Here are some suggestions for you to follow to preserve your coffee's freshness at home or work: * If convenient, purchase only as much fresh coffee as you will use in a week. The closer you can brew your coffee to the date it was roasted, the fresher it will be in your cup. Buy next weeks coffee next week, and so on. * After a bag has been opened, keep the coffee in an air tight container. It's critical to keep oxygen, moisture, and light away from your coffee. * The single most effective way to improve your coffee experience at home or work is to grind the bean before you brew. Coffee stays fresher in its whole bean form. Grinding your coffee too soon increases its surface area exposure to oxygen, which will stale the coffee tremendously faster than whole bean coffee. * To prevent under-development or over-extraction of the flavor compounds in your coffee, grind specifically for YOUR OWN filter and/or brewer. A coffee ground for a french press is not the same grind for drip paper filters, or espresso for example. Your grind is determined by the amount of time that your coffee will be in contact with the water in the brew cycle. Each brewing method is different, each filter is different. Grind accordingly. * Maintain proper coffee-to-water ratio. For most drip coffee makers, we recommend starting with 10 grams of coffee (one standard coffee scoop) per 6oz. of water. * Use quality water. Water represents more than 98% or your beverage. Use fresh, filtered, or even bottled water. If you can't stand the taste of the water your brewing with, what do you expect will happen to your brewed coffee? * Do not refrigerate! Fresh coffee is an odor magnet, even when it is stored in an air tight container. Please do not subject your fresh coffee to the odors of the contents within your fridge. Unless that is, you enjoy that suble hint of raw onion and leftover chicken in your morning brew... you get the point. Keep a week's worth or less of your coffee dry and air tight at room temp. Freeze any excess coffee, and thaw before you grind, never grind frozen beans! (from http://www.fortune3.com/comp72776/?pagesuffix=content-21-250.html&)