M14 Forum

Earthquake · February 7th, 2012, 04:48 PM

OK
I really cant start my day with out my coffee, I have been researching it online and the best thing I can find is store green beans and roast them myself but they say the green beans will not last more then about three years even if kept frozen. This is not really a option for me, I was thinking about freeze dried coffee. I know they put it in MRE's and they will last 10 years + if kept below 30°. Might as well consider tea mixes too.
Any body have any thoughts about this?

Casey

Don · February 7th, 2012, 05:01 PM

Instant coffee is high vacuum freeze dried. So, as long as it is not introduced to moisture, then it will last. I've drank freeze dried coffee that was about 5 years old. The temperature never got below 32 and was as high as 102. If memory serves it was Maxwell House.

Storage life for all teas and cocoas can be extended by using desiccant packets or oxygen absorbing packets, and by repackaging the items with a vacuum sealing machine. Don

adrbe · February 7th, 2012, 05:02 PM

You're on the right track. If you want fresh coffee, then green beans and self-roasting is the only way to go. You're really just going for taste, and not nutrition, so the shelf life is a bit questionable, as it usually pertains to loss of nutritional value.

I'd say the shelf life of the beans depends on how long they will last without rotting, and I'm willing to bet that is more than 3 years if stored without oxygen, light or extreme heat. However, I don't know for sure.

As for freeze-dried coffee, I have used some from an open container that was stored in my fridge for a couple years and it still tasted fine and I didn't get sick. For storage purposes, freeze-dried seems the most practical.

huntinghawk · February 7th, 2012, 05:06 PM

I keep roasted coffee beans. I've pulled out "tins" of roasted coffee beans from buckskinning that were atleast 10 years old which were fine.

HH

jake2far · February 7th, 2012, 05:10 PM

Food grade metalized mylar bags are the very best for long term storage, you can purchase them from an LDS Cannery in your area. Use oxygen absorbers which you can get at the same location.
Getting all the oxygen out will help, the very best would be a Nitrogen/Carbon dioxide mixture, 75% N2 25% CO2.

Temperature and lack of atmosphere will give the longest storage, the bean will also change the storage time, different beans will have different storage shelf life. I don't remember which ones last longest.

Jim

huntinghawk · February 7th, 2012, 05:34 PM

Green coffee beans are ofcourse, raw. Raw stuff spoils/rots quicker then cooked stuff. Roasted coffee beans are cooked & that hard, outer shell protects them.

HH

Seventh Fleet · February 7th, 2012, 05:38 PM

Just as a test, I recently opened a can of coffee that I'd had in my preps since 1991 and it was still drinkable. In fact my oldest son who recently got out of the Navy told me that he'd drunk far worse coffee in the USN.

7th

Sweets · February 8th, 2012, 07:00 AM

I've had jars of freeze dried go diamond-hard solid over time, apparently from moisture getting in somehow. So I would buy tins of coffee (tins, not plastic). I've had some acceptably good cups from cans of ground stuff that were accidentally stored for many years- you do lose some flavour however. If anyone made canned beans, I'd buy those.

It's worth considering the results of caffeine withdrawal when prepping- most people get severe headaches. I've read news stories about groups setting out on fasts and so on, highly publicised events where many or even most had to drop out because they couldn't handle the headaches.

Philz M1A · February 8th, 2012, 07:05 AM

Great thread as I've been considering this topic every morning while making my cup of joe. I guess a combination of coffee grounds (tin cans) and instant coffee would be best? I'm thinking storage in the basement, a cool dry area.

Coffee is great to have, although I don't need it. I can quit anytime I want. :)

Mindfield · February 8th, 2012, 07:07 AM

Doesnt Folgers etc come in big ole cans sealed with a pull tab and a tupperwear lid? Seems that would keep forever

Philz M1A · February 8th, 2012, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mindfield

Doesnt Folgers etc come in big ole cans sealed with a pull tab and a tupperwear lid? Seems that would keep forever

You would think so, but many of the printed expiration dates are only about a year out. I'm betting you could crack those suckers open in 5 years without issue.

Albud3 · February 8th, 2012, 08:01 AM

I recently read or saw somewhere that coffee packed in the old solid metal cans should have an indefinite shelf-life. Don't know about the new plastic or cheap composite 'cans' as I believe they're not as impermeable as the metal cans. The vacuum-packed bags should last fairly long as long as the material used is high quality, but again you might have the impermeability problems as the other 'cans'.
I guess only actually storing samples of each for about 4-5 years would answer the question.

DukeRustfield · February 8th, 2012, 08:29 AM

Question: are you talking coffee or caffeine? Or both.

I have doubts, and have read conflicting views, on caffeine "addiction." At one point my doctor told me to give up coffee and that I would go through withdrawal and blah blah. Nothing. No effect whatsoever. I think it depends on the person. But also I don't think caffeine is a narcotic-like substance. Yes, you develop a tolerance. But it drops off very fast. Don't drink coffee for a month and then have a cup and you'll be buzzed.

I take caffeine pills now because it's easier on my stomach and it still wakes me up. Just looking at the latest batch of pills, they have an expiration of 2 years, but you figure that's conservative (they want you to buy more, after all). And those jars come with the oxygen/moisture absorbers. But they aren't vacuum packed. Presumably you could take those pills out and store them much better. But again, that's just for a caffeine fix. You want a double-frothy-mocca-latte, I can't help ya.

jim-analog · February 8th, 2012, 08:35 AM

Greetings,

I'm most certainly a coffee junkie! On the few occasions when I could not have my morning fix (surgeries), I did get awful head aches. Anyway, an unintentional experiment occurred that was somewhat hopeful. Back ground info: A local shop custom roasts beans for me (extra! dark Sumatran), which I keep in the freezer till I'm ready to grind them each morning.

I'd be given some gifts of vacuum sealed foil bags of various types (mostly high quality, special roasts/blends) of roasted beans over the years that ended up in the back of the freezer and forgotten. I ran out of my usual stuff and ground up some beans from the old bags. My guess is they were at least 5 years old, could have been more. Not too bad at all........... definitely did not have the flavor I was accustomed to, but I've certainly had *much* worse coffee at many restaurants. Other than perhaps losing some flavor, no problems.

I think there may still be some misc sealed bags of frozen beans that I'll hold off using to try out in the future. So, my thinking is that if the beans are roasted, vacuum sealed and kept frozen they may well be decent for some time over 5 years.

Regards, Jim

Earthquake · February 8th, 2012, 10:55 AM

Whats funny is, I can drink five cups of coffee and I still fall a sleep at night, but if I dont get my caffeine I get headaches some thing terrible. I have been drinking caffeine products since I was 4 months old and that was 48 years ago, I used to drink soda like it was going out of style now its mostly Iced tea and coffee with a few diet Pepsi a week. [I know, aspartame is bad for you]

Casey