Each time I send out a newsletter, I try to include useful information that would benefit my readers. Besides recipes, I also try to provide a fun or practical kitchen tool or gadget.
Often times to get ideas, I look around my own kitchen searching for something that was a great buy and something I’d recommend to my own family and friends.
This time it didn’t take long because we recently purchased some stainless steel coffee canisters which work great holding our fresh coffee.
It took us a few months to actually find a good canister that met our requirements – why so long? As avid coffee drinkers – actually espresso drinkers, we go through a lot of coffee grinds. We don’t grind our own beans, but order from a company called CoffeeAM that sells organic fresh ground coffee.
We actually order a very dark decaf Italian Roast since they don’t provide (at the time of this writing) decaf espresso. Despite that, their customer service is excellent and we are happy to recommend them.
So, back to the canisters… we started looking at basic retail stores in the area when we were out – easy task right? Wrong.
Three Requirements for our Perfect Coffee Canister
First, we wanted stainless steel – not ceramic, not glass, not aluminum and not plastic. We don’t recommend plastic b/c plastic is porous and will let in air and some light. Glass – will let in light and age the beans. We don’t recommend aluminum b/c of it’s link to Alzheimer’s Disease, plus the transfer of taste and lack of durability when compared with stainless steel.
Secondly, we didn’t want anything that had a “window”. For example, I was at Target today and saw a canister that looked similar to the one we purchased except there was a clear window on the side (and some had clear tops) which allowed consumers to see how much coffee remained.
It is a good idea, but the more light that reaches the grinds, the quicker the grinds will age. Because we know the importance of keeping coffee protected from the elements such as light, air and heat, we really took it seriously to find a very air tight and solid (no windows) holder for our coffee.
You might be asking why not use ceramic canisters, and the only thing I can say considering we’ve used ceramic ones for years, is that the ones we saw at the stores had really poor seals for the lids.
The quality has just really deteriorated, and unless you can really touch and feel them to test them, we were a little hesitant (I can’t stand doing returns with online purchases!).
What We Purchased
We ended up buying two 16 oz. Friis canisters from Amazon
Another thing that I in particularly learned is a good coffee canister is not super cheap. I think we paid about $23 per, but I know these will last a long time and they look nice in our kitchen. I’m glad we made the purchase and I’m glad our espresso grinds are staying fresh!
Three Things We Really Like About the Friis
1. The other thing that we like with these canisters is the latch for the lid. It is very easy to open and close with just one hand and the seal is nice and tight.
2. There is also a dial on top which you can position to the day of the month in order to tell how long it has been since the last refill.
3. And one final tip on this gadget is the freshness valve which some how “vents away continuous CO2 gases that are a result of the roasting process” according to the Product Description. You’ll have to purchase new valves after about 6 months, but these can be purchased as a “Friis Freshness Valve Replacement Kit
If you want to read some customer reviews, you can do so at Amazon
