Recently, I tried the BeanSafe coffee storage solution. This canister designed specifically to keep coffee beans fresh is pictured to the left.
Like anything perishable, coffee needs to be kept fresh. Freshness equals flavor, and you get the most out of your coffee’s flavor when you keep your coffee fresh. An opaque airtight container at room temperature is the best way. I’ve used the same kitchen canisters for coffee that many use for tea or spices, where the lid contains a latch that shuts the container, and a rubber band under the lid to form an airtight seal when shut.
BeanSafe takes it a step further. It is a canister, and it contains four latches and a rubber lid to form an airtight seal. The feature that makes this unique, and beneficial for coffee specifically, is the one-way valve built into the lid.
What I Liked…
- The BeanSafe Pressure Release Valve is built into the center of the lid. It uses a combination of a silicone membrane and a perfectly round glass ball built into the lid, that together permit CO2 to be released when pressure inside the container builds up. CO2 is a natural by-product of coffee. It is released naturally as the coffee expires (and eventually goes stale), and it is produced when you brew coffee. The one-way valve does not permit air from outside to enter the container, which would accelerate the coffee going stale.
- The valve never requires cleaning, maintenance, or replacement.
- The standard kitchen canister contains a single latch on the lid, and a hinge so that the lid remains attached to the canister when open. As a minor inconvenience, this can make a cannister awkward to clean. With four latches on the BeanSafe, the lid detaches completely, and in my opinion, the cannister cleans easier for that reason.
What I Would Change…
- To my last point, the detachable lid is great. However, four latches instead of one makes potential for four different things to go wrong instead of one. When I pulled my BeanSafe out for the second time, I could see that one of the four latches had not properly shut. I would have noticed that with a single latch, but did not notice that one the four was not latched shut. This meant I did not have an airtight seal, and my coffee was expiring at a fast rate until I noticed.
- Your typical set of canisters in different sizes will provide you with opaque (relatively) airtight storage, and run you about $25 for the set. A single BeanSafe container will cost you $20.
Is $20 a lot of money to pay to keep coffee fresh? No, it’s not. A canister lasts a LONG time, and the BeanSafe valve is something unique that controls air into and out of the canister, and in a way the typical kitchen canister does not. It will provide the same freshness for tea, spices, and ground coffee, as well as coffee beans.
Learn more about BeanSafe.
Each Christmas, I hear about how hard it is to shop for me. And each year, it motivates me to see what gifts are out there for the coffee lover. Here are the best ones that I found this year, and why. Check them out, and click on any of the images for more information on how to get it.
The “Coffee of the Month” Club
Peet’s Peetniks Club
is a recurring delivery coffee service, where the coffee lover in your life gets coffee delivered at regular intervals. Unique and fresh-roasted coffee delivered right to their door. You set the intervals of how much coffee and how frequently, and Peets manages the rest.
I have bought this as a gift for my parents. If you have a sense of what to buy, you can customize the coffees that are shipped. Otherwise, leave it to Peets – they offer coffee “tours of the world” and make the choices for you. Set it up for a year, or as few months as you’d like.
It was such a great gift for my parents that midway through the year’s subscription of monthly coffees, they went on vacation for three months, and I had the coffees re-routed to my own address. I could’ve logged onto Peets and put the tour on hold, but I was too tempted. It gets worse. They got back from vacation, and I never returned the shipping to them, so I enjoyed the rest of the great Peets coffees that I had bought them as part of this gift. *shrugging my shoulders*
Books on Coffee
I wrote a recent post on Books for the Coffee Lover, that I recommend you check out. If you’re buying for a coffee lover that also loves to read, a book on coffee makes a great gift.
This is a great novelty coffee mug, available on Amazon. It’s the Big Mouth Toys Prescription Coffee Mug
I thought this gift was a lot of fun, and I’ve never seen it before. It’s still shaped like a mug, so not nearly as over the top as some novelty mugs I’ve seen.
This is another gift where I saw it in my search for great coffee lover gifts, and wished that I had one. As my own kitchen slowly morphs into a coffee bar, this is the kind of addition whose design is not so over the top that it will clash.
The Coffee House Cup Java Silhouette Wall Mounted Key Hook Art
This gift idea is so cool to me that I almost listed it first, and if nobody ends up buying this for me this year, I will definitely be buying it for myself in January. I like it that much!
Why? Because I didn’t realize how much I took coffee scoops for granted until I saw this. I must have seven different generic plastic coffee scoops, and have never once given thought to having some style in the scoops that I use. The Handmade Wooden Coffee Scoop
Happy Holidays to all! I hope you have enjoyed my gift ideas this year.
I’m always happy to give coffee advice. Over the holidays, a friend asked what to buy his mother for a coffee maker. The guidelines were simple. It had to be a drip brewer, she wanted something simple as opposed to some of the funkier, more involved methods of making coffee. And, she would never make more than two mugs at a time (or four metric cups) so it had to be a four-cup.
Read: Better Ways to Brew Coffee (to learn about methods other than drip brewing)
I’ve never purchased or recommended a four-cup drip brewer before, so when in doubt, I buy Cuisinart. I’ve never been steered wrong by a Cuisinart product. Certainly, you will find less expensive products out there. Black and Decker has an equivalent for any Cuisinart appliance, and while it’s made with some quality, I still feel the best value for your dollar is in Cuisinart appliances.
Cuisinart was originally a food processor in the 70s made popular by Julia Child, that has since grown into a line of products recognized for quality across North America. I don’t think I’m blind in my loyalty to Cuisinart as long as I’m referring to their line of kitchen appliances. I once overpaid for a collection of Cuisinart pots, and wondered why afterwards. Another example of a company leveraging their name to sell as many associated products as they can – after all, I rave about Cuisinart’s drip brewer whose quality has nothing to do with how a company builds pots and pans.
Check out: MakeGoodCoffee.com Coffee Maker Report Card
Cuisinart makes a four-cup drip brewer that I recommended to my friend without hesitation. If there happens to be something wrong with the product, Cuisinart takes care of their warranties. If there isn’t anything wrong with it, you will be very happy with its performance well past the warranty period.
I’m living as a bit of a transient at this time. While I’m settling in to a new place, I’m sacrificing some things in my current coffee bar that I already own but don’t have at my disposal yet. One thing that’s bothered me over the last few months is that I’ve been using a propeller grinder instead of a burr grinder, which is the much better grinder. But what to buy as an economical alternative when you need new coffee gear?
I’m a believer in Cuisinart for coffee gear, for two reasons. First, it’s never steered me wrong in either coffee maker or coffee grinder. Second, MakeGoodCoffee.com engaged a couple years ago in an extensive consumers review of coffee gear and Cuisinart was a consistent winner.
I own a Cuisinart Burr Grinder but it will be a few more months still before I see it again. In the meantime, I’ve been using a propeller grinder from my economical coffee gear brand of choice…(drumroll)…Black and Decker. We made a great discovery in our Coffee Maker Report Card, that an inexpensive $30 machine could break the Top Five makers. I couldn’t wait any longer to upgrade to a burr grinder, and since I already own a Cuisinart that I don’t happen to have at this time, I purchased the burr grinder by Black and Decker that you see in the image above.
When shopping for coffee gear, I use the following rule of thumb: Cuisinart for the best that a person can buy for their own kitchen short of professional gear, or Black and Decker for an economical alternative that still does a great job. When I’m making an investment in my coffee bar, it’s Cuisinart. When I need to fill a medium-term need in my coffee bar, it’s Black and Decker.
Get all your coffee gear at Cooking.com, and take advantage of these deals.
