apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The Japanese brand Bee House (maker of those lovely round, colorful teapots that you see in Whole Foods and some boutiques) makes beautiful canisters. I see them on eBay, sometimes, but no one seems to sell them retail in the NYC area.

I bought my set of canisters from Marshalls. The brand is Oggi and they look exactly like this for 15 bucks.

I've been doing the same thing for years - coffee beans in freezer. Aren't the bags or cannisters they come in good enough to store coffee? Is there really a need for more stuff to put coffee in?

I have these canisters, but for my sugar and flour. They're great but the problem now is how to tell which is which. If you're only getting one, that's fine, but if you plan to have more than one, for more than one substance, I'd recommend finding some that come in different colors or that are clear.

I don't think I'm being overly presumptuous if I say I believe I qualify as a 'coffee aficionado', and I'm gasping that you store coffee grounds. In addition to the excellent advice on the National Coffee Association site you link to (I bet at least 95% of people don't know that "...coffee begins to lose its freshness almost immediately after roasting so it is far better to purchase it in smaller quantities. Purchase freshly roasted coffee frequently and buy only what you will use in the next 1 or 2 weeks"), it also begins to stale immediately upon grinding, becoming noticeable worse tasting within 5 minutes -- after all, you are increasing the surface area now exposed to air by a million fold. So don't buy ground coffee -- buy freshly roasted beans as per the advice above (and use it within 2 weeks of the date of roasting), and grind minutes before brewing.

And my next piece of advice? Blade grinders don't cut it... :-)

I use instant. Kidding! :0

I think you have been putting your ground coffee in the freezer because I know I'd heard at least at one point that that was the way to keep it fresh. Frankly, I don't really notice a difference between my beans/grinds no matter where they're kept.

we store coffee beans in the freezer (they stay oily!) and grind them once a week/two weeks. at the least that was the case before we got hooked in illy coffee.. mmmmm...

cjc,
as the 'coffee aficionado', what would be the best way to grind coffee beans?