"Welcome to Five Senses Coffee"

For many people, coffee is still thought of as a dry good that doesn’t need any specific attention in regards to storage and handling. Obviously, this is a long way from the truth! In changing people’s perceptions, I try to get them to think of coffee as a fresh food product, and then things start to make sense to them.

Coffee appreciates being in a stable and cool environment, insulated from any extremes of temperature and preferably in a dark place. Café environments are notoriously short of storage space and, unfortunately, coffee often draws the short straw.

Some of the mistakes I frequently run into when I review café operations are:

1. Storing coffee on a high shelf, close to the roof. There is often heat from appliances (such as sandwich presses) trapped in a layer just below the ceiling. When coffee beans are heated up too much, the volatile oils in the bean (which are the major source of flavour) will sweat out of the bean. Halogen down lights emit a lot of heat, so make sure you keep your beans away from these. Check the position of your grinder, and make sure it’s out of the sun’s glare.
2. Storing coffee under a shelf adjacent to hot refrigerator motor exhausts.
3. Storing coffee in the fridge. Fridges circulate wet air and if your coffee isn’t sealed tightly in its bag, there is likely to be water ingress that will ruin the coffee.

Some of our ‘lead user’ group are experimenting with wine storage units set at 17 degrees in their cafés, with early results being promising. This may not be practical for everyone, but finding a cool, dark spot and maintaining a good stock rotation procedure will see your coffee getting to the machine at its peak.