Coffee lovers around the world find themselves wondering, “can you grind frozen coffee beans? Here, we’ll go over everything you need to know about it.
You’re trying to make the perfect cup of coffee — but you realize you left your coffee beans in the freezer.
What’s a coffee lover to do?
Good news: you don’t necessarily have to wait for your beans to hit room temperature before grinding them to create your perfect brew.
Here, we’ll explore everything you need to know about grinding frozen coffee beans, and how to keep coffee beans fresher for longer.
What You Need To Know About Grinding Frozen Coffee Beans
You wake up in the morning, reach for your home-ground coffee, and ugh — the container is empty. Normally, you’d reach for your thawed-out beans, but you realize your favorite whole-bean roast is still in the freezer.
You can go ahead and toss those beans straight into your coffee grinder, without a problem. Grinding frozen beans does make your coffee grinder work a little bit harder, so it’s not something that you’ll want to make a habit of.
Occasionally forgetting to thaw out your beans and needing to grind them while frozen shouldn’t have much of an effect on the life of your coffee grinder.
Your other concern is likely the taste of your coffee. Using coffee grounds from frozen beans isn’t likely to have any effect on the taste of your latte. The amount of coffee you use should be the same as what you’d use if the beans weren’t frozen, and your brewing methods can stay the same as well.
Why Should You Freeze Coffee Beans?
If you’re freezing your whole coffee beans, you’re giving your coffee the best possible start. Freezing your coffee beans is a smart way to lock in flavor, especially if you know you aren’t going to consume the beans for quite some time.
You might be tempted to stock up on your favorite coffee bean so that you never run out, but this isn’t actually a good idea. Coffee beans start to lose their flavor as soon as they’re roasted, so it’s better to buy in small quantities.
Your frozen coffee beans will provide you with excellent coffee for about four months, especially if kept in an airtight container. After four months pass, your frozen coffee beans won’t likely become dangerous to use, rather, they might lose some of their flavors.
From Freezer To Steaming Cup
When using whole coffee beans to create a cup of coffee, you’ll need to run the bean through a coffee grinder. The first step is to select the level of coarseness that you want for your ground coffee. If you’re making cold brew coffee, you’ll want to stick with an extra-coarse grind.
For a French press coffee brewing experience, go with coarse or extra-coarse. Choose the medium-coarse option for a pour-over coffee maker and a medium option for a standard drip machine or a Chemex. You’ll only want to choose the fine and extra-fine options if you’re using a Moka Press or Turkish coffee pot. If you like this post, you might enjoy our guide on the best way to store coffee beans at home.
How To Store Fresh Coffee Grounds
Accidentally ground more coffee than you can use at one time? Prefer to grind up a large amount of coffee so you aren’t pulling out the grinder on a daily basis? No problem.
Follow these tips to keep your newly ground beans fresh for as long as possible:
- Store in an airtight container.
- Keep your grounds away from light.
- Don’t store ground coffee for more than a week.
- Don’t return your ground coffee to the freezer. Ground coffee can easily pick up flavors from other foods in the fridge and freezer, and the last thing you want is for your morning cup of coffee to taste like last night’s fettuccine.
The Final Word On Can You Grind Frozen Coffee Beans
Yes, you can grind frozen coffee beans, but try to let them sit out for at least an hour in advance of grinding in order to increase the longevity of your grinder. Once your frozen coffee beans are made into ground coffee, go ahead and use your coffee grounds to make the perfect cold brew, latte, or straight-up black cup of Joe.
FAQs about Can You Grind Frozen Coffee Beans
Do you need to defrost coffee beans before grinding?
Nope! Defrosting makes the job a little bit easier on your coffee grinder, but grinding frozen beans is fine once in a while.
What does freezing do to coffee beans?
Freezing coffee beans helps to preserve the flavor of the bean, allowing you to enjoy a fresh-tasting cup of coffee every morning.
