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I'm going on a 4-night trip soon, visiting a person who is not into coffee. Seems like the simplest thing to do is to brew up some coffee concentrate beforehand, and dilute it with hot water each morning. I did this once before, for a two-night trip, and it worked fairly well.

I'm an Aeropress afficianado, so I'll brew the concentrate that way. But I'm wondering if 4 days is pushing it - will it lose flavor or gain off-flavors after that long ? And, would it be a good idea to freeze the concentrate after I make it, to minimize deterioration while travelling (figure about 5 hours door-to-door) ? I'd store it in a not-quite-full Nalgene bottle (the hard Lexan kind that doesn't leach nasty tastes), so hopefully freezing won't crack it.

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  • As per the agreement with Coffee Stackexchange, I'm migrating.
    – rumtscho
    Commented Mar 31, 2023 at 17:49
  • "Most coffee connoisseurs advise freezing a batch of brewed coffee for no more than a week. Although the coffee will still be safe to drink even after that time, the taste and the freshness of the beverage may be compromised ..." dripped.coffee/freeze-brewed-coffee/….
    – RustyShackleford
    Commented Mar 31, 2023 at 19:24
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    In your position I'd take the aeropress and ground coffee with me (or a coffee sock as I used when lightweight camping). But you've presumably considered that. If your plan is to freeze it in one container, how are you planning to get it out? Even if you freeze in ice cube trays and transfer to the Nalgene, the cubes will partially melt on the journey and end up stuck together.
    – Chris H
    Commented Apr 3, 2023 at 6:50
  • I tried freezing one cup's worth of concentrate. Let it freeze for a day, then thaw out a couple of days (in the fridge). It was pretty bitter (when diluted with hot water for drinking). It was about 4oz of concentrate in a half-liter bottle, so maybe too much air, and freezer at zero-F so maybe freezer burn too.
    – RustyShackleford
    Commented Apr 4, 2023 at 7:05

2 Answers 2

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From your question I gather that

  1. You have access to boiling hot water.
  2. You will carry an Aeropress with you.

If carrying beans and a small hand grinder (one that fits inside the Aeropress like some of Timemore's grinders for example) is not an option, how about carrying ground coffee? Maybe in a resealable bag inside the Aeropress? While it is true that ground coffee rapidly degasses due to its drastically increased surface area compared to whole coffee - brewing the coffee, letting it cool down, letting it sit over a few days, will definitely negatively impact its taste more. Even in the freezer the coffee will oxidise rapidly, leading to a bitter and flat taste.

What I would do is grind up the coffee you need for those days and then freshly brew an Aeropress each time you fancy a cup of coffee.

Maybe I have misunderstood you and you do not plan on bringing your Aeropress. If that's the case, I'd still strongly recommend it, since it would probably use even less space than a fancy container or thermos and you'll be able to enjoy freshly brewed coffee with your favourite recipe instead of some sort of reheated and diluted concentrate.

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Pour the concentrate into ice cube trays, freeze it, and then store the ice cubes in insulated containers like Thermoses. Even better if you can keep the insulated containers in a larger insulated container like a cooler.

Frozen coffee will retain it's flavor for a lonnnggg time. The longest I've done has been about three weeks, and the coffee tasted fine. Just don't set your freezer too cold. Freezer burn will change the flavor of your coffee. Spread a towel over the ice cube tray(s) while freezing also.

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