If you grind your own beans (or even if, like Christine, you roast your own beans), this lil double-tip might help keep your coffee fresh before you brew it.
You probably already store your roasted beans in an opaque ceramic container. If not, DO IT. Moisture and light are the enemies of your beans’ flavor.
Since you already store your roasted beans in an opaque ceramic container *cough* take the next step: place a desiccant in the container with the beans. Here’s how: if you take nutritional supplements or any of a wide selection of medications in pill or capsule form, there’s probably a neat lil bag of desiccant in the bottle. (If you take nutritional supplements and there’s not a desiccant bag in the bottle, you’re probably taking lowball crap that’s not doing you any good).
Note: there are different kinds of desiccants out there, and some that are packed with electronics or mechanical equipment are not suitable for use in the way I describe below! Take care!
After finishing a bottle of whatever food or medical product has a desiccant bag in it, take the desiccant bag and bake it at about 250°F for 20-30 minutes or so to drive out any moisture it may have soaked up. Place it in your ceramic coffee container with your roasted beans. It’ll absorb at least some of the water in the air inside the sealed container and protect your beans’ flavor.
Add-on tip: an oxygen absorber,different to a desiccant, is a Good Thing, too.