If you are a person who loves to brew your coffee in the morning, you will have coffee beans stored at your home. Therefore, you might come across the need to understand whether coffee beans go bad or not.

Shelf life of coffee beans

The shelf life of roasted coffee beans is usually long. That’s because you will be able to find them in their dried form. As a result, there is no risk from yeast, bacteria and mold. They are not in a position to grow on coffee beans due to the dryness.

However, you need to make sure that you are not storing coffee beans on a humid environment. That’s because the humidity of the environment will create a negative effect on them. Hence, you should be mindful about this damage and move forward.

When you are using coffee beans to brew your coffee in the morning, you are concerned about aroma and flavor as well.

This is where you need to understand that the aroma and flavor of coffee beans usually tend to reduce when they are stored for a longer period of time. This can even happen when you keep the coffee beans stored inside an air-tight container for a longer period of time.

Therefore, it is better to go ahead and use the coffee beans as soon as possible. Then you will be able to keep on enjoying the amazing taste and aroma offered by it. Of course, that might not be possible if you have large amount of beans.

And it’s also good to keep in mind that the peak of freshness provided by roasted coffee beans will vary from one product to another.

Where to keep coffee beans?

If you want to ensure optimal freshness and taste, you need to make sure that you are keeping them for no more than one month in your pantry.

If you want to keep them for a longer period of time, you can think about placing them inside the refrigerator or freezer.

Then you will be able to use the coffee beans for a period of around three to six months without experiencing a drop in the quality.

So generally, just keep in mind this checklist when storing coffee:

    • Air-tight container
    • Cold storing place
    • Moisture-free environment

What about the expiration date?

When you take a look at the package of coffee beans, you will be able to see a parameter called “best-by-date”. And sometimes it’s called expiration date. You should always be mindful about this date and use your food products according to that.

Before you buy a package of coffee beans, you need to make it a habit to look for the date they’re going to expire. Then you will be able to understand whether you are getting hands on high-quality coffee beans from the market or not.

Once you open the coffee beans package, you need to store them in an air-tight container. Then you can provide added protection to your coffee beans from moisture. Along with that, you will also be able to use them for a longer period of time as well.

Can you tell if the coffee beans have gone bad?

Since in ideal conditions, coffee beans never spoil, and also they do not rot, it is quite tricky to say whether coffee beans have gone bad or not.

But in case you don’t store coffee beans in an air-tight container, moisture can get into it. As a result, you will be able to see the growth of mold on them. Or else, you will be able to see any other visual changes.

When you see such visual changes on coffee beans, you are strongly encouraged to go ahead and discard all the coffee beans that you have inside the container immediately.

Likewise, you should also double check the smell. If you notice there is something wrong with their smell, make sure you don’t use them.

This way you can make sure you are using the best quality beans for brewing your morning coffee.

As mentioned earlier, the aroma and flavor of roasted coffee beans weaken along with time. If the ideal environmental conditions are not present, this will eventually accelerate. When you brew coffee with such coffee beans, you will notice that you are not getting the perfect taste out of your drink.

On the other hand, you will notice that the smell is not as strong in your coffee as it used to be. In some of the instances, you might even notice that your coffee is tasteless or stale.

When you are experiencing such changes, you shouldn’t use the existing coffee beans. You need to throw them away and replace them with fresh ones.