If you ask any coffee expert to give you advice about trying to brew better coffee at home, they’d tell you to buy freshly roasted whole coffee beans instead of pre-ground coffee.

This debate about whole beans and ground coffee has been on for a long time. People buying pre ground coffee feel it's convenient, but whole bean buyers feel the coffee will be tastier if it is grinded some minutes before brewing. To be honest, we are in the whole bean camp, because the benefits of using coffee beans are many.

These benefits can’t be ignored, they include:

1. Tasty, great coffee creates happy moments- pre-ground coffee loses its flavors already, so it will rob you of these.
2. The coffee-making process with whole beans is liberating, and it is not restricted to one coffee maker. 
3. Pre-ground coffee doesn't give you the value of your money- your hard-earned dollars should be spent better.

If you have been buying pre-ground coffee, we understand completely that convenience is an important factor. But if you try brewing with whole beans, you realize all that you’ve been missing and make a switch.

THE WHOLE BEANS IS FRESH, NOT STALE

There is one significant problem with buying coffee in stores. They are already stale. The reason is that the beans were roasted months or weeks before they were packaged and shipped to the stores. If the coffee has stayed up to three weeks, it would have lost most of its flavors and aromas.

To enjoy the freshness of the coffee while at its peak, 1-2 weeks is okay. Another problem is that coffee sold in supermarkets is pre-ground. Ground coffee loses its freshness and natural flavors 20 -30 minutes after it's been ground. Yes, within 30 minutes. Imagine how the coffee will taste after sitting on the supermarket counter for weeks. 

The flavors are lost because the grounds are smaller and in no time oxygen will soak in the grounds before they begin to taste stale. This means that the aromas, gentle acidity, and natural sugars will disappear, and harsh bitterness will be produced when you brew. Yuck.

That's one annoying thing about pre-ground coffee, it's already stale before you buy, and the price is the same with whole coffee beans. So why settle for less?

Whole beans will stay fresh for long because it is still whole, so it will take longer before oxygen will start affecting it. Coffee’s aroma and taste come from the oils on the beans. When the beans have been ground, these oils will start evaporating and the flavors will be lost. 

You can do a little experiment yourself, buy a pack of pre-ground coffee and whole beans. Brew coffee from both and taste the them. Did you notice the subtle acidity and pronounced flavors from the cup brewed with whole beans? This is the main reason why you should always grind your beans only when you are ready to start brewing to preserve these amazing flavors.

In other words, if you value the sensory experience that is associated with brewing coffee made with whole beans, then you should always buy whole beans. 

WHOLE BEANS CAN BE USED FOR ANY BREWER

Pre-ground coffee can be used for drip coffee makers, and it's convenient, there is no denial about that. But what happens when you want to make French press coffee or espresso or pour-over coffee? You’d be stuck. Pre-ground coffee may not work well with most coffee makers.

The grind size you are using should match with your coffee maker else you’d brew unbalanced coffee. In a real sense, it is very easy to pair grind sizes with coffee makers. But if you using pre-ground coffee, you won't have the option of matching grind sizes with the different brewers. 

Related: How To Grind Coffee

• For Turkish coffee, you need fine grounds
• For espresso, use fine grounds 
• Pour-over coffee, use coarse to medium fine grounds
• French press, use coarse grinds
• Cold-brew, use coarse grinds

From what you read, you can see that pre-ground coffee can do so little. If you want to make other types of coffee, you need to grind the beans yourself to fit your preference. Also make sure that you are using a good burr grinder for this, it will produce consistent grinds. 

WHOLE COFFEE BEANS GIVES YOU POWER OVER THE BREWING PROCESS

If you are using pre-ground coffee, you’d be stuck with any flavor the grounds produce. If you don't like it, you’d have to drink it or dispose of it, what waste. Since you can't change the grind sizes, you can't change the coffee. 

On the other hand, you can make changes with whole beans and get all the flavors you want.

If the coffee tastes bitter, you can fix it: When the coffee you just made is too bitter, it means the coffee is over-extracted. You can fix the problem by using a coarser grind. This will reduce the total extraction and bring back the original balanced flavor of the coffee

Grind sizes will determine the brew time (contact time): Finer grinders extract faster, the coarse grinds will take longer. So if you are using whole beans, you can make changes to the grind size and the coffee will eventually taste better. Every brew can taste way better than the last just by adjusting the grind size.

Does the coffee taste sour? you can fix it: Soured taste is a result of under extraction. In other words, the coffee grounds did not extract well. If you use a finer grind, the extraction speed will increase and the coffee will turn outbalanced. With a burr grinder and whole coffee beans, you are in full control of the brewing size, not using grind sizes that were determined by a factory.

After buying the coffee beans, you have to store them properly to be able to get the best out of them. You can buy the beans in batches, 1 kg can be bought and used for a week. When you buy the beans, keep them away from sunlight, moisture, and oxygen else they’ll go stale and taste exactly like the ground coffee you didn't want in the first place.

The beans can be stored in a canister and placed in the cupboard, or you can leave them in the bag they, just make sure it is wrapped well with a tape or clip. Don't store coffee beans in the freezer, they’ll just lose most of their flavorful aromas to other groceries in the fridge. 

BREW COFFEE THAT IS FLAVORFUL

Fresh coffee is not only flavorful and rich, it also gives you the caffeine kick needed. It gives you something that is just for you, a coffee drink where you found the sweet spot yourself.

Coffee making isn't just about caffeine kick, it has to do with the therapeutic feeling of brewing as well.  It is why we are so engrossed in producing fresh, high-quality coffee beans. These beans will get your day started on the right foot.

We love to help coffee enthusiasts find only the best coffee beans for brewing. Our beans are sourced from sustainable farms, and we roast with passion. The results? Coffee with unique flavors that are delivered some hours after roasting. At Coffee Hero, we are dedicated to giving you great coffee beans that make every morning special. 

WHAT ABOUT SINGLE-SERVE COFFEE PODS?

If the convenience pre-ground coffee gives is exactly what you want, why not buy a Nespresso machine with Compatible Nespresso pods and brew the coffee faster. It is better to buy coffee pods instead of pre-ground coffee.

Make sure you are buying from roasters that make the pods in batches. This way you’d be sure of getting the freshest coffee pods possible. These coffee pods provide you with the perfect caffeinated convenience.

All you need to do is to pop one of these posts in the machine. With hot water and used pods, your cup of coffee is ready. One single-serve pod, One cup of coffee. It is convenient, there is no need to leave the coffee on the burner. Why go brew a pot of coffee when single-serve pods can do the job. What is simpler than that?

It is all up to you to decide what's more convenient. You may have heard of the common belief that single-serve coffee pods have no flavor, but that is not correct, especially when you are buying the pods from trusted companies. But if you are buying the pods from substandard companies, then that belief may apply.  

Related: How To Make The Best Tasting Nespresso Coffee