I get coffee gifted to me somewhat regularly, plus the beans I buy myself. These are just the specialty bags I’ve got going on right now, I have another probably 4-5 bags of commodity coffee as well. I also have another bag of the DeMello (yellow bag with a Tiger on it) but forgot to add it in the picture.
For those who have several bags at once, how do you decide what to brew at any given time? I try to rotate between them, prioritizing the best beans to use them up before they stale, but I don’t have a very good system for it. The two bags of Pilot (Ana Sora and Black Moon) are definitely my nicest and also my freshest, and they’re getting the most attention right now. They’re the ones I’m most worried about going stale. But I have a bunch of other bags too as you can see, and I don’t know how to properly rotate between them. On my days off it’s easier because I might make 4 espressos in one day, but when I’m working it’s usually espresso to wake up and pour over for work, then maybe espresso when I get home but not usually since it’s normally too late. I’m curious if anyone here has a better system for going through lots of bags.
My wife does also drink coffee but usually only one coffee a day, and it’s usually commodity coffee unless she’s not working. Her go-to has been Lavazza Qualità Oro.
I know some people are probably gonna freak out that my coffee is all going to go stale before I can drink it all, and I should only have one bag open at a time and whatever else, but having many options is part of the fun for me. I really enjoy opening the coffee cupboard in the mornings and having a bunch of options, I’m just not very good at then making the decision for which to drink. Coffee is fun, it’s basically my only hobby these days, and tasting different coffees is the most fun part of that. But then when I get to having 7-10 bags open I don’t really know how to drink it all. I should probably just only buy when I’m running low, but that’s not fun. So yeah, probably my own fault, oh well.
It’s like, I go out to a coffee shop, see a bag I might like and impulse buy it, then add it to the collection at home and get decision fatigue. Or sometimes, like in the case of the three bags at the back, I get gifted a tasting set and that’s now three more bags to decide between. My wife also loves trying new coffee so she’ll sometimes see a neat bag or maybe the grocery store has specialty coffee on sale, and sure it’s a bit stale but it might be only $12-15 compared to $22-25 elsewhere so she picks it up and then the collection grows even more. That’s where the DeMello came from, it was from $22 down to $12 and only 5 weeks off roast so she picked it up. But she got two bags and now that’s even more coffee to drink before it stales.
For those with large collections going on, I’d love to see what bags you have going on too. Drop a picture in the comments, I’d love to see.
#1 never open more than one bag at a time.
#2 start with the bag that has the oldest roast date.
#3 tape over the valves of all the unopened bags, put them in individual ziplock bags, and put them in the freezer.
Done.
I freeze mine. Don’t store them near garlic.
Quick question are you getting gifted coffee to influence in here? I know this is a direct question, however as a user of this forum I prefer to know if I am being marketed to.
I appreciate the chat and effort you go into the community, just a question on transparency.
Ah, yeah I see I could’ve worded that better. I meant I get them as gifts from friends or family members, not from roasters. I wish I had a deal with some roasters! That would be nice. But no. Sometimes my dad might go to a roaster and bring me something (and I do the same for him), or a friend might go on a trip and come back with a bag of coffee for me, that sort of thing.
What do you do with the bags you’re not going to get to for a few weeks, is freezing the best thing?
Well I’m using drinking a bit from all bags every week, but I probably should start freezing some stuff.
Not pictured is 20g of a Perc cinnamon coferment and maybe 60g of a B&W decaf sitting next to my grinder.
I don’t think you or I have a problem.
We live in a time of incredible wonder and culinary delight. I’m not going to arbitrarily limit my enjoyment of a frankly cheap hobby. On different days I want different coffees and brew methods. I am incredibly fortunate that I get to pick what I want every day, on average 15-25g. Sometimes I drink the same coffee for a week. Sometimes nothing.
I give away coffee regularly, I don’t get attached to any one coffee to the point of buying multiple bags or keeping it perpetually stocked, and I don’t buy any commodity coffee for my home. I am attentive to dates, but not slavish. If something goes really stale, it was pretty meh.
We can only healthfully consume so much caffeine. In my home I’m not spending that on meh.
I have roughly a 2kg back log of coffee right now. I started a subscription of really nice beans for brewing at home and restocked my daily bean supply for brewing at the office then a deal on some beans with flavors notes I have been chasing came up. I have one bag open at home and one bag open at work. Everything else is in the freezer (tape over the valve and bag inside a ziplock).
I’d love to join a roaster’s subscription service, get the whole curated experience, but right now it would just be too much. I’m in my roaster fling era.
If I was in a decent size city in the USA, I’d probably not bother with a subscription.
I like this insight.
I get caught up in thinking $30 is a lot for a small bag of coffee, but I keep forgetting that $30 on a hobby, especially when it’s my only hobby I routinely spend money on, is actually not bad at all.
I try to choose randomly but I also often take the one I liked last time.
Easy, just mix them all up so you only have one bag!
Simple I ask my service dog. She’s trained to randomly pick out something for me so I stop having choice paralysis. She picks so I don’t have to.
I may need to borrow your service dog.
If you have a dog. It’s easy to train compared to most things. Sense it doesn’t have to be the correct one just have them boop one of them.
Fair. I have two cats, no dogs. I’m pretty sure my cats would just stare blankly at me and then go attack a spring toy or something. Or just ignore me and take a nap.
Yep that’s what my cat does regardless of what I do he is absolutely will not be trained for anything besides harassing me
I don’t. I open one at a time and the rest hang out in the freezer.
Tangentially related, though: I never know how to handle when the end of the current bag has fewer beans than I want to brew.
- Toss them? Seems like such a waste, but I do typically brew single servings, so “brew less” isn’t usually an option
- Make and an ad hoc blend with the start of the next bag? I’m not too good for this but I do want to try the next bag as is; particularly when it’s a new-to-me bean.
- Something else? Interested in suggestions…
Option 2: end of one bag and the beginning of the next for a surprise blend cup.
I am frequently surprised at how good these blends turn out to be.
I more or less do the same, but I always keep a bag of good dark roast in my freezer whose main purpose is to finish off those last remaining lighter-roast beans that aren’t enough for a full brew. I’ve come up with some excellent ad hoc blends that way, while keeping the dark roast more or less constant so I know what to expect.
I’m a fan of mixing dark roast single origin with a light or medium roast single origin, I love the tangy depth it often brings out. I know not everyone likes mixing different roast levels, but I love it, though my main preference is a good medium roast single origin.
I’ve clearly thought about this too hard…
Consistently choose a dose that is a numeral fraction of the whole bag and you will never have the hassle ;)
Some how my 340g bags never seem to land on an even number of 20g brews.
I know it doesn’t make sense but here we are…
Mysteries just keep on piling, what a strange world
You definitely sound like the kind of person who weighs their scoops.
Well, OP too it seems!
Haha! Yup! I kinda love coffee nerds. But I can’t be arsed to be one. Best I can do is resist my wife’s Keurig and insist on grinding my own beans for my aeropress (2 scoops, btw).
Got me: in the office I still perpetrate the sin of going by scoops in the AeroPress 🫣
I usually just brew less for the last bit in the bag regardless, but almost always as a pour over since I’m espresso, puck depth is really quite important and I don’t have any step-down baskets. My brew might only be 5-8g but then I get to make another coffee shortly after (I always use up the last of a bag on a day off for this reason).
Dark and black. That’s how I decide.
I usually only keep a couple open at a time and if I’m feeling undecided, I’ll give them a bit of a sniff and pick the one that smells good to me at the time.
I hear justified caffeine poisoning coming your way! 7 bags, 7 cups, 7 minute.
I decided to limit myself to one or two bags. In the case of two I coin flip.
I try them all. The one(s) with the most fruit, I drink first since those volatiles will diminish fastest. Anything less than awesome gets turned into cold brew.
This is going to curl some nose hairs, but here goes… We got utterly socked in by a blizzard a few years ago and ran out of coffee. In desperation, I dug through the cabinets and found a 2 year old partial bag of light roast that had gotten buried. It… wasn’t bad. Definitely wasn’t good either, but better than nothing and on par with/better than most of what’s available at our big chain grocery store.
Yeah the two I’ve been prioritizing are the most fruit-forward for sure. Unfortunately I don’t enjoy cold brew but really terrible beans get turned into milk drinks.
If the bag is sealed it’s most likely fine. Cafes (at least the ones I worked in) will replace beans if they are more than six months old.
Supermarkets sell beans to us over two years old all the time. Which is wild because I’m in an area of Australia with a ton of local roasters that still their brand cheaper than the supermarket crap.
Rest 10-14 days then freeze. I go bag by bag and don’t jump around because I feel like it takes me about half a bag sometimes just to really get dialed in and then the other half is a celebration of my hard work.
If you like to jump around though I probably wouldn’t freeze to avoid all the in and out. Would consider aloquoting though.
Fair. I pretty much exclusively drink espresso though, and I almost always use the Cafelat Robot which is super forgiving with grind size. As long as I’m in the general ballpark I find I can get a consistently great shot in the end. I also have a note in my phone with all the bags I’ve got and what grind settings I’ve tried, if they’ve been too coarse or fine, etc.
Honestly, I’m not that strict on dates anymore.
Sure, fresh are better, but I can also brew with months old beans and be satisfied.
I recently tried some beans that were a year old, and it wasn’t horrible.With your collection, I’d probably try all, empty the best ones first, then slowly drink the rest.
I rarely mix as I strugle finding a good grind setting for it, but go for it if you like it!As long as you like it, it’s all good
When in doubt, make it into cold brew.
Easy, one bag is terrible and it’s the only reason it’s still there. If I run out of the good stuff I go to the cafe. If the cafe is shut, I cry silently in the dark.
