I don’t know about you, but for me its hard to function without at least one cup of coffee in my system. If I don’t get that first cup…well, its just better that I do. This is technically an addiction to caffeine and going through a SHTF scenario at the same time as going through withdrawal, no thanks.

So I looked around for the best way to store coffee for the long term and found some contradicting information. I contacted a family friend, Dave Cook, who owns the Fire Roasted Coffee Company in London Ontario (Canada) for some answers.

In regards to the storing green (unroasted) beans versus roasted beans, Dave had this to say:
“Green coffee is a neutral grain which does not generally deteriorate at all in the first year but slowly degrades after that but most people would not notice especially if it is the only option. Coffee is very easy to roast over open fire…”

I have always been of the opinion that freshly ground coffee tastes much better than when it has been pre-ground and stored that way. Dave agreed: “For grinding there is a variety of hand crank compact grinders and yes, fresh grind is much better as whole bean retains much better flavour as it is one big particle as opposed to many small ones” (Check out this hand grinder I found on Amazon!! https://amzn.to/2xcrf4T )

I asked Dave if storing in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers (like most of us preppers would be doing) is best.
“It is possible to store roasted coffee and in an oxygen deprived environment it will keep reasonable flavour but will degrade rapidly when opened. Heat is actually the biggest enemy to coffee as it oxidizes the naturally present oils and turns them rancid. If cost of inventory is a factor green unroasted coffee is half the price of roasted.”

What would Dave, an expert, store for himself?: “In a perfect world I would store both green and roasted coffee with the roasted filling short term need or if it is unsafe to go outside,  with the green coffee offering long term supply and the ability to enjoy world class coffee in potential world of chaos and social disorder.”

Dave closed by reminding us: “If your readers live in the area of the equator, there also is the opportunity of growing their own or harvesting wild crops.”

I love Dave’s coffees and fully recommend them to anyone! I’d like to thank Dave and the Fire Roasted Coffee Company for answering my questions.

To contact them:
http://www.fireroastedcoffee.com
online@fireroastedcoffee.com
Twitter: @fireroastedcafe
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fireroastedcoffee