Best Way to Store Coffee (and Tea)?

[flowerbug]

DH has gotten hooked on roasted, brewed cacao. It's like a hybrid of tea and coffee, with the taste of bakers chocolate. No caffeine, but it has theobromine, which gives you an energy boost without the shakes. Now he wants to experiment and see if he can roast his own, using the cacao nibs we've been seeing in the store.

cacao does have caffiene in it, just not as much as coffees/teas.

 

[flowerbug]

That's awful! I guess it's something you get used to, but man, it would take me forever to get accustomed to no coffee.

Yesterday morning - both of my coffeemakers broke. I was at a total loss. I needed coffee in a big way yesterday. I finally made a "coffee bag" and dropped it into a cup, poured steaming hot water over it and let it steep. It was passable at best.

i'm so sensitive to caffiene that even half a cup of weak coffee is enough to set me up for caffiene withdrawal headaches if i drink it only a few days in a row. even chocolate will set me up that ways too if i have it regularly and then skip for two days, the second day i'll have a caffiene withdrawal headache.

as for your coffee habit... i make swamp water coffee, just use hot water as you would for coffee, stir it a few times and let it steep as long as you'd like and then stir, let it settle and sip carefully off the top. a few grains of coffee bean won't kill ya. i use a very finely ground powder for making Turkish style coffee and that settles out too but i don't mind a bit of sludge in my coffee either. i just consider it a bit of extra fiber. sadly, i don't drink this very often any more but it is a nice treat once in a great while.

 

[Hinotori]

Vacuum sealing in jars just takes an attachment for a Foodsaver. They come in regular and wide mouth. Put on lid and attachment. Run cycle. Remove attachment and apply ring firmly. I use an oxygen absorber for good measure.

Even vacuum sealed, herbal teas are best used within a year. Herbs loose flavor over time no matter what you do in my experience.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

the only way i really like cold coffee would be like kahlua or iced coffee

Agree!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Good question. I recently got a large supply of loose chamomile tea that I just poured into a canister. Wonder if it would be better to maybe vacuum pack some of it or stick some in the freezer?

 

[flowerbug]

Agree!!

i like coffee flavored ice-cream too.

 

[flowerbug]

I have made cacao shells coffee , wheat coffee,
If y'all remember Postum was a non caffeinated coffee from the turn of the century (1890s)
I have read accounts that during the war of northern aggression that soldiers used sweet potatoes to make our favorite morning beverage,( I gotta try it )
Long term storage would be in cans , mylar , etc , I have green beans and just roast what I desire for use more time consuming but I think worth the wait ,
If coffee would grow here I would not ever buy any more, But since it doesn't, I just purchase it and enjoy it.

there are a lot of available different coffee substitutes and i've tried many of them all to see what i can tolerate (what my stomach will like and if they taste close enough to coffee). usually anything with roasted chicory and/or dandelions is ok for me.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

back to storage--I have some loose tea but that always seems to get used here first-what about tea in bags? vacuum sealed in bags? I don't know (showing how new I am to everything pertaining to storage and SS living) how to do vacuum sealing in jars or even what I would need.

We drink coffee here daily, would definitely be sad without it but could make it work. Tea is my mid-day and evening go to.

 

[flowerbug]

back to storage--I have some loose tea but that always seems to get used here first-what about tea in bags? vacuum sealed in bags? I don't know (showing how new I am to everything pertaining to storage and SS living) how to do vacuum sealing in jars or even what I would need.

We drink coffee here daily, would definitely be sad without it but could make it work. Tea is my mid-day and evening go to.

a lower tech way that may help would be to seal as many tea bags as you can pack into a small glass container and then put on a tight lid. the other verison using plastic wraps or bags might also work, but i dislike plastics so tend to think of how i can put things in glass.

higher tech way would include a vaccuum sealer which i've never had, seen used or attempted. i'll leave that to the experts to write about...

 

[flowerbug]

Thanks for this. I will have to search and see what I can find for our Foodsaver. This will be a good thing to have for pastas and beans too.

i don't think you really need to go through that kind of trouble for dried beans, once a jar is sealed up well enough they're not going to change that much from what air is in there.

pasta doesn't last long enough around here to worry about either. we buy quite a bit of it but Mom uses a lot of it in her cooking so the stock is rotated at least every other month or so.