# rancid coffee



## michelleIL (Aug 29, 2004)

Anyone have ideas on how to "freshen" bad coffee grounds?
Thanks!
Michelle


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## Woodroe (Oct 28, 2005)

re-grind them.


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## Ruby (May 10, 2002)

I would think if they have "gone rancid" the oil in the coffee is what turned rancid. I'm not sure you can freshen it.


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## WanderingOak (Jul 12, 2004)

Ruby said:


> I would think if they have "gone rancid" the oil in the coffee is what turned rancid. I'm not sure you can freshen it.


I was thinking the same thing. More than likely, the best thing you could do with this cofee is compost it.


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2007)

Makes good fertilizer. 

Once the oils have gone rancid it's gone.

.....Alan.


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## RockyGlen (Jan 19, 2007)

how do you determine rancidity? Does it smell bad? And, just out of curiosity - how old is it and how was it stored.......

Wondering if I should go check my coffee beans.


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## remmettn (Dec 26, 2005)

:stirpot:

Worms love coffee grounds with wet cardboard.
Every 30 day you get 2 times the worms.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Whole-Foods-and-Cooking/1983-07-01/Let-Worms-Eat-Your-Garbage.aspx


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2007)

RockyGlen said:


> how do you determine rancidity? Does it smell bad? And, just out of curiosity - how old is it and how was it stored.......
> 
> Wondering if I should go check my coffee beans.


 If you're familiar with the smell of your particular brand of coffee when it is fresh your nose will tell you when it's gone over. It'll taste pretty poor too.

.....Alan.


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## millerized (Jul 18, 2007)

Pretty much all the ground coffee you get off the shelf is bad, to one extent or the other. Once the oils and insides of the bean have been exposed to air, it's already begun.

Roast your own beans, grind them, brew them and tell me you get the same quality out of a can. I just wish I could grow them here.

(of course, I'm no expert...I just know what fresh ground and brewed coffee tastes like.....and you aren't getting that from a can.)


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## Grace&Violets (Apr 4, 2007)

Grow them. It takes awhile, but can probably be done in a green house if you keep the trees pruned to about 6 feet.

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/coffee.html
http://www.coffeeresearch.org/coffee/homegrowing.htm


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

You could try roasting it again. Heat it up in a hot cast iron skillet until it almost smokes but I don't know that would work. 

If it has truly gone rancid there may be no saving it and doesn't things like rancid butter use up extra B vitamins or some such thing?


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## vegascowgirl (Sep 19, 2004)

in the 1800's coffee was often bagged with peppermint sticks. This was supposed to help keep the coffee fresh. It is often told that on a cattle drive...at the end of a bag a contest, raffle, or drawing of straws would be held to determine who would get the candy. Anyway, if you can find some of the old fashioned style peppermint sticks/candies it might be worth a try.


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## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

millerized said:


> Roast your own beans, grind them, brew them and tell me you get the same quality out of a can. I just wish I could grow them here.


Amen to that! Our coffee maker has the grinder built into it so making a pot from beans is no more difficult than making a pot from grounds. The only difference is whether or not we press the "no grind" button.

We got a bean roaster about 6-9 months ago but you can roast the beans in a skillet on the stove top. The bean roaster works quite a bit like a popcorn popper. It uses hot air and tosses the beans until they're roasted then tosses with plain air until they're cooled.

We went the "roast your own" route because green coffee beans last so much longer than already roasted beans (which last longer than grounds). Some sources say six months, some say indefinitely. The surprising flavor improvement was a delightful unexpected benefit. 

We also find that buying green coffee beans is cheaper than buying roasted beans or grounds. And the taste is out of this world. Better than anything Starbucks or any other gourmet shop dreamed up.

Oh, beans smoke quite a bit when roasting so you need a good hood over your stove or some other means to ventilate while roasting.


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## menollyrj (Mar 15, 2006)

I noticed another post in the Weekly Prep Thread about vacuum sealing coffee, and was wondering what the shelf life is on coffee (already ground). I've gathered from this thread that it is not indefinite due to the oil content, and looked at Alan's site, but didn't see anything about coffee... So how long will my Folgers keep on the pantry shelf, in the original can? Anyone?

-Joy


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## Guest (Dec 10, 2007)

menollyrj said:


> I noticed another post in the Weekly Prep Thread about vacuum sealing coffee, and was wondering what the shelf life is on coffee (already ground). I've gathered from this thread that it is not indefinite due to the oil content, and looked at Alan's site, but didn't see anything about coffee... So how long will my Folgers keep on the pantry shelf, in the original can? Anyone?
> 
> -Joy


 I once went to a newsgroup of coffee fanatics and asked "how long can be coffee be kept?"

Oy vey! Such a fracas ensued!

I can tell you that we're drinking Eight O'Clock brand coffee that's been vac-sealed for three years that tastes as good to me as any that I could buy today. I don't store it ground though, but keep only whole bean. Once you break the bean you greatly increase the surface area of the coffee oils which will go rancid faster than they would otherwise. 

Vac-sealed and in the freezer is better still.

.....Alan.


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## Sonshe (Jun 17, 2006)

Where do you get green coffee beans? I've never seen them for sale.


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## menollyrj (Mar 15, 2006)

A.T. Hagan said:


> Vac-sealed and in the freezer is better still.


So if I vacuum-sealed my ground coffee and froze it, I'd be fine for a year's worth of storage? How about if I vacuum-sealed it and refrigerated it? (We have an extra fridge in the garage.) How about if my pantry is really cool because it is in the basement? I may have to run an experiment... 

I ask all this because I found Folgers & Maxwell House for $5 a large can (which is pretty good in this area) and wanted to stock up, but wasn't sure if it would be a waste of $$ to do so. I mean, if I spend the $$ now, and it goes rancid in 6 months, there is little point in purchasing a year's worth of coffee.

-Joy


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## Guest (Dec 10, 2007)

Generally speaking the cooler the storage temperature the better. The less oxygen exposure the better. The more you improve those two areas the better the storage life should be.

.....Alan.


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## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

Personally I wouldn't bother storing already ground coffee. Grinders are cheap and beans store a lot better.

Sources for green coffee beans that I know to be good:
http://www.burmancoffee.com/
http://www.sweetmarias.com/

Google "home coffee roasting" (without the quotes) for lots of info.


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## AR Transplant (Mar 20, 2004)

we get our coffee at u-roast-em.com we love their coffee and it is cheaper than any other place I have checked.

We got many samples. like them all but really like the Keny aa and the kona.

You can get organic, and some really different ones. The longest we have stored the green coffee beans was about 2 1/2 years, we could not tell the difference.


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## Guest (Aug 27, 2009)

Bump.

.....Alan.


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## spiffydave (Mar 19, 2008)

I pick up coffee grounds from two different places for compost purposes. I leave 2 or 3 5 gallon buckets and pick them up once a week or so.

Sometimes I get busy and the buckets sit for a bit. They get moldy pretty quickly and the smell is not good. Kind of like diapers - just a bit sweeter.

Composts great...


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

I use Sweet Maria's green beans and have been very happy with them. Right now I'm still working on a box that was shipped May 28, 2008. I didn't do anything particular to seal the beans. They are still in the heavy plastic bags they came in. I roast once or twice a week and grind the beans fresh for each pot. I won't go back to canned coffee. In fact, last time I was given a cup at someone's home, I couldn't drink it; not after having the good stuff for so long.


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