If you're a coffee pod lover, there's a good chance you continually have to think up unorthodox ways to ensure your coffee pod freshness. Of course, coffee pods have been a great relief to coffee lovers across the globe. Apart from being very easy to use, coffee pods come with taste consistency.
However, as many people say across the globe, nothing lasts forever. So, no matter how great coffee pods are to you, they can lose their freshness.
This doesn't mean your coffee pods will spoil or lose freshness within a short period. It simply means there’s a cap on how long you can expect your coffee pods to stay fresh.
Why this means is you can't just keep a pack of coffee pods at home without looking for ways to ensure freshness. Of course, that's if you still want to enjoy the great taste of your coffee pod.
Coffee pods come in different forms, types, and from various brands. This means there are several ways to ensure the freshness of the different coffee pods.
In this guide, we'll discuss in-depth the possibility of coffee pods losing their freshness. After that, we'll go ahead to show you the best ways to keep the coffee pod fresh. Let’s dig in.
How Long Do Coffee Pods Stay Fresh?
Regardless of what you like to eat, the freshness of that meal is essential to the taste. That's why at all times you want to eat meals that are as fresh as possible. Even for meals that you have to cook, you want fresh ingredients. If you want to enjoy the great taste of coffee pods, the same thing goes.
This is why you should ensure the coffee pod's freshness. Once the coffee pod has lost that fresh taste, the coffee won't taste great. So, the question you may want to ask is how long will my coffee pods stay fresh?
And it’s a valid question too. Since the consistent taste of coffee pods is one reason most people use them, ensuring coffee pod freshness is a must.
When you ask, "how long will a coffee pod stay fresh" there are many factors that determine the answer. Many times, the freshness of coffee pods depends on the type and brand of the coffee pod. Most brands have specific ways they make their coffee pods to give a distinct taste.
That means the processes to make these coffee pods will differ amongst these brands. As a result, these processes will, in turn, affect how long a single coffee pod will stay fresh. Also, the production date of each coffee pod will affect the freshness of the coffee pod. You don't expect a 2-year old coffee pod to have the fresh taste of a 2-day old coffee pod.
This means we can't discuss the freshness of your coffee pod without discussing the production timeline. Another factor we can't but consider is the expiration date of the coffee pod. Most food items that come in packs have expiration dates indicated. Does this apply to coffee pods too?
Do coffee pods have expiry dates?
If you use your coffee pods daily, there's a high chance that you’ll bother with whether or not coffee pods expire. Logically, this is because you use coffee pods daily. Therefore, the taste will remain consistent because you take the coffee pod while it's fresh.
However, there may be some cases when you have to find ways to ensure the coffee pod's freshness. For example, let's assume you just bought a coffee pod today and have to travel for a long while. You may not be able to pack all the coffee pods along with you for that journey. If you stay too long, the coffee pods may have lost that fresh taste.
In that situation, it's always best if you figure out how to ensure coffee pod freshness. The first step here is to check for an expiry date. That way, you know precisely when the pods will start losing their fresh taste.
Truthfully, most coffee pods hardly have an expiry date. In most cases, what you'll see in a coffee pod is a best-used date. The best-used date is the latest date recommended by the manufacturer for you to use the coffee pods. If you use your coffee pods after that day, you may not get the best experience.
The best-used date is a little bit different from the expiry date. The expiry date is the day the coffee pods become unsafe for consumption. The best-used date means you can consume after that day, but you risk a decline in quality and fresh taste. Let's take a look at some factors that affect the expiry/best-used date;
- Brand: The brand that makes the coffee pod has a considerable role in determining the best use date. In most cases, only the workers of that brand know the true history of each pod. They know exactly when the coffee pods were still ordinary coffee beans, and they know when it was ground.
They also know when the ground coffee came into the store for packing. These activities that the coffee pod undergoes all influence the best use date. So, dependent on the policies of the manufacturer, they determine the best use date.
As earlier explained, the best use date is not always the actual date the pod will spoil. In most cases, for consumer safety, manufacturers select a date before that. So, also, this decision depends totally on the intuition of the manufacturer. Some may fix it three months before, while others put a date one month to the expiry date.
- Roasting: Of course, coffee pods save us the stress of preparing coffee from coffee beans. However, since they are single-serve coffee, it only means they still have coffee constituents. That means it still undergoes some of the production processes of ground coffee. If you want to ensure your coffee pod freshness, these processes are essential.
An essential process in coffee production is the roasting of the coffee beans. The first raw material your coffee pod comes in is naturally beans. You can't just put these beans into hot water and start enjoying your coffee. It has to go through a process experts call roasting.
The process of roasting can be very tedious and lengthy, but it's imperative. This is the part of coffee production that makes coffee beans become coffee at all. It affects the taste, colour, flavour, and every other feature of the coffee pod. If you want to ensure the coffee pod's freshness, you need to understand the roasting process.
When you roast coffee, you'll notice a release of oil on the skin of the coffee beans. This oil contains all the compounds and constituents that make the coffee. So, the flavour, taste, and colour depend on this oil during the roast.
When this oil comes in contact with natural constituents like air and light, it can affect the freshness of the coffee pod and how long it lasts. Due to natural conditions, manufacturers have to consider the type of roast to decide the best-used date. Also, they have to consider the effect of nature on the roast coffee beans before production. All of these will come together to help the manufacturer predict the best use date for the coffee pod.
- Constituents: The whole idea of coffee pods is to make the coffee-making process more convenient for users. However, over time, brands have now created coffee pods to be able to solve even more problems. Take the area of taste as an illustration. Say you love adding milk or cream to your coffee. There are coffee pod brands that include milk and cream constituents in their pods.
This added creativity has given rise to a lot of creative and innovative types of coffee pods. What that means, however, is that these different coffee pods will all have various constituents. For some coffee pods, you may have dark coffee, while others have cream. In turn, the way you can ensure the freshness of the different coffee pods has to differ.
Also, these constituents will affect how long the coffee pod will stay fresh. Some constituents may reduce the freshness timeline, while some constituents may even elongate the timeline. Whichever way, manufacturers need to consider the components of the coffee pod to predict the best use date. So you see, the constituents of the coffee pod will affect the length of time it'll remain fresh.
- Manufacturing date: We'll break no news if we told you the manufacturing date affects the best-use date. Like we mentioned earlier, nothing, no matter how strong, will last forever. When it comes to coffee pods, they do last long, but not forever. One factor you should look out for is the manufacturing date to predict the best use date.
For example, let's assume a coffee pod has a manufacturing date in June. The expiry date may fall precisely six months after the manufacturing date.
However, you'll be making a mistake if you're using the date you bought the pod as the manufacturing date. Some coffee pods may stay in a store for up to a month before you purchase them. Of course, that day you bought them isn't the manufacturing date. So to ensure your coffee pod stays fresh for longer, always ask for newer ones in the store.
However, if you prefer to purchase coffee pods from online stores, you should check the website for information. Some websites may include the exact date the manufacturer roasts the coffee beans. That way, you can buy a coffee pod that has a manufacturing date that's not too far in the past. That's one of the easiest ways you can ensure coffee pod freshness.
We have listed some influential factors that affect the expiry date of coffee pods. Most of these factors also can affect the freshness of coffee pods. Keep reading to see what we mean.
Related Article: How Sustainable Are Coffee Pods (FAQs)
Factors that Affect the Freshness of Coffee Pods
As avid coffee pod drinkers ourselves, we understand the appeal of the fresh consistent taste that comes with coffee pods. That's why you need to look for ways to ensure the freshness of coffee pods.
Several elements play a part in the freshness of the coffee pod. These influential factors occur all through the production of the coffee pod. They start right from the type of coffee beans chosen by the manufacturer. Also, the production process that converts that coffee beans into coffee pods plays a considerable role.
The production process of coffee pods is one critical section that many brands give their attention to. Mostly, it's because they'll lose consumers if their coffee pods aren't fresh, and partly because of safety rules. As a result, they try different methods to ensure that the coffee pods maintain their freshness.
Most of these coffee brands take their time to choose the best types of coffee beans. At the same time, some other Canadian brands go as far as using chemical compounds to ensure freshness. Recent trends show that brands now use packs that are air-tight and infused with nitrogen to keep coffee pods fresh. These packs will, in turn, protect the coffee pods against external factors that can deter their freshness.
However, these coffee pod brands can only try their best to ensure coffee pod freshness. These coffee pods can't last forever. Let's take a look at some factors that determine how long your coffee pods will stay fresh.
Time
No matter how the manufacturer of a coffee pod tries to ensure freshness, they can't control the element of time. That means the coffee pod will still lose that freshness. However, what they can do is delay the timeline for the coffee pod to lose freshness. So, instead of the usual timeline at which ground coffee loses freshness, coffee pods last longer.
The date the manufacturer made the pod is vital if you want to ensure coffee pod freshness. When you know this date, you can tell the age of the coffee pod. A coffee pod that's spent months on the store's shelf will not taste better than a new coffee pod.
More so, these coffee pods already have a recommended timeline from the manufacturer. So, you can look around the pack of the coffee pod to find the best use date. The manufacturer must have considered many factors before recommending a timeline.
However, some reports state that coffee pods can last more than six months after the expiry date. Take that information with a pinch of salt!
Production process
You can easily refer to coffee pods as coffee for a single brew of coffee. That means individual pods have constituents to make a single cup of coffee. One of such constituents is ground coffee. Before it becomes coffee pods, ground coffee undergoes a myriad of production processes.
This process has a lot of influence on the freshness of the resulting coffee pod. The first step to producing coffee is finding and sorting the good coffee beans. If the coffee beans are fresh, you can expect a boost in how long the coffee pods stay fresh. In contrast, if the coffee beans aren’t fresh, don’t expect your coffee pods to stay fresh for a long time.
Once the manufacturer can get the coffee beans right, the next step is roasting. This step is one of the most sensitive steps of the coffee-making process. It determines the taste, colour, aroma amidst other features of the coffee.
After roasting the coffee beans, the next step is to grind the roasted coffee beans. This is the part where manufacturers grind the beans into the typical powder coffee you know today. After grinding, the best coffee pod manufacturers package it quickly.
Fast sealing and packaging will ensure the freshness of your coffee pods for a long stretch. It eliminates the possibility of contamination.
Remember, ground coffee has a surface area less than that of coffee beans. That means natural elements can penetrate the coffee very quickly. When this happens, there's only one result, which is a loss of freshness.
To ensure your coffee pods stay fresh for a long time, you should only buy coffee pods from brands that adhere to the highest possible manufacturing standards. When the process we have described above happens under excellent conditions, the resulting coffee pods will remain fresh for longer.
External chemical compounds
The air you breathe in every day contains many chemical compounds. Some of these chemical compounds are good and great for your existence. In contrast, some others are pollutants that can affect your health.
The same thing applies if you want to ensure the freshness of coffee pods. There are chemical compounds within the air that have adverse effects on the freshness of coffee pods. So, manufacturers try as much as possible to control the effects of these compounds during the production process.
Internal chemical compounds.
Coffee has, within itself, several chemical compounds. Each one of these compounds has its respective features and functions. Even the aroma of the coffee can come from four different chemical compounds. These compounds include:
- Propanal
- Methylpyrazine
- Methanethiol
- 2,3- Butanedione.
Depending on the concentration of these compounds, you can expect your coffee pods to stay and smell fresh for longer. Furthermore, the longer coffee pods stay unused, the more each of these compounds will undergo chemical reactions.
In most cases, the chemical compounds responsible for the fresh aroma of coffee pods lose potency over time. Therefore, if you want to ensure your coffee pods stay fresh for a long time, use them before these compounds start to react with one another.
Tips to Ensure Coffee Pod Freshness
As a coffee pod lover, it's normal to want to ensure the freshness of your coffee pod. However, you need to know that maintaining coffee pod freshness depends primarily on the manufacturer. If they made mistakes during the production process of the pod, you may not enjoy the freshness for a long time — regardless of what you do.
Another thing you need to know is there are some natural causes of this loss in freshness. One you have little or no control over is time. Your favourite coffee pod will lose its freshness after a long while. This timeline may be long, but it can't last forever.
However, you still have to try all you can to keep your coffee pod fresh. Here are some tips you can try to maintain coffee pod freshness;
Choose a good brand
If you're thinking of how to avoid stale coffee pods, you should think about the brand. The manufacturer of the coffee pod plays a significant role in the freshness of the coffee pod. Of course, when the coffee pod is still new, you get a great taste. But the ability for this freshness to last long depends on the brand.
When you're looking for a good brand for your coffee pods, you should consider many things. A good brand should give the best use date and even provide the roasting dates of the coffee pod. More so, a good brand should also give you tips on how best to keep your coffee pod fresh. So, it would be best if you didn't choose a brand just for the taste of the coffee pod alone.
Check manufacture/roast and expiry dates
In many cases, coffee pods come with the best use date. Like we have mentioned earlier, this date is the recommended limit for the best freshness of the coffee pod. However, it doesn't mean your coffee pod becomes useless the moment that day is past. You can have your coffee pod, just not as fresh as before.
Also, some coffee pod brands go as far as showing you the roasting or manufacture date. With that info, you can easily buy the recently made coffee pods if you're going to keep them for long. However, if your coffee pod brand doesn't include the manufacturing date, there's no need to fret. You can still make sure you use your coffee pods within the best use timeline.
Store carefully
In most cases, a primary cause of coffee freshness loss is moisture and other natural elements. So, to ensure your coffee pod freshness, you should look for ways to store the pod.
The goal is to keep it away from light and moisture as much as possible. In many cases, top coffee brands have recommended storage advice peculiar to their coffee pods.
Buy coffee pods in minor bulks
Of course, it's a smart move to fill your home with as many supplies as you need. But in the case of coffee pods, it may be wiser to buy smaller quantities of coffee pods per time.
For instance, let's assume you usually buy coffee pods that'll last for three months. You can reduce that by purchasing coffee pods monthly to ensure your coffee pod maintains its freshness.
Related Article: What Are The Best Coffee Pods?
Conclusion
There are several steps you can take to ensure the freshness of your coffee pods. Chief of these steps is to store the coffee pods in the best storage position. You have to make sure that where you keep your coffee pods is void of moisture. Once natural elements get into the coffee pod, it'll affect the freshness adversely.
That's why many brands give recommendations as to where to store your coffee pods. Some of these brands even have specific products that you can use to keep these coffee pods. That's why the brand of coffee pod you also love matters. The brand is responsible for the production of the pod you'll brew.
Here at Invigo Coffee, we only offer coffee pods that can stand the test of time. Our coffee pod flavours are designed to stay fresh for the longest time. This way, you can still enjoy that great Invigo taste no matter how long it takes before you brew it. Look through our online collection today.
