Prep Coffee??

[DeadEyeMcGoo]

Roasting coffee at home is super easy (see below) and takes only a few minutes. Finding green coffee beans is every bit as easy. (Start with Craigslist. I found 20 lbs for $18.00 last year. LOTS of websites offer green coffee beans for sale,or drop by your local roaster.) The shelf life for green coffee beans is well in excess of 30 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3ZA5Eg9wfg&list=UUMr12AHjiyPaAhfKjsVLNAA&index=6

Roasted coffee beans have a relatively short life span. Even if the beans are nitrogen flushed you'll notice a huge change in taste and quality after a year. Roasting at home becomes a great hobby and you may never bother with store bought again. Fair Warning: You'll also never be able to stomach instant coffee or Folgers once you discover the wonderful layers of flavor in your own home roast.

Search YouTube for lots of How To videos. Your friends are going to think you're pretty amazing when you roll out your own roast!

By the way, you won't need to purchase anything but the beans to get started. I did it the first few times in a cast iron skillet over the bbq. It smokes like crazy. Don't do it in your kitchen!

 

[mike28w]

I'm as much of a caffiene addict as anyone but coffee seems to use more resorces than I can justify.....except as a luxury ( or as a comfort food).... Seems like caffiene tablets ( No Doze, Vivarin, etc )would be the way to go , to avoid the caffiene headache that I know I would get.......

 

[SIG383]

Like said before, a big part of survival is the physiological/mental health side. You need to find the small "luxuries" that will help you get through it. No, I wouldn't stop and make coffee when on the run or in the middle of combat, but if you have extra time, by all means go for it. Especially if it gives you that mental edge.

With that being said...I'm a huge coffee addict myself and I never thought of stockpiling it! Now I think I want to get some of the green beans and go that route.

 

[just dan]

for what it's worth: roasted coffee beans begin going rancid (fats oxidizing, lipids breaking down) in far less time than you'd imagine.

most coffees, at about two weeks after they're roasted one can begin tasting the difference. give it another week or two and the stuff will be kinda gross.

as far as green... "current crop" can store up to a year. sometimes considerably longer under good conditions without degradation of the bean, but no longer considered "current crop"

i know it's difficult to argue something that is clearly not life/death and clearly a luxury... but good coffee will not keep.
i do not consider anything freeze dried or the like to be 'good'...
that being said, i do keep some freeze dried crap on hand just in case. it is still better than nothing.

 

[Silver Fox]

Just Dan-

So you're saying green coffee beans will not last 20-30 years?

You sound like a coffee expert and always welcome unbiased opinions and views especially when you're not selling anything.

SF-

 

[DeadEyeMcGoo]

Of course, you could always just go this route: Caffeine powder, ReagentPlus® | Sigma-Aldrich

 

[Swedish K]

places like coffee bean direct <broken link removed> will sell you green coffee beans starting under $5 / lb.

 

[FourTeeFive]

I'm a bit of a coffee snob but this stuff isn't that bad, and comes in really convenient single servings:

Tasters Choice Colombian Instant Coffee, 20-Count Sticks (Pack of 8): Amazon.com: Grocery & Gourmet Food

 

[just dan]

Just Dan-

So you're saying green coffee beans will not last 20-30 years?

You sound like a coffee expert and always welcome unbiased opinions and views especially when you're not selling anything.

SF-

nothing to sell, and i'm no expert... just hopelessly addicted to coffee; my drug of choice. i have some working knowledge of the coffee industry, particularly small roasters, but i'm sure there are plenty of people that know much more than i.

i've got some green coffee beans that have been stored in my basement for about 3.5 years, at a constant 60f (give/take 4 degrees through the year), in sealed 5lb bags, away from light.
they do not taste like they did even a year ago, particularly if it's a light roast i do. the beans are a sumatra, which tends to hide some of the offensive flavors (to my pallet anyway).
i've got some guatemalan that is about 2-ish years old... still pretty good, but again; not like it was last year.

in both cases i know the farms they came from, know they weren't sitting on shelves there in burlap for long. that's another thing to take into consideration; how long the stuff sat post processing.

coffee is actually one of my biggest worries in a SHTF scenario. wonder how hard it'd be to bug out to guatemala?

 

[fyrediver]

It's all relative! Even poor coffee is better than none!

One of the best cups of coffee I ever had was two packets of MRE coffee mixed with two packets of creamer and sugar! It was a cold, wet morning in the Philippines after a 24 hour patrol. We were covered in mud and very tired. That coffee was excellent!

I've got several varieties of freeze dried in my kits and keep ~4 bags on the shelf all the time and rotate.

 

[unionguy]

Not for long-term storage, but ease of use: single packet coffee you can get at Freddies (like tea bags) and Chocolate covered expresso beans for caffeine rush when you can't brew that would be useful in tactical situations. I actually threw one of those ideas into Brushfire Plague!

 

[iceman]

I too am somewhat of a coffee snob. However i could foresee 6mo post SHTF, i wouldn't care what kind, as long as it was coffee. so i may get some of the instant packs too.

But for now i think im going to go the green bean route in sealed containers.

I read an article talking about long term storage of green beans, i will see if i can find it again and post it up here. The person doing it said the storage method should keep them for 10-20 years.

No, no arguing, 20 year old green beans are not going to be GRADE A, but at that point, i don't think it would matter, even if you didn't consume it yourself, you could always use it to barter..

I

 

[erudne]

Your addicted and so are weakened from day one, if a BG deprived you of caffiene for 12 hours you'd spill you guts just for the promise of a cup of dirty water out of a coffee maker.
Buy coffee extract syrup or caffinene pills
You will eventualy go into severe withdrawl
i suggest you de-tox now, under controled circumstances, before it happens in far worse circumstances.

 

[iceman]

Your addicted and so are weakened from day one, if a BG deprived you of caffiene for 12 hours you'd spill you guts just for the promise of a cup of dirty water out of a coffee maker.
Buy coffee extract syrup or caffinene pills
You will eventualy go into severe withdrawl
i suggest you de-tox now, under controled circumstances, before it happens in far worse circumstances.

Well... Erudne. your professional experience is appreciated..
however, this thread is referring to coffee and not heroin, and my "severe withdrawl <sp>" will be minimal at best, not a torture mechanism....

this is more about trying to maintain a sense of normalcy in SHTF chaos...

And FYI, It's "You're ..." NOT " Your ..."

 

[mattdomes]

If you want a small and quick supply Starbucks VIA has a 6 month "best before" shelf life. I switched over to this + a JetBoil for my backpacking coffee because there is no cleanup (just a quick rinse) and it tastes great too!

It's a little expensive even in "bulk" at $0.56 each but it would be really easy to trade in known quantities

Starbucks VIA® Ready Brew Colombia Coffee (50 count): Amazon.com: Grocery & Gourmet Food

 

[SIG383]

I'm also a fan of the Starbucks VIA. It's my go to for backpacking and SAR operations. I've tried it after it's best buy and it still works, especially after searching for 2 lost subjects for 11 hours strait, covering about 25 miles... I was beyond beat and that VIA I forgot about in the bottom of my food stuff sack for a year tasted sooo freakin good! It wasn't the most fresh, but it was hot, and it had caffeine.