All coffee is highly perishable. The lifespan of a newly opened bag of coffee is about the same as a newly opened, fresh loaf of bread. If left exposed to air, it will go stale within a few days. This is particularly true of ground coffee since so much more of a ground-up bean’s surface area is exposed to flavor-robbing air.
Ideally, coffee should be removed from an oxygen environment as soon as its roast is complete. But there is a hitch: fresh-roasted coffee lets off a delicious smelling gas for several days after roasting, but this “gassing off” is powerful enough to burst any package containing the coffee. Historically, roasters would let the coffee “gas off” for several days, or would poke holes in their packages to avoid exploding bags. Both packing practices allowed coffee to start going stale.
Our fresh-roasted, coffee beans go straight from the roaster into a vacuum packaging and/or a nitrogen-flushing machine. This removes the oxygen from the freshly roasted beans. On the front of these bags is a built-in, special one-way valve. As the coffee emits gasses, they escape through this valve but no air can get back into the package. This keeps the coffee absolutely fresh until the bag is opened. This process is by far the best way to keep coffee fresh and yields better results than any other packaging method, including nitrogen flushes. However, in order to use a valved bag to its greatest potential, it is necessary to practice strict oversight. While some roasters let freshly roasted coffee sit around in bins before packaging, as soon as roasted coffee is cool enough, we immediately fill and seal valved bags. An enduring legacy of their ongoing commitment to offering the best coffees, the Rogers Family Company is proud to have designed and developed several kinds of vacuum bags.
Unopened bags will keep for about one year. Once the bag’s seal has been broken, flavor loss starts. Once you open the bag, you should keep your coffee inside a reasonably cool, dark cupboard sealed closed with a bag clip. Despite well-intentioned folklore, refrigerating or freezing opened (or unopened) coffee does not extend its shelf life. As soon as a bag is opened and its contents meet the air, oxidation starts and the coffee begins to lose flavor.
