How Long Does Brewed Coffee Last In The Fridge?
A morning without coffee is a bit tired and grumpy, this is why most people choose to wake up with their favorite espresso, latte or regular brewed coffee. You can do this, when you have an airtight container and a sufficient space in your fridge.
You can make a large batch of coffee that could last you about a week. It must be a black coffee since you might get in trouble storing it properly if you add milk, sugar, or cream.
If you are using an airtight container to store your coffee, it’s recommend that it’s glass, which cleans easier, and won’t stain and retain its flavor. If plastic is your choice, then it is still best to choose strictly for coffee. Metal containers is not a good choose because the acid content of coffee interacts with the metal container especially when it’s stored over a period of time. But if your container is not as quite as an airtight, you can use a layer of plastic wrap to avoid its exposure to the air and to prevent smells and tastes from the refrigerator.
Avoid these common mistakes, so you can have a good cold brewed coffee.
Use good beans. It would be a mistake if you will not use your super-fresh, super high0end original beans. You can still get a good quality batch of new beans.
Grind the beans too fine. You can finely grind your beans through some methods of brewing like pour-over. However, in a cold brew since you are steeping them for upwards of 12 hours, you should grind the beans coarsely. A too finely ground coffee will over-extract.
When using the wrong ratio. A one pound of ground coffee beans to one gallon of water is considered as the basic formula for cold brew. Or you may also consider a quarter-pound of beans to four cups of water.
So How long does brewed coffee last in the fridge?
If you buy a whole coffee beans and grind it at your own comfort, you have to store your whole beans in an airtight container and make sure to keep your ground coffee at its best possible. When you already have the whole coffee beans and grind its ground starts oxidizing. After a few hours it will not be fresh anymore and within days ground coffee will taste stale. So, it’s important to know if it’s passing its peak flavor. It couldn’t be as bad as moldy and dangerous to consume but its flavor is deteriorating.
A stale coffee has no health threat but those coffee beans that are already ground could develop a dull flavor. Some says that within a couple of weeks from grinding it starts deteriorating, about twice as fast as unground coffee. If you brew coffee and let it remain unrefrigerated it will quickly goes bad. The oils in the coffee will be grown with bacteria and molds same as perishable product in a span of days.
If your bag of beans is still unopened it can last up to 2 to 3 years in the fridge but if it’s open and stored properly it can last for 1 up to 2 years. While storing your beans, make sure to use the beans as close to the roast date as possible, within 2 to 3 weeks for a pound coffee.
When you have brewed coffee, you can store it in your fridge for 3 to 4 days. It could last much longer than an ice in the freezer. You can add ice cubes for a perfect iced coffee. If you have an instant coffee stored in the fridge, whether it is open or unopened and you stored it properly, it can last up to 20 years after its best before date.
Your coffee goes bad because it is being contaminated by bugs’ or rodents’ moisture and heat causing problems. If your coffee is exposed to moisture and stays moist molds can grow. You can determined if your coffee gone bad due to its bad looks and smells. You can see or smell any signs of the presence of molds so better not use it anymore even it’s before its expiration date indicated in the container. When the oils start to break down its delicious aroma it also indicates a rancid flavor.
So, it is not advisable to store coffee in the fridge as its temperature fluctuations affects its taste and flavor. Your ground coffee loses its freshness over a week or two depending on the storage conditions and grind size. Frozen ground coffee may lose its flavor so freezing as way of storing coffee cannot be used up within two weeks of opening it. When it is properly stored it can maintain its best quality for about a month and still safe to drink.