FAQ: Why Whole Bean?

Valorie King, Owner & Coffee Maven
Aug 17, 2015
2 min read

Recently we have posted some photos of Lamppost Coffee Roasters around the world. It's so much fun to see the places we end up without ever leaving Bonney Lake. It's also fun to anticipate getting to visit the places where we have new friends. Most recently we ended up in China when a friend of ours went to visit and took along some of the Ethiopia Kafa Forest Kuti Co-op. This, along with multiple conversations over the weekend at Bonney Lake Days, brought up the topic of whole bean vs ground coffee.

(Pictured Left: Lamppost in London)

It's all of about freshness and flavor. Coffee begins to stale and lose its freshness and flavor within a few minutes of being ground. We have done some intentional and unintentional experiments with this concept during our journey into coffee. When we started this journey (many years ago), we used to grind our coffee at night and set the auto brew timer for morning just so we could have coffee as soon as possible after the alarm clock went off. Then there were several nights when we forgot to set up coffee, we had to grind coffee right before brewing, and we noticed a few things. Most noticeably, the fresh ground coffee was so much more aromatic during the brewing process. Aroma translates to flavor, and, OMGoodness, was there ever a difference in flavor! (Pictured Right: Lamppost on vacation)

Next hurdle for me to to overcome was the grinding mess. I still don't enjoy grinding coffee. It makes such a mess. However, the amazing flavor and aroma difference has overcome my mess objection. I started by putting the grinder on a paper towel to catch most of the mess. Now I keep a 2 inch wide pastry or paint brush in the coffee implement drawer to sweep up dry coffee grounds. It's really a minor inconvenience compared to the amazing flavor difference.

Basically, if there is little fragrance to the dry grounds or limited aroma during brewing, the coffee probably stale and the flavor is greatly diminished. Another freshness test is the coffee bloom for regular (caffeinated) coffee. See my blog here on the coffee bloom for more about that. The greater the bloom, the fresher the coffee. For the simple reason of freshness, flavor and aroma, we recommend buying and storing your coffee as whole bean.

Basic Coffee Storage Recommendations - Store coffee:

Whole bean and grind right before brewing.

In a cool dark place like the cupboard and NOT in the fridge or freezer. (This is another day's blog topic.)

In an airtight container. (Storing in our recyclable brown bags for more than a week does promote staling.)
For about two weeks by purchasing only as much coffee as you can drink in two weeks.

Now it's your turn to venture into coffee... How are you protecting your fresh roasted coffee beans? Will you be changing any part of your coffee rituals or routines?