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How Long Does Coffee Last in the Fridge?

    Updated on February 12, 2023

    Proper storage is essential for coffee to taste fresh. Coffee beans and ground coffee won’t stay fresh indefinitely unless you take the necessary safeguards. In order to maintain coffee’s freshness, many people choose to freeze or chill it. But the real query is: How long will coffee keep in the fridge?

    Coffee grinds last for 1-2 weeks whereas coffee beans stay fresh in the refrigerator for 2-4 weeks. For up to 4 days, freshly brewed hot coffee (without milk) can be consumed. In the fridge, freshly brewed hot coffee (with milk) can be kept for no more than two days. There can be a small taste difference. For up to two weeks, cold-brew coffee can be kept in storage.

    How Long Can Coffee Stay In The Refrigerator?

    If properly stored, coffee beans can stay fresh in the refrigerator for 2-4 weeks. In the refrigerator, coffee grinds can remain fresh for about one to two weeks. Coffee will freeze burn if it is not placed in an airtight container, so be sure you do that.

    How Long Can I keep Brewed Coffee In The Refrigerator?

    Yes, you can keep brewed coffee in the fridge. The main piece of advice is to completely cover the cup. You can place another cap on top after covering the cup’s top with plastic wrap. In this manner, the coffee will taste fresh and won’t pick up the flavors of the other foods kept in the refrigerator.

    Hot Coffee

    If kept in a refrigerator, freshly brewed coffee will keep palatable for up to 4 days. Brew coffee has the advantage of retaining its freshness for up to four hours, even when left outside of the refrigerator. All you need to do is heat it up and add some milk or creamer to finish it off. However, reheating brewed coffee makes it bitter. Although this isn’t a terrible thing, if you don’t enjoy bitter coffee, make sure to drink it right away and avoid letting it spoil.

    Milk Coffee

    If your coffee already has milk in it, we recommend drinking it within an hour or two because the milk can spoil. Before consuming milky coffee, always sniff it for symptoms of deterioration to avoid gastrointestinal issues. To be safe to consume, milk must be stored either inside or outside of a refrigerator at a temperature of at least 4.4°C. Above 4.4 degrees, milk begins to deteriorate gradually. If the temperature rises, bacteria enter the milk and start to spread swiftly. With milk in it, your coffee has two hours to be consumed before it spoils.

    Cold Brew

    Cold brew can be kept in your refrigerator for up to 12 days. As a result, you won’t need to produce a new batch of cold brew every time you want iced coffee. Additionally, you have the choice of freezing the cold brew in an ice cube tray. This may be used to produce iced coffee, and the flavor will be significantly improved over a straightforward cold brew in the fridge. Although the ice cubes can be used for up to three weeks, we advise utilizing them within 10 to 12 days.

    How to store Coffee in the Fridge to Last Longer?

    We understand the desire to put the coffee pot away till the next time because we also detest wasting coffee. However, it’s crucial to ensure that the freshly brewed coffee is stored properly to prevent spoilage and more issues down the road.

    To keep your coffee fresher for longer, follow these dos and don’ts:

    DO: Keep the coffee sealed in a container. This will prevent the coffee from collecting any aromas from the refrigerator and will also prevent any dust or bacteria from the refrigerator from contaminating the coffee.

    DO NOT: Keep coffee with milk or creamer in the refrigerator. It’s preferable to consume your coffee within a couple of hours after adding any additional ingredients, such as milk or creamer. If you try to keep it in the fridge, it is far more likely to spoil rapidly, and drinking milk added to expired coffee can give you the flu.

    DON’T: Put off drinking your coffee. While coffee can stay fresh in the fridge for a few days before losing flavor and aroma, it’s best to consume the coffee as soon as possible to avoid it going bad.

    DON’T: Refrigerate iced coffee without removing the ice. In the refrigerator, ice can and will melt, which causes iced coffee to quickly lose its strength and become watered down. If you want to preserve your iced coffee, make sure to filter off the ice, put it in an airtight container, and then add more ice when you’re ready to enjoy it.

    Can you Freeze Coffee Beans?

    Coffee is soft and porous, it readily absorbs various scents. This implies that the coffee can pick up any odors that are still present in your freezer. Therefore, if you have frozen leftovers in your freezer, your thawed coffee may have an odd flavor. Consider putting a fresh loaf of bakery bread in the freezer. What a shame, don’t you think? Once frozen and thawed, fresh bread won’t ever smell or taste the same again when kept in the freezer. Although it will still be safe to consume, fresh would be infinitely preferable. Coffee is the same way. Even if you freeze it, the flavor and aroma will never be the same. Don’t freeze it because we know freshness is key to good coffee.

    Can You Freeze Coffee to Make It Last Longer?

    In an airtight container, your coffee will stay fresh for a few days, but what if you want to keep it for longer? The question of whether freezing coffee will keep it fresher may be on your mind. And sort of is the response.

    Depending on what you intend to do with your coffee, freezing it might not be the ideal option for everyone. Although taste is usually a matter of personal preference, you might discover that the flavor of frozen coffee tastes weaker or stale, particularly if you stored it in an open container where the coffee was exposed to oxygen.

    An airtight container is the greatest way to preserve your coffee’s freshness for as long as you can, much like with a refrigerator. Here’s a piece of advice: instead of throwing away coffee you want to freeze, why not make coffee cubes by pouring it into ice cube trays?

    In this manner, you may add the coffee cubes to freshly brewed coffee the following day without having to worry about your coffee becoming diluted or tasting stale from being warmed.