Are you looking for ways to store your coffee longer and you've come across Mylar bags? So, you're wondering, can you store coffee in these and how? We looked into this and here is what we found.
You can store coffee in Mylar bags. Sealed Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers are the best coffee storage for lengthy periods. Mylar is a gas-resistant material with a metallic appearance. When you seal a bag with an oxygen absorber, the coffee is shielded from oxygen, humidity, and light.
So now that you know you can store coffee in Mylar bags, how long do they last? It is also important to know how to properly store them. And what other food can you store in Mylar bags? Read on to know more about these.
How Long Does Coffee Last?
Ground coffee stored properly in an airtight container and kept in a dark, cold, and low-humidity environment can survive 3-5 months past the expiration date before going bad.
Whole coffee beans, on the other hand, can last 6-9 months above their expiration date before becoming bad.
Instant coffee has a shelf life of up to 20 years. Until mold begins to grow, all types of coffee are safe to ingest.
What Type Of Coffee Is Best Stored In Mylar Bags?
You can store any type of coffee in Mylar bags. However, there is one significant limitation to storing coffee beans in Mylar: they must be unroasted green coffee beans.
In addition, instant coffee can last for more than 25 years if you store it the same way.
Why Use Fresh Green Coffee Beans?
The storage life of green coffee beans is longer than that of roasted coffee beans. This is because the roasting procedure develops the beans and breaks down the chemicals that allow them to resist going bad.
Green coffee beans do not decay and can be stored in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers for up to 20 years.
What Are Mylar Bags?
Mylar pouches are made up of several layers of food-grade plastic and aluminum bonded together. Because the food is protected from aluminum by a food-grade plastic lining, it will not react with it. To keep the food inside the bag, Mylar bags provide a good light, moisture, and oxygen barrier.
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How To Store Coffee In Mylar Bags?
If you want your coffee to last for longer periods, storing it in Mylar bags with an oxygen absorber is a good idea. To do this, you can follow these steps:
- Find fresh green coffee beans.
- Prepare everything you need.
- Put oxygen absorbers in a Mylar bag, then fill it with your beans.
- Throw in another oxygen absorber on top of your coffee beans.
- Partially seal the Mylar bag.
- Squeeze excess air from the bag.
- Fully seal the bag with iron.
- Put a label on your Mylar bag.
How Much Coffee Should You Store?
You can save as much or as little as you wish; there are no hard and fast rules. However, if you're preserving more than a few months' worth of coffee, you should divide it into smaller batches. A pail loaded with five coffee bags, for example, would be appropriate.
How Does Improper Storage Affect Coffee?
Improper storage of coffee does affect not only its shelf life but also its taste and freshness.
Even after the recommended shelf life has passed, coffee can be consumed safely. Its flavor and quality, however, will deteriorate over time. It's critical to inspect coffee for symptoms of spoilage before drinking it and to consume brewed coffee with milk within two hours.
What Factors Affect The Shelf Life Of Coffee?
The shelf life of coffee, in general, is affected by these factors:
- heat
- moisture
- light
- oxygen
Now, let's delve into why and how these factors affect a coffee's shelf life.
Heat
The rate of coffee aging is affected by temperature in both chemical and physical ways. Because temperature has a positive correlation with the kinetics of chemical processes, all chemical reactions in coffee are accelerated at warmer temperatures.
Physically, temperature impacts the rate of degassing of volatile chemicals, which alters pressure and concentration gradients between coffee and the external environment.
Moisture
Moisture has a significant effect on coffee aging in general. Storing coffee in a high moisture environment will absorb water and raise its water activity levels, speeding up the loss of volatile components and so lowering its shelf life.
Light
A roasted coffee's exposure to light for an extended amount of time can cause chemical components in the beans to break down. Photodegradation causes the loss of aroma and flavor in coffee, resulting in stale, frequently rotten coffee.
Oxygen
The degassing process exposes the coffee to oxygen (or oxidation), which causes the chemicals in the coffee to alter when oxygen replaces CO2 that has escaped.
In addition, most of the chemicals responsible for the aroma of newly roasted beans are highly vulnerable to oxidation and can be lost rapidly after roasting. Coffee loses its freshness as soon as it comes into touch with oxygen.
What Are Other Storage Method For Coffees?
These are the most recommended coffee storage you can use:
- Freezing
- Oxygen absorbers
- Air-tight buckets
- Vacuum sealing
What Is The Benefit Of Putting Oxygen Absorbers In Mylar Bags?
Using oxygen absorbers can help you keep your food fresher for longer and preserve your non-food goods. Mold, microbial development, discoloration, and fat oxidation can all be prevented by removing extra oxygen from sealed packaging.
Oxygen absorption also keeps the taste, flavor, and nutrients of your foods from deteriorating, and it may be used with almost any food group.
What Other Food Items Can You Store In Mylar Bags?
Storing in Mylar bags should only be with shelf-stable foods with low oil and moisture content. Foods intended for long-term storage should have a moisture level of 10% or less. Examples of these are:
- wheat
- white rice
- beans
- pasta
- oats
- sugar
- flour
As long as the product is fully dry, you can also package dried vegetables and fruit in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers.
You can check this related article if you want to know how to store sugar in Mylar bags: "Can You Store Sugar In Mylar Bags?"
Where To Use Oxygen Absorbers?
There are several ways to use oxygen absorbers. It can be used in both food and non-food storage. Here are some ways to use them:
- incorporate in vacuum sealing
- use in storage containers
- preservation of non-food objects
When vacuum sealing meals, use oxygen absorbers to keep oxygen out of the enclosed vacuum bags. Oxygen absorbers help stop mold and aerobe formation, are non-toxic, and extend the shelf life of your items significantly.
Oxygen absorbers can also be utilized in deli containers, storage containers, and canisters as well. They'll keep the products you don't want to crush fresh by vacuum-sealing them.
The presence of oxygen can ruin historical records, art, and other valuable objects, causing rapid degradation, mildew, mold, and other impurities. Oxygen absorbers, when utilized appropriately, can reduce the oxygen content in the surrounding atmosphere to less than 0.01 percent.
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How Does Freezing Help In Long-term Coffee Storage?
Coffee, like most things, will last longer periods in the freezer. In perfect conditions, coffee will stay several years in the freezer, and because there is very little moisture, you won't have to worry about freezer burn.
However, there are some disadvantages when you store coffee in the freezer. For one, power consumption can become an issue if you want to store coffee for longer periods by freezing. Another issue is coffee's ability to absorb odor from other items stored in the freezer.
Final Thoughts
Proper storage is important if you want your coffee to last long. Although all recommended storage methods are effective, you can still experiment with combining different methods to store your coffee.
If you want to know if you can reuse Mylar bags, you can read this article to learn more: "Can You Reuse Mylar Bags?"
