuck it
0:14in the freezer? What are we to do? In
0:17today's video, we're going to look at
0:18exactly that by pouring over the most
0:21recent scientific literature over coffee
0:23storage and resting. We will make some
0:25conclusions on what the best bet is for
0:27you to do whenever you buy a new coffee.
0:31We are fighting essentially three things
0:33whenever we take our bag of coffee. One
0:35is oxygen. Two is moisture and three
0:39would be the loss of volatile organic
0:40compounds which are just through
0:42chemical changes.
0:44You have oxygen obviously in your bag
0:46right when it arrives. With that over
0:48time, even if it's just a little trace
0:49amount, it can oxidize those beans.
0:52Oxidation deteriorates the flavor. It
0:55can cause rancidity in oils with darker
0:57roasted coffees, but it can also just
0:59lessen the vibrancy of your coffee and
1:01cause a staling type flavor to go on.
1:04Coffee is hyroscopic. Moisture uptake
1:07can deteriorize the coffee itself and
1:09alter its flavor and aroma chemistry
1:11altogether. Then lastly is just volatile
1:14organic compound loss. And this will
1:17happen over time as chemical changes
1:19compound with time. Of course, different
1:21roast levels, different varieties,
1:23different densities, different activity
1:25levels inside the bean will all affect
1:26the rate at which this happens. But you
1:28put a coffee in a perfectly sealed, it
1:31is going to change greatly over 6
1:32months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years. And
1:34that is because there are going to be
1:36changes going on within the bean
1:37regardless of intrusion by oxygen or
1:40vapor itself.
1:42Temperature itself is actually kind of
1:44the dial that can increase or decrease
1:46the speed with which this happens. You
1:48put something in a hard environment, all
1:50these reactions will happen much more
1:52abundantly and quickly. You cool it down
1:54and it slows down.
1:58Now, of course, when we get a coffee, we
2:00have to let it rest. Now, you may say,
2:02"What do you mean we have to let it
2:03rest? Why can't we drink it? Isn't fresh
2:05best?" Back in the day, when I say back
2:07in the day, I mean a few decades ago,
2:09you go to a store and you could have
2:10coffee that was roasted 6 months ago,
2:12one year ago, two years ago. People were
2:14buying it, noticing it was terrible. And
2:16the idea of fresh as best came from
2:17pushing back against roasters that were
2:19allowing their coffees to sit on the
2:21shelves for so long because you would
2:23have rancidity of oils through
2:24oxidation.
2:26It's not very hard to notice with a dark
2:27roast that's two years off roast versus
2:29a fresh roast. And they wanted fresh.
2:31And then came this movement of fresh is
2:32best, which still plagues us today. And
2:34the reason I use the word plague is a
2:36lot of us now have moved towards lighter
2:38and lighter roasted coffees. Now these
2:40lighter roasted coffees, it's a
2:41disservice to them to drink them so
2:43quickly off roast. Now, of course,
2:45different roast profiles will degass at
2:47different rates. In fact, in a paper
2:49called gravimetric method to assess
2:51degassing of roasted coffee by Dr. Samos
2:53Smur at all, they look at different
2:55roast profiles and how they're
2:57degassing. There is a lot more CO2 built
3:00up in darker and darker roasted coffees,
3:02but they also have a much higher rate of
3:05expulsion of said gases. In lighter and
3:07lighter roasted coffees, there's less
3:09CO2 created, but it takes longer for it
3:11to come out. There are smaller pores due
3:12to less heat exposure. So it can take
3:14longer for you to degass a light roast
3:16coffee than a much lighter roasted
3:18coffee. And they actually track this
3:19over many many days and months recording
3:22by hours.
3:24Even with the papers that Samo has
3:26helped on where they've done light
3:27roast, that light roast is not as light
3:29as some of the coffees that are being
3:30roasted nowadays that are trying to
3:32preserve teroir and volatile organic
3:34compounds to the best of their ability.
3:36So science is unsure as to what may be
3:39going on when you rest coffees longer.
3:41But what is sure is even with those
3:42longer rested coffees, there is more
3:44volatile organic compound loss. When you
3:46rest a coffee 4 weeks versus 12 weeks,
3:49there will be more loss. Even if you
3:50have a perfectly sealed bag, it will be
3:52lost into the head space. You open it
3:54up, the aroma is gone. You have a
3:56one-way valve. You push it, you smell
3:57it, while you're smelling it, that means
3:59it's no longer in the bag. I see too
4:02often people recommending a certain
4:03roster for 3 months. That doesn't even
4:05make sense because that that roaster
4:08roasts differently for all their beans
4:09and their different beans, have
4:10different densities, different
4:11varieties. There's differences. Resting
4:13right now is purely conjecture. So, I
4:15wouldn't put your eggs all in one
4:17basket. Do it based off of what you
4:18like. Everything else we have a bit more
4:19of a scientific backing for. There are
4:22different types of bags. And when I say
4:24different types, I mean the materials of
4:26the bag itself. We have different ones
4:28that are coming out recently that are
4:30biodegradable like PLA, LDPE, which is
4:33really thin type of plastic. We have
4:34different styles of plastics that are
4:36not recyclable. We also have some foil
4:37laminates, metalized plastics in order
4:39to give different options to people who
4:41want to package their coffees
4:43differently. What the bag is made out of
4:45actually will dictate how well it's
4:47going to store the coffee. So, this is
4:49something that I've been getting really
4:50into in recent months, and that is the
4:52transmission rates of oxygen and water
4:54vapor through different bag types.
4:58Typically, when you look at a bag
5:00company, you can request third-party
5:01laboratory results in order to verify
5:03the claims made by the company to see
5:05what these transmission rates are. And
5:06it's typically measured at various
5:08extreme temperatures and humidities in
5:10order to understand how quickly oxygen
5:12and water vapor can make it through that
5:14bag in order to affect the life of the
5:16coffee. So, if we're just storing
5:18something and not touching it, the best
5:20way to not allow more things to come in
5:22would be obviously metal and glass.
5:24Those are essentially impenetrable.
5:26you're not really going to get any
5:27through them, but then you have a rigid
5:28structure. You have something like a
5:30foil laminate, which would be a bag
5:32similar to like this because metal is
5:34incredibly incredibly effective. But
5:36what a lot of companies tend to air for
5:38is something that's more recyclable or
5:40something biodegradable. Sadly,
5:42biodegradable has by far the worst
5:45transmission rates for both oxygen as
5:47well as water vapor. Now, this is just
5:50getting too much into the weeds and
5:51you're like, I'm not going to ask my
5:52provider what they're using, and that's
5:54fair enough. So instead of understanding
5:56all the nuances there because that
5:57shouldn't be on you to understand. That
5:59should be on roasters to put their own
6:00research in in order to get the best bag
6:02for what they're wanting and for the
6:03planet, let's figure out how to optimize
6:05what we already have because we're not
6:06going to change based off the bag.
6:08Right. Right now, even with bags, we
6:11have one thing that came out some
6:13decades ago, which is the one-way valve.
6:16With darker roasted coffees, which
6:18produce a lot more CO2, you put that
6:20into a bag, the bag will expand and
6:22could pop. And so the way they would get
6:24rid of that is by adding this valve. Now
6:26essentially pressure would open up that
6:27valve and allow the CO2 that was filling
6:29the head space to escape. As it CO2 is
6:32releasing through here so that your bag
6:33doesn't pop, you're also losing volatile
6:35aromatics which is not ideal. In
6:38addition to that, based off of a recent
6:40statistic shared by Aliqu Brews, they
6:42show that up to 6% of all valves
6:44actually fail in their duty. With
6:47lighter roasted coffees, these are
6:48largely not needed and in fact harmful
6:51to your coffee itself. CO2 actually acts
6:54as a great protective barrier inside the
6:55bag to retain volatiles and to stop
6:57oxidation from happening.
7:02One big big tip that I can give you all
7:04that I've been practicing for years is
7:06just simply taping over the valve.
7:09If you're looking to do long-term
7:10freezing or something, you may want to
7:12look into a more sturdy tape or
7:13something that fits this a little bit
7:14better. But I've actually done just
7:16simple scotch tape for a long time and
7:18I've never seen any type of leaks with
7:20my seals. This does a good job and it it
7:22holds the barrier closed.
7:25I would recommend if you were a light or
7:27ultra light roast drinker to tape your
7:29valves immediately upon reception. If
7:32you enjoy more medium or darker, I would
7:34maybe let it off gas for about a week
7:36and then I would tape the valve. I think
7:37taping valves are always good practice
7:40because again CO2 actually helps be a
7:42buffering layer and reduce the amount of
7:44oxidation that is going on inside of
7:46your bag.
7:48In addition to that, we need to ensure
7:49that we have a realable top. Now there
7:51is actually an interesting study that
7:53again Dr. Samoske, one of the goated
7:56coffee scientists did where they were
7:58looking at different efficacies of bags
7:59in storing coffee. So they took the same
8:01coffee and they stored it in a bag with
8:03a screw lid. They also stored it in a
8:05canister. The best one as far as the
8:06metrics they used in order to check on
8:08freshness of the coffee was the one with
8:10the screw lid. And the reason for this
8:12is because if you open just a little
8:15bit, you have less oxygen going in. And
8:17then one of the worst performers was
8:19that where they put coffee into a
8:21canister. That's because you're opening
8:23a bag, you're transferring completely,
8:24and then you're using a canister that is
8:26going to continuously have the full
8:28thing open when you open it up to get
8:30your dose out.
8:34The smaller the opening, the less
8:35frequent you open it, the less oxygen is
8:37going in. The less oxidation, the better
8:39the taste of the coffee.
8:43With bags, you can actually push out
8:45that oxygen before you seal it off
8:47altogether. Yes, there will be new
8:48oxygen in it daily, but that's why we
8:50recommend to drink coffee as quickly as
8:52possible.
8:54A lot of people I've noticed online will
8:56rebag into Myar bags or to other bags.
9:00Myar are not that great. they're not
9:02much better than a lot of the bags that
9:03people have been replacing based off of
9:04transmission rates. If you do get a bag
9:07that you notice doesn't do very well,
9:09I've got a solution for you.
9:11Simply take your bag, make sure the
9:13valve is taped, make sure it's sealed
9:15really well. This is something a lot of
9:16people don't do is really ensure the
9:18seal is good. Then simply
9:21take a ziplo. Yes, zip locks don't have
9:24great transmission rates. They're fine.
9:25They're they're made for food, so
9:27they're not bad. And then we have a
9:28double seal on the zip lock. Since
9:31they're not actually touching the
9:32coffee, you can keep reusing these until
9:34the end of time. For the record, for
9:36those of you ultra light and light roast
9:38drinkers, I've yet to see a metalized
9:40plastic or a foil laminate or even an
9:42LDP with an EVO layer. I've yet to see
9:45that from any of them. So, all of them
9:47have somewhat of a transmission rate
9:49relative to the best there is out there.
9:51So, all of them could use a plastic bag
9:53for your normal storage.
9:57Let's say you have a fellow Atmas or an
9:58Airscape. Take your bag, which is better
10:01than the fellow Atmos or the Airscape,
10:03put the bag inside of the Airscape or
10:06the Atmas, and then do your
10:07depressurization or your Airscape
10:09plunge. That is going to give you also
10:11that double protective layer, and then
10:13you don't have to waste those. I think
10:15that's a great way to do it as well.
10:17What you're wanting is for those
10:19volatile organic compound chemical
10:20changes to occur. You're not wanting
10:22oxygen to make those changes or vapor to
10:24make those changes. So to ensure you're
10:27not getting some sort of stailing
10:28elements based off of a seal or a bad
10:31whatever. Boom. Toss in a plastic bag or
10:33toss it in a an atmas. This is going to
10:36change everything. I promise you. Give
10:38those things a try.
10:41I saw a coffee and I'm like, "Oh, I have
10:43to have it." But I have six bags open
10:44right now. I want that bag, though. You
10:46don't want those to go stale. And you're
10:47freaking out about the time. Time is an
10:50enemy. What do I do? Freeze it.
10:53The greatest way to store your coffee is
10:56something you already have, and that is
10:57a freezer. Now, people ask all the time
10:59about how to approach a freezer. Simple.
11:02Tape your valve, toss it in a plastic
11:05baggie, toss in the freezer, [snorts]
11:07then you can let it sit as long as you
11:09would like, and when you're ready, take
11:12it out, let it thaw until it's room
11:14temperature. Maybe let it thaw 12 hours,
11:16you know, maybe let it thaw a full day.
11:17Essentially, once you thaw it down, you
11:19can use it like it's a regular bag.
11:22Let's say the roster doesn't pack with
11:23inert gases. Most don't. Well, doesn't
11:26really matter. If you get down to8
11:27Celsius, like a typical freezer, you
11:29have slowed down 12.5 times the rate of
11:33which CO2 has been emitting. And that is
11:36again a number from Dr. Sos Murky that
11:37has been that's published again. We'll
11:39have that linked down below. If you go
11:41down to -4050, you've essentially
11:43stopped oxygen the movement of oxygen.
11:47There isn't really any structural
11:49changes with the freezing and expansion
11:51of water in the bean itself. Doesn't
11:52really do anything. The biggest thing is
11:54to thaw your coffee before grinding.
11:56Now, there's a full paper on the effects
11:58of grinding frozen coffee at different
12:00temperatures, etc. That is linked below
12:02with Henden and Maxwell Dashwood, etc.
12:04So, they saw no structural changes in
12:06the bean itself. You're able to just
12:07continue on your merry way with a coffee
12:10bag that's been frozen in time. Of
12:12course, in their paper, they do talk
12:13about the potential benefits of higher,
12:15you know, acidity and all these
12:16different things with frozen coffee and
12:17and tasting it, but that's all
12:19theoretical. I have never actually
12:21noticed better tasting cups from
12:23grinding from frozen than grinding from
12:25thawed. That's an easy test you can do
12:27at home and see what you prefer. Have
12:28them single dose, take one vial out, let
12:30it thaw for an hour, and then when
12:31you're going to grind the thawed one,
12:33just grind a frozen one due to bruise
12:34and taste. Do that a few times, get some
12:36repetitions under your belt, see what
12:37you prefer. They do grind differently,
12:39so you have to take that into account
12:40and dial in differently. But anyway,
12:42that's another thing altogether.
12:45The reason I recommend putting in a
12:47ziplo before is not because we need more
12:49protection in a freezer. It's cuz when
12:50you take it out, the temperature and the
12:53humidity of the air is going to touch
12:55the cold and want to condensate. If we
12:57have our bag out and you happen to have
12:59a biodegradable bag, you could actually
13:01have, you know, condensation on the bag
13:03itself and it could increase potentially
13:05the ingression of vapor into the bag.
13:08Some will say, "Well, what if I freeze
13:10it and I dose it every day?" You don't
13:12want to do that. You take out frozen
13:14coffee, you open it, you pour it.
13:16Humidity from your kitchen goes into the
13:18bag. You'll cause little bits of water
13:20inside and over time that's going to
13:22cause issues. You're increasing the
13:23amount of water and oxygen inside and
13:25that's not ideal. Yes, it's in a
13:26freezer, but then you can crystallize
13:28water in there and that will affect the
13:30coffee. If you're someone that wants to
13:31freeze your whole bag and then open it
13:33and consume, you can freeze it right on
13:35arrival and then let it fall thaw
13:37thoroughly and then let it rest. Or you
13:39can rest, toss it in the freezer, let it
13:41thaw, and then start consuming. It's
13:42really up to you when it's like that.
13:44But if you're grinding from frozen, you
13:45do need to let it rest prior to putting
13:47it in. That's because freezing will slow
13:49down exponentially that aging process.
13:54Another video where I read like 14
13:56papers for you all. I would love it if
13:58you'd hit the like and subscribe. Let's
14:00get on with the video. One of the top
14:02rules I can give you in this video is
14:03when you open your bag of coffee to
14:06drink, consume as quickly as possible
14:08for heightened experience.
14:11There was this huge epidemic, I'm going
14:13to call it, of people that were making
14:15it a necessity to vac your bags. Vac
14:17sealing is good and the material is
14:19solid as far as transmission rates, but
14:21you're also sucking out some vol organic
14:23compounds. This is something Dr. Smurk
14:25talks about quite frequently.
14:28If you want to be able to taste it at
14:29different dates, then I would highly
14:31recommend single dosing. Now, there are
14:33a couple of options. You of course have
14:34the expensive option with the Weber
14:36dials, and they have a one-way valve on
14:38the top, or you can do something a bit
14:39more simplistic like that of centrifuge
14:41tube. Now, the thing to note is these
14:43are both PP. They're polyropylene, which
14:46means they have bad oxygen transmission
14:48rates. They're about 10 20 times less
14:50effective than a decent coffee bag.
14:54I tend to like tubes that do have a
14:56screw on cap because you'll have to
14:58replace seals every few years with these
15:00and the valve can also not be as as
15:02helpful. I would not necessarily do dose
15:05coffee into here and then just let it
15:06sit on your table for 6 weeks. If you
15:08want to be able to maintain something
15:09for a long time, you could single dose
15:11into something like this, toss it in the
15:12freezer, and then just let it thaw for
15:14about 45 minutes to an hour before you
15:16grind. Or you can grind direct from
15:17frozen, which is what a lot of people
15:19do. The big issue again is if you do let
15:21it thaw, do not open it. you're going to
15:23have water that comes on the outside
15:24from it being frozen and condensation.
15:26It won't affect what's inside.
15:28Now, of course, when you're filling into
15:30tubes, just make sure you don't have a
15:31lot of head space. So, I would recommend
15:32either getting tubes that fit the volume
15:34of coffee that you typically like to
15:36dose or just dose till it's full and
15:38just make brews with that amount. When
15:40you have a little bit of head space,
15:41there will be oxygen.
15:43Oxygen does move slower. We're not sure
15:45the exact amount slower. We do know CO2
15:47releases 12 and a half times slower at
15:4918 based off of Dr. Smart case studies.
15:51That doesn't say about volatile release
15:53or oxygen though. But anyway, we can
15:55assume that this is going to be a lot
15:57less of a problem, this much head space
16:00at 18 than it is at room temperature.
16:02What you need to look at is can they go
16:04to sub40 sub50 Celsius. You need to make
16:07sure that they're capable of deep
16:08freezing. Not all centrifuge tubes are
16:10the same, but most of them are PP the
16:12same as the Weber vial. So, you're going
16:15to have similar efficacy depending on
16:16the thickness of the tube that you get.
16:18Of course, if it's half the thickness,
16:19it'll be half as effective. But
16:21regardless, if you're deep freezing at
16:22-4050, it really doesn't matter the
16:24thickness. It's when you're at that 18,
16:26you may see a bump in in quality. If you
16:28have a millimeter versus half a
16:29millimeter thickness,
16:36that was a lot. And it's because I
16:37wanted to cover everything that was
16:39available scientifically out there in
16:41order for to best inform you on what you
16:43should do when you have your coffee.
16:45Tape over that valve. All right? at once
16:47the CO2 has, you know, released as much
16:49as you need it to release. If it's still
16:51expanding a lot, okay, maybe you need to
16:53let it go a little bit more. But if
16:54you're a lighter ultra light drinker,
16:55tape over that valve. Ensure the seal is
16:57really good. If you have issues with
16:59seals ever in your life, use a secondary
17:01one. Zip lock with the double seal and
17:03you're going to be so good to go. Not
17:05only is it giving you a piece of mind
17:06that you've sealed it completely, it's
17:08giving enough of a barrier that it's
17:09increasing the efficacy of the inside
17:12one versus the outside air. Cooler is
17:15always better and will always slow it
17:16down to hotter. If you're in a hot
17:18climate, try to keep it in as cool of a
17:19place as possible. Just make sure you're
17:21not rapidly changing temperatures to
17:22cause any type of condensation because
17:24water does affect the coffee. Freezing
17:27stops it in time. The number one way in
17:29order to preserve your coffee. There's
17:31nothing else like freezing. It literally
17:33slows everything down. The issue is you
17:35cannot let the cold beans hit the humid
17:37hot environment outside of your freezer,
17:40which is low humidity and low
17:41temperature. A cursory knowledge on bag
17:44type can be helpful because then you can
17:46know if you need to really baby a bag
17:48versus not baby a bag. But thankfully
17:50the quality of bags are getting better
17:51and better and hopefully and what I've
17:53read in some research papers in the next
17:543 to 5 years biodegradable bags will be
17:57able to play with the big boys based off
17:58of some nano coating technology that is
18:00coming out in order to help with the
18:02efficacy of transmission rates. So
18:04hopefully we'll see in 3 to 5 years
18:05biodegradable bags that are just as
18:07effective as something like metallized
18:09plastic or even foil laminate. Fact
18:12sealing solid. They're it's good. I
18:13think for me it's a waste of time. I
18:15don't really ever use it. And the the
18:16fact that it could potentially be
18:17worsening the coffee, I don't really
18:19drive with the fact that it just doesn't
18:20really give me anything great. There's
18:23no real [music] point in it. Everything
18:25is about temperature. Everything
18:26everything.
18:28That is the Bible for storage and
18:31resting as far as what we know
18:33scientifically without much conjecture.
18:35I hope this was helpful. I hope that you
18:37are able to enjoy your coffee a lot
18:38better and you can feel more confident
18:40buying a lot of coffee and storing it
18:42without the fear that it's not going to
18:43taste good in a year's time or in two
18:45years time. I'd love to hear your
18:46thoughts down below. If you have already
18:48implemented some of these things, let me
18:49hear your reaction. And if you're
18:50curious about trying some of these, let
18:51me know. And if there's anything that I
18:52missed, please let me know down below.
18:54But again, check out the work cited in
18:56the caption below. You can read these
18:57papers on your own. And um yeah, I hope
19:00you enjoyed the video. With all that
19:01being said, I hope that you store
19:03beautiful coffee and hope that you brew
19:05something tasty today. [music] And
19:07cheers.

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This page contains the full transcript of This Will Change How You Store Coffee by Lance Hedrick, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 4,088 words across 585 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

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Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

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