At George Howell Coffee, our mission has always been simple: to capture and share the most vibrant, delicious flavors coffee has to offer, all year long. But how do you preserve the brilliance of a coffee well beyond its harvest? The answer: freezing.

We began freezing unroasted coffee in 2004, when George Howell Coffee was launched. We were experiencing how well-stored green coffees, kept in airtight GrainPro bags in climate controlled warehouses, inevitably faded over time. Stunning microlots and competition-winning coffees were losing their spark and turning into sour, woody brews  about five months after harvest. That bad flavor grew more intense with each following month. We wanted to end that.

We started with a few select coffee lots and found their quality to remain at peak flavor throughout the year. By 2005 we were freezing all our coffees. To our delight we found that certain coffees remained pristine for up to four years. In 2017 at the yearly Specialty Coffee Association of America Symposium we successfully presented tastings of three of our coffees that were over three years old. 

That was the turning point. We began investing in commercial freezers (the same kind used for ice cream), and we developed specific protocols for freezing, thawing,
and roasting green coffee. We found that storing coffee at or just below -10°F could preserve its character for years. This opened the door to offering rare and exceptional lots long after harvest, exactly as they were meant to be tasted.

Of course, freezing can’t fix coffee that arrives already compromised. Occasionally, we receive lots with woody, papery, or “tired” flavors, notes like cedar, paper bag, or dust. These flaws are usually out of our control, often caused by shipping delays or issues at the farm level, such as poor storage, processing, or drying. Sometimes these problems are noticeable right away; other times, they emerge gradually, even after freezing. When coffee arrives with damage already present, freezing won’t stop the deterioration, it can only slow it down.

But freezing green coffee became more than a solution, it became part of who we are. It's one of the ways we honor the hard work of producers, ensuring their coffees reach people in the best possible form.

Our Freezing Process:

Our approach is deliberate and focused on quality. Before we freeze any lot, we cup it extensively to understand and confirm its character/terroir. We also collect data points we monitor throughout the year, moisture content, density, water activity, UV analysis, and defect counts.

All our coffees are shipped in GrainPro bags, with a few exceptions that are vacuum-packed and sealed at origin. Once they arrive, we store them in commercial freezers at temperatures just below -10°F. This dramatically slows the breakdown of flavor compounds and preserves the coffee’s unique origin and terroir characteristics.

When we’re ready to roast, we allow the green coffee to thaw gradually at room temperature. Typically, we bring the coffee in on a Friday, let it defrost over the weekend, and roast it over the following two weeks. We've found that once a coffee has thawed, it should be roasted within that window, if left out longer, the coffee deteriorates more rapidly than if it had never been frozen at all.

Freezing gives us the ability to showcase coffees at their peak, even months or years after harvest. It lets us source seasonally and roast thoughtfully. Most importantly, it supports our mission to connect coffee lovers with extraordinary coffees, exactly as the producers intended them to taste, with flavor and freshness fully intact.