An interesting article. A couple of points: I wonder how a darker roast, would fair under the same conditions. I'm not a chemist, but when the oils are on the surface of the bean, can their structure be damaged in some way by the freezing and thawing? What about the residue moisture within the bean? This can vary by the roast. Can the freezing and thawing have any effect? IMHO, to be a fair test, one would have to try it with different beans, different roast profiles, and different brewing methods. The other issue is the "exchange" of flavors that often takes place. We've all experienced that refrigerator taste when something has been kept to long in the freezer in spite of it being in a so called "air tight" container. Me, I just like good coffee and its no biggy to purchase it fresh roasted and use it up quickly. We order a pound every other week. Our problem is with espresso. We don't use up the beans as quickly. Most espresso is a blend. There are only a few single orgin beans that make a good cup and a good shot. When I can get them in the roast profile I like, we use them up fast enough so the storage question is mute. Any tasting is, by its nature, a subjective thing. If you enjoy it, that's all that matters. But I do warn you, if you start drinking coffee made from quality beans, freshly roasted and ground, and properly brewed, you have a good chance you'll never be able to stomach Maxwell House again; and Starbucks will merely become an emergency fix only to be used when your supplier is unavailable. It can become an addiction for which there is no known 12 step program!

Sol warned "you should be swinging from your ceiling fans in no time". Thanks for the heads-up BUT no one warned me that I would speed and risk getting stopped by the sheriff! I usually drink my addiction as soon as I get up but this AM I was late and drank it before getting in the car to go to the gym. Thankfully it was the same sheriff from the turtle incident; he gave me a verbal warning. I guess he thought speeding wasn't as harmful as turtle relocation. Michael, I was hoping you would chime in as you are the coffee guru. I'm two months in and still experimenting using various suggestions you all have offered. I... like medium roast purchased a grinder prefer medium ground add a pinch of salt to the batch add sweetener and flavoring to the batch so I don't have to bother with that every morning just add the creamer don't like Fresh Market coffees accidentally bought a pound of decaf and notice the difference but didn't know what the problem was until my batch was used up and I went back to the bag to use the remainder of the pound and saw that it was decaffeinated bought 2 pounds online from CoffeeAM; haven't tried it yet but the company seems to offer many options I am definitely hooked which is scary 'cause what if this was something harmfully addictive?

Debrak, other than the equipment costs (the roaster, the grinder and the Chemex and filters cost right around $200.00), the green beans are far cheaper than I can get coffee already roasted for here. Most "good" beans are around $12-$15 per package, which used to be a pound but are now 12 ounces. I get green beans anywhere from $4.50 to $7 or $8 a pound. The exotic beans can go up to $20 or so and many are on sale for they're far cheaper. I roast a pound on the weekend. Since you'd have to buy a coffee maker, that balances the cost somewhat. So, I figure my coffee, even after I pay shipping, costs me about $6 a pound, as opposed to the $12 for store bought beans in a lesser amount. We go through about a pound a week, so that $6 a week will add up quickly. However, if you factor in time, you have to roast the beans, grind the coffee and Chemex takes time and attention, you have to pour over the water instead of just pushing the button on the coffee maker. I used to use a coffee maker for coffee during the week when I worked, and the Chemex was reserved for weekends. I got to the point where I'd get up 10 minutes early to use the Chemex, LOL. Annie

I too grind my own beef with a Kitchenaid grinder attachment. I use chuck and put it through twice. I'm going to try doing it partially frozen now--that is a great idea. I also find that I can throw in some fresh parsley or whatever other herb and grind that right in too--when I lived in Morocco they would ask if you wanted a handful of herbs in your meat before they ground it, and it was delicious that way. I read Fast Food Nation a few years ago and in the descriptions of the slaughterhouses it sounded like most of the bacterial contamination of the meat is on the outside of the piece of meat from splashing (ick). So I think there is probably less contamination of the ground beef if you wash the whole piece and then grind it. In the store, it isn't getting washed, and so the bacteria on the outside gets ground into the ground beef.