Shoutout to the barista who finally made me realize I'd been storing my beans wrong

I'd been keeping my coffee beans in a clear glass jar right above the stove for like 2 years. Thought I was being fancy. Then this barista at a shop in Portland saw my setup and just went 'you know that's ruining your coffee, right?' Light, heat, air - the whole trifecta of bad storage. She said I was basically baking the beans every time I made pasta. Swapped to a plain ceramic canister in a dark cabinet and the difference in flavor after a week was honestly embarrassing. Anyone else get schooled on something basic they thought they had figured out?

2 comments

2 Comments

shane_moore871mo ago

So basically your coffee was marinating in pasta fumes?

sagen361mo ago

Hear me out - that coffee was probably just fine. Pasta water is basically starch water, not some heavy flavor bomb that's gonna soak into your mug from across the kitchen. Unless you're literally steaming your mug over the pot for ten minutes, the aroma isn't doing much. People act like coffee is some delicate flower when really it's just hot bean juice that can handle sitting near boiling noodles for a few minutes.