Green Coffee Beans for Long Term Storage
September 30, 2011, Submitted by: Ken Tweet
Did you know that ground coffee or your typical coffee beans won’t store all that long? When you think about the things that would be in demand during and after a collapse, you know that COFFEE will be near the top of the list!
So, what’s the best way to buy coffee so that it will store for a long time? Buy ‘green’. That is, green coffee beans. What are green coffee beans? They are coffee beans in their natural state, before roasting! When you buy them in the store, they’ve already been roasted.
I’ve read a number of articles over the years regarding roasting your own green coffee beans, and it apparently is not that difficult. I admit that at this time I’ve not done it myself, but it seems pretty darn simple. It’s all a matter of how long they’re roasted as to the resulting strength of the flavor.
Coffee is a small red fruit that must go through many stages to become the tasty brown bean we all know as coffee. Most good coffee is first wet processed to remove the outer skin, pulp (which is actually fermented away), and inner parchment skin. Then the inner seed, or bean, is dried and becomes the green coffee that is shipped and stored around the world.
For the basics on how to roast your own green coffee beans, it may be easiest if you have a ‘Whirley-pop’ popcorn-type popper, since the beans need to be in nearly constant motion during the roasting process.
The beans must be heated to temperatures of 370 to 540 degrees F. The roasting process will create some smoke, so be prepared to ventilate!
Here are some coffee bean roasting tips from one of our sponsors,
Safecastle (prepared.pro), who now has inventory of green coffee beans.
With any roasting process, you will see the following:
-After a few minutes, the green beans will turn a lighter yellowish color and emit a grassy aroma.
-The beans will later start to steam as any water in them is released.
-The steam will become fragrant. Soon after that, you will hear the “first crack.” The cracking sound occurs as the real roasting starts to kick in. The sugars in the beans start to caramelize, more water is released, the structure of the bean breaks down and oils start to be released.
-After the first crack, the beans are at the Cinnamon Roast. You can stop here if you like VERY lightly roasted coffee. The beans are dark brown, but not very oily.
-The beans then begin to caramelize more, more oils appear, and the bean expands as the roast becomes dark.
-Soon after, the “second crack” can be heard, and it will probably be louder than the first. Pieces (chaff) will be blow away from the bean. You may want to stop roasting at the first sign of the second crack unless you are going for a dark roast.
-During the second crack, the sugars will burn and smoke will be more pungent. The dark beans will take on a very oily appearance.
-As the beans become hotter and the sugars start to completely burn, you will have a very, very dark roast. If you bought your beans because of their country of origin, at this point, it’s not going to matter where they came from. Your beans look like espresso. Smoke is a lot more prevalent.
-If you go beyond this point, you are going for a French or Italian roast. Sugars and oils are almost burned off completely and you can expect a thinner coffee.
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Now thats a great idea! Now the problem is to find green coffee beans… :S
Can’t stand the taste of coffee, just hate it! Coffee though as wonderful properties in opening up the airways with someone having breathing problems such as asthma, it is an invaluable aid for this. Still cannot stand the taste of it, it makes me gag.
Jim Rawles posted letters on Survivalblog a few months ago addressing whether coffee will grow “stale”–and such a claim is not totally accurate. Here are a couple links:
http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/04/letter_re_coffee_in_a_post-col.html
http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/04/four_letters_re_coffee_in_a_po.html
I’ve got several cases of coffee in my extended pantry, both because I really enjoy coffee but also because compounds in coffee can help curb my asthma flareups. The coffee I stock is the same brand mentioned in one of the letters on Survivalblog, Cafe Bustelo. I’d encourage you to try a can. It’s vacuum-sealed, so I’d really find it hard to believe that it could become “stale” unless it was exposed to oxygen, and the only way that could happen in a vacuum-sealed can is for the seal to be broken. Otherwise, vacuum-sealing any product will by definition remove the oxygen from the inside of the container and stop the oxidation process, which is why I’d argue that you can store vacuum-sealed coffee indefinitely. I plan on doing just that.
Roasting is VERY easy. I roast in a popcorn popper and it takes 6-7 minutes. I don’t worry about first crack or second crack. I roast until the beans are a dark brown with a shiny shell.
I then let them sit in the open for 24 hours. Makes and outstanding cup of coffee. MUCH better than store bought pre-roasted beans. You will not be disappointed when you roast your own.
Here is the address to a website that sells Green Coffee Beans packed for long term storage. [link removed: see 'comments policy']
I recommend that everyone who asks, to have coffee in their emergency preparedness and disaster supplies. Even if they don’t drink it, it is one of the top items for trade and barter. It ranks up there with TP.
Roasted Coffee will oxidize over time and that will affect the flavor quite a bit. It some cases it will taste stale but what is happening is the oxygen introduced during the roasting process reacts over time with the natural oil in the bean. This will cause oxidation and flavor loss.
The proof is in the taste.
Buy some Green coffee beans, roast them yourself, let them sit for 24-48 hours then grind and brew.
Now, brew a pot of canned coffee.
Compare the two cups side by side and notice the smell and favor differences. It can be pretty remarkable.