Want good coffee? Avoid the bulk bins

I'm old enough to remember when bulk coffee bins, and the do-it-yourself coffee grinder, were new additions to the grocery store. It was exciting, at the time, to grind your own beans. This was back before the explosion of Starbucks and local coffee houses, when good coffee was largely unknown, and most of us were still drinking Folgers and their ilk.

In that environment, the bulk beans WERE an improvement. The beans were darker and better roasted, and grinding it there at the store didn't just smell great, it also gave you fresher coffee compared to Folgers.

But that was then. Today, with the easy availability of great coffee everywhere (even right there in the coffee aisle), those same bulk beans are one of the worst options you can choose.

A coffee bean's enemies are air, light, and time. These three problems have largely been corrected by the foil bags in use by the big name coffee companies (Starbucks, Peet's, Tully's, and Seattle's Best Coffee are all on sale at grocery stores in my area). But they are all problems that the bulk bins provide. Those bins aren't vacuum sealed, you don't know how long the beans have been in there, and the clear cases let plenty of light in.

To make things worse, they don't clean the cases in between refills. This means that the oil from the beans builds up, which can leave behind a bitter taste. It can even go rancid, which is worse.

And finally, the cost difference is negligible. The bulk beans used to be reliably cheaper, but that's no longer the case. However, be sure you do the right price comparison. Most of the coffee sold at the store is sold in 12-ounce bags, whereas bulk coffee is priced by the pound.

The best option by far is to buy your coffee directly from your favorite café and have it ground there (assuming you don't have your own grinder). Many independent shops will happily sell you their beans by the pound, so you can have your favorite coffee from the comfort of home.

Image courtesy Flickr/zorbatg2