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Coffee, key to survival

26K views 121 replies 80 participants last post by  Trilect 
#1 ·
The weak link in my survival strategy is coffee. What's the best storage solution coffee, ground or beans? I've yet to find a storage method that will give me more than a few weeks. I would hope to be able to rotate my coffee stores no more than every 6 months or so.
 
#5 ·
I've just tried out a new coffee that ALDI has - it comes in foil wrapped bricks for $4.99. The use by dates on those are in 2013. I think coffee will stay good longer than most of us anticipate. Probably not years and years, but at least a good couple years. Of course, a lot of that depends on your taste, too.


I have, too. Tastes fine to me. Maybe I'm just not very picky. Of course, if it's been OPENED for a while it doesn't taste as good to me. But as long as it's been sealed, I don't mind it.
 
#12 ·
Instant, will be highly trade-able if there is no power. Are you willing to waste power, fuel, etc to roast, grind, and brew when you can use a little water you are boiling and make a cup of coffee and oatmeal for the whole family?

Instant tastes like crap but it is the most efficient and it does get the job done. Some people pay hundreds for the coffee beans that are crapped out the cats azz(kopi luwak), you can have that same taste at a much lower price less the kitty fecal matter.
 
#101 ·
Instant, will be highly trade-able if there is no power. Are you willing to waste power, fuel, etc to roast, grind, and brew when you can use a little water you are boiling and make a cup of coffee and oatmeal for the whole family?
French press coffee maker and regular coffee :thumb: Far better than instant, only requires boiled water and coffee, make the coffee first, then make the oatmeal, they'll both be ready about the same time
 
#13 ·
Coffee storage is very serious business for some of us!

There are multiple methods for a variety of situations.

If you have concerns about smells attracting attention...like if you're in the suburbs or near an urban center....then you need to be cautious of roasting your own beans as your primary storage. They have a distinctive and strong smell that carries a very long way. It is also one that can be recognized by many and scavengers would...quite reasonably...think if you have time, energy and supplies to roast coffee, then you probably have a good stash of other stuff.

Just something to consider.

Here is the strategy I use. I can not skip coffee...no way...until there is no other choice.

1) Short term SHTF: Keep a 3 month rotating stock instead of just a couple of weeks. This can be your regular brand. Just keep 3 months for a short term interruption.

2) Medium SHTF: I keep a stock of already roasted, but never flavored or any of that stuff, whole beans. Buy them in whatever way you like, then vacuum seal them in smaller mylar bags. Keep a manual grinder on hand. I have personally tested this and re-bagged beans taste just the same as the new beans. Ones left in the original bags or in the bigger bags taste off after about 2 years.

3) Long term SHTF: Same as above for some and then bag after bag of unroasted green beans. Also segregate them into smaller mylar bags and vac seal them. 1 gallon bags seem to do best for preserving. I'm not sure if it is because it keeps any beans affected by a bad bean in the bag to a minimum or what, but it does work better for LTS.

4) Emergency Coffee. Coffee brewing also has a smell. Keep a LARGE stock of freeze dried coffee. It will last for decades I believe. You might do better to repackage into glass jars and keep in an utterly dark place or cover the jars themselves in foil or some other light blocking material. Use canning jars and vac seal them with a seal a meal or the like. Works great.

Last but not at all least...have several ways to brew or heat to make it. Each one accommodating a different amount of expendable heat energy.
 
#14 ·
I looked for a while for a good coffee with a long shelf life that I would enjoy. I found this a Wallyworld for $2.88 a can. Its getting more popular now best by dates of 2014 on the can I bought in August. Its a full flavor fine ground coffee. They do sell it by the case big or small cans and bags. The can is tin with and tid lid also. Other than green beans this coffee has the longest shelf life I have found and it tastes GOOD! Make it like regular coffee.

http://www.javacabana.com/?p=catalog&parent=2

http://cafebustelo.com/



 
#20 ·
My understanding is freeze dried or instant coffee has an indefinite shelf life, if kept from moisture. Tea will keep indefinitely under those same conditions. Ok, here's what I have. I found ,in one of my old duffle bags, a 13 oz plastic bottle of Folger's ground coffee. This stuff is OLD! The expiration date is 03/1988! Twenty- three years old. I'm going into the kitchen to open it. Ok , I'm back. There was still a seal, I heard the vacuum break when I opened it. The coffee is not compacted, flows freely,it smells strongly, like fresh coffee. Since it is almost 2200, I'm not going to drink any till tomorrow morning...that will be the real test! This is fun! TP
 
#29 ·
the top package of green coffee beans when roasted expand to fill the second can in the picture.

I usually go for a dark roast, but the smoke was in danger of setting off the alarm again. The top 3 floors of the building had a nice coffee smell for 2 days. lighter roast coffee has more caffeine than dark roast and less acid.

The bottom pic is Danish ghee. 2 pounds for about $8US tasty stuff to fry with and make popcorn.

I never even thought about roasting my own coffee till I went to Africa in 2005. The base had a serious shortage of coffee cause the embassy weenies where always buying it out.

I searched high and low out in town at the French supermarket where I got a lot of my other goodies like cheeses, sodas, etc. Couldn't find it there till I met a Ethiopian woman who showed me where to buy it at the local souk. since it is so cheap priced at the souk it was not economical for the supermarket to stock it.

The Ethiopian woman showed me how to roast and prepare green coffee beans. They have a coffee ceremony every bit as elaborate as the Japanese tea ceremony.

If you roast it yourself best to do it outside on a gas grill or rocket stove with a small breeze. I use a cast iron fry pan but a dutch oven will work as well. Avoid inhaling too much smoke as you can get a caffeine high from the smoke. Trust me a OD on caffeine isnt pleasant. There are plenty of online guides that explain the process.

If you live in South Florida or similar climate you can grow your own coffee at home. The robusto bean grows at low elevations. Not as good as the Arabica but most instant is made from robusto.

The Florida Dept of Agriculture has a guide on growing your own.


See also this guide
 
#34 ·
If you live in South Florida or similar climate you can grow your own coffee at home. The robusto bean grows at low elevations. Not as good as the Arabica but most instant is made from robusto.

The Florida Dept of Agriculture has a guide on growing your own.


See also this guide
Thanks for the links. I've been trying to grow coffee for a while now with out much luck. The first plants died. The ones I have out there now went from a glossy dark green to a dull light green for the leaves. Hopefully the links you gave will help out to get them back to normal. At least the ones I have out there now haven't died yet.
 
#32 ·
Well, the jury is in on the 1988 coffee. The colour of the grinds seemed a little lighter than fresh ground coffee. It still had a strong coffee aroma. I made a pot and the coffee seemed as dark as what I normally see. The taste is a little "off". It's not "bad", certainly drinkable, but it seems a bit more bitter. After you drink it though, there is little after taste, and it seems to go down as very watered down coffee flavoured water. I'm most interested in the caffeine content. There is no scientific way to measure the caffeine content , or compare it to fresh coffee, so I have to go by the subjective effects. I'll post later if it had the poke to wake me up. :thumb: TP
 
#33 ·
Ok, I'm back. Coffee no good...toxic... everything going dark... tunnel with light at the end, calling me forward... Hey, look! No politicians!... Uuuuugggghhhh! ( dead air...) Just kidding. This coffee sucks. It's flavoured water. I can't drink any more of it. You have to drink a whole mug of it to get an after taste and that's all you get. I just made a cup of instant and it is SO much better(that's bad!) Experiment over. Now lets see if this stuff composts ! TP
 
#59 ·
My gut instinct told me that it wasn't going to store well long term. It just wasn't packaged for it. Now, it may do better in mylar with O2 absorbers. But I think green beans are still probably the best way to go.

With me, I realized that my addiction wasn't to coffee, or tea, or even soda. All of which I drink. But to caffeine. So I store Nodoze for my caffiene fix. I store tea and coffee too, but they're just for the enjoyment of a familiar beverage now and then.
 
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