Prepper Brew: Storing Coffee Long Term

Most of us enjoy, and LOVE a cup of Coffee in the morning, This is a relatively new phenomenon, as Coffee was once one of the most sought after and desirable commodities in the world and could make a colonial economy very rich if the crop was good!

Coffee is really at its peak at about 24-72 hours after roasting, so usually the Folgers we get and keep in our cupboard all month really isn’t what its “meant to be” but that’s what many of us have grown to like.  In a prepper mentality, Coffee will be an EXCELLENT commodity as well as a great morale booster, but we have to resign ourselves to the fact that we wont be getting that “fresh brewed” taste after a while with our stored coffee.  However Beggars can’t be choosers, and Preppers can’t be picky.

As is with Brown Rice, Coffee has many natural oils, which is one of the reasons they are both delicious, however it is these oils that go rancid quickly.  If you expose more of the oil the more chance there is for “staleness” to affect the taste, thus whole beans are best for long-term storage.

• Whole Green Beans can stay pretty fresh in a glass, metal or foil lined container for about a year without freezing, in the freezer however they can last several years.  The key as always is to keep air and moisture away from it

• vacuum Sealed Cans of Ground Coffee can keep for a year or two in 59 degrees or lower temps.  The oils that come out when ground often don’t remix well after freezing and can make the taste “off”.  You can also get those vacuum sealed “bricks” in mylar foil, and they work as well.  Just keep them in 59 degrees of lower, freezing if you can (and are concerned with lifetime over taste)

• Instant coffee is not for me, well in a perfect world, but they are an option.  Kept in 59 or lower you can reasonably keep this for up to a decade.

You can buy Whole Green Coffee beans off Amazon and package them yourself for long-term storage, or you can buy them already canned from our friends at READY MADE RESOURCES.

You can also Pail the Coffee beans, however I would on top of using a food grade pail, put the Beans a mylar bag as well and seal it.  You can purchase Large 10lb bags of Brazillian unroasted Beans, and put them in a mylar pouch, seal it with O2 absorbers and desiccant packets, seal the mylar up, then throw a few more packets in the bucket and then seal that as well.  The Mylar bags in the bucket should be portioned out in weekly or monthly amounts, so that you don’t open a hug pouch of coffee and it starts to go bad, i would seal them in 1 lb increments so to maximize your ability to trade and use as you please.

Of course if you are storing Green Coffee Beans you will need to roast them first before you grind them and brew them, without making this post 3 pages long I will just link to who I learned from HERE.

Once you Roast them, depending on your situation You can use an Electric Grinder, however having a Hand Grinder would be a good Redundant thing to have in your preps.

This one is a neat Cast Iron Coffee Grinder, I don’t have it personally but a friend does, and I love the design.

Notes:

San Marco coffee offers a 25lb Pail of Unroasted Green beans, its pricey at $175 but they claim it will last 10+ years (its in mylar with O2 absorbers and Dessicant Packets)

Truthfully I havent really put any coffee away in my preps, not in any great number, I have a few cans of unroasted beans.  This is something i want to get more of and be prepared for in 2013, but it’s not at the top of my list as of yet.  I love Coffee, but i can live without it (sadly) but i do have some for the barter value…which would be huge, considering there’s not a lot of coffee growers here in the Great White North.