Before you are able to decide as to what is the shelf life of coffee beans, it is necessary to first of all consider the type of coffee beans because different types of coffee beans will obviously have different shelf life for individual coffee beans. Thus, when it concerns green coffee beans that have been stored in an environment that is dry, the shelf life of such coffee beans could be as high as ten years, and in some instances, even more. Furthermore, this is how such coffee beans have been given the name of 'aged coffees' though at the same time it must also be mentioned that such aged coffee beans generally will lose their acidity as well as gain body when they have been stored for very long periods of time.

Roasted Coffee Beans

On the other hand, roasted coffee beans have a totally different profile with regard to shelf life of such coffee beans and they will normally not last for more than two weeks provided the coffee beans have been properly stored. Thus, once this shelf life of roasted coffee beans has been exceeded, such coffee beans will begin to lose whatever flavor they had and thus it is recommended that you should brew this kind of coffee within a week of them being roasted because after two weeks they will turn stale.

Another type of coffee for which you may want to learn more about pertains to the shelf life of ground coffee beans which in fact is believed to have the shortest shelf life of all coffee beans and it in reality will last for just one hour after which it will lose whatever flavor it had. Thus, you should only ground coffee beans an hour prior to consumption though of course the Arabs are used to grinding, roasting and brewing coffee beans in one single setting since this, according to them, shows the best flavored coffees.

However, no matter what the shelf life of coffee beans is, one thing that has endured the test of time is that coffee continues to remain the most popular beverage and has endured centuries of competition from other beverages including tea and furthermore, its popularity transcends cultures and geographical locations.

So, it is very necessary that you ensure that coffee beans are properly stored which in turn means that by preventing high temperatures, humidity as well as light from affecting the coffee beans, you can at least ensure that the shelf life of coffee beans will last till its maximum limit and also ensure that no unnecessary damage is done to the coffee beans.