Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

wassap · 28 Oct 2008 at 10:13

Guys, whats the best way to store ground coffee, ive got myself a Aerobie for work, but as I cant grind at work i need a way of taking in a weeks worth of ground coffee with me, what kind of container should i use?

Ive also ditched my cheapo espresso maker, and got a Gaggia Evolution, I just couldnt justify the outlay on the classic.But I had to get rid of the Morphy thing, god it was crap.

For those looking for a good grinder, get the Dualit, and mod it, it really goes very very fine and does give a consistent grind, ive got it grinding finer than salt/sugar now.Google/youtube Solis 166 grinder mod for info.

Mint_Sauce · 28 Oct 2008 at 10:36

Probably grinding it and then putting it in one of those air tight pop top jar things, that old people use for jams, you know the kind, with the rubber seal around the glass lid. One of those would probably be the closest you'll get to keeping the ground coffee as fresh as possible.

NickK · 28 Oct 2008 at 11:15

Mint_Sauce said:
Probably grinding it and then putting it in one of those air tight pop top jar things, that old people use for jams, you know the kind, with the rubber seal around the glass lid. One of those would probably be the closest you'll get to keeping the ground coffee as fresh as possible.

Also perhaps storing in a set of them. That way you don't have to open the entire batch each time. Although there's a saying:

Green beans: 12 months
Roasted beans: 12 days
Ground beans: 12 minutes

You're likely only to get crema in the first day or two but it will infinitely better than preground at the super market.

Scottland · 28 Oct 2008 at 11:18

I buy ground sometimes because my grinder isn't up to much, and I can go through a bag in about 10 days. After the first few days it loses it's freshness but it's still fine upto a week IMO. I store it in those glass jars as described above, about 99p from Ikea.

netby · 28 Oct 2008 at 11:28

something like this

ahh, and put it on the fridge,if you have one over there,cause the colder the coffee was the longer it lasts

last Friday I finally order a "Kaffeemühle Brasilia mahagonifarben ",from Zassenhaus-shop.de , after looking a lot on the bay, but i think I will be safer with a brand new one :cool:

but when I order they have a 1 to 3 day shipping time ,and after I put the order they have changed it for 4 to 6 day

manveruppd · 28 Oct 2008 at 12:33

netby said:
ahh, and put it on the fridge,if you have one over there,cause the colder the coffee was the longer it lasts

There was a huge flamewar over this issue for ages over at coffeegeek.com actually. Still to this day don't know who was right. The argument was that lower temperatures encourage condensation, which is worst for the coffee.

Scottland · 28 Oct 2008 at 13:09

What about in the freezer then?

knowlesy · 28 Oct 2008 at 13:16

Azza said:
*raises eyebrow*

+ a wtf

ThriceNightly · 28 Oct 2008 at 16:39

Scottland said:
What about in the freezer then?

read a scientific study on home barista and it's perfectly acceptable to store beans in air tight container within the freezer.

i keep a few days supply out of the freezer in airtight container and grind on demand

ThriceNightly · 28 Oct 2008 at 16:42

netby said:
something like this

nice container - the one i have is much larger perhaps a bit too large

Scottland · 28 Oct 2008 at 16:51

They do them in a variety of sizes in Ikea, the one I have takes just the right amount for a 250g bag of beans or ground.

Raymond Lin · 28 Oct 2008 at 21:40

I keep my coffee in a same designed jar from Starbucks, costs about £9 or something. Really good actually. In there now is 250g of beans (Bolivia Machacamarca) from Hasbean, it fits perfectly. Funny though a same weight bag from Starbucks can fill the jar more to the brim.

Siliconslave · 29 Oct 2008 at 09:39

i got one of these a while back:

its basically a jar you can suck all the air out of with the pump, i tend to keep about two weeks worth of coffee in it and the rest in the freezer

seems to extend the life of the beans pretty well, only start seriously losing crema after about a month...

netby · 29 Oct 2008 at 10:35

Siliconslave ,that one wins thread
High Tech container

Raymond Lin · 29 Oct 2008 at 11:07

ingenius idea, but that's a lot of work to seal the coffee after every drink !

Siliconslave · 29 Oct 2008 at 11:31

Raymond Lin said:
ingenius idea, but that's a lot of work to seal the coffee after every drink !

its actually not too bad, takes about 30 seconds during which I'm waiting for the machine to warm up etc anyhows so no loss

There is some argument suggesting that repeatedly removing the atmosphere from around the coffee is bad for it, as it sucks away all the aroma or something, but then theres an argument against pretty much everything bar home roasting on demand

i do kind of fancy one of these for breaking up a large batch into store-able sections, but its a little on the pricey side and would just clutter up the kitchen

Raymond Lin · 29 Oct 2008 at 12:01

I can finish a bag of 250g in about 3/4 weeks anyway and I keep the jar in the fridge as well. I do notice the last week's espresso are "less good" but it's easy just clip on/off the jar really.

Flibster · 29 Oct 2008 at 12:57

Siliconslave said:
i got one of these a while back:

its basically a jar you can suck all the air out of with the pump, i tend to keep about two weeks worth of coffee in it and the rest in the freezer seems to extend the life of the beans pretty well, only start seriously losing crema after about a month...

Where did you get that from?

I was always told that taking all the air out drew the CO2 out of the beans faster and made then go stale quicker. Was best to put them in a pressurised vessel with nitrogen or another inert gas.

Thats not really practical though.

netby · 29 Oct 2008 at 13:54

after I get my Zassenhaus grinder ( it´s on it´s way, right now, by DHL),I think I will try that cheap "home made" coffee roaster with that pop corn popper by Severin (I have already seen some small appliances from them in some supermarkets)

http://www.uk.digiserve.com/mentor/ids/coffee.htm

Siliconslave · 29 Oct 2008 at 13:55

its called a Vacuvin 28834 Coffee Saver (google will fine it for you), I've heard similar things about storing in a vacuum, but then i've also heard an equal number of arguements for it and tbh i've not had a problem with this as a method of storage so far

as for storing in nitrogen... i wonder if you could build some funkey system with those sodastream refills....