Can I make coffee for a week or will it lose properties?

Some people claim to be able to taste the difference between fresh coffee and reheated coffee, but I can not. I always make a full pot of 12 – 6 oz cups which lasts me three days. I put it in a coffee urn, not a plastic container.

Fresh coffee tastes SO much better.

You might try a liquid coffee concentrate like this one.

When I worked at the gourmet grocery store, coffee was made fresh every 30 minutes and the old stuff poured out. By then, our pickiest customers could tell that the flavor had turned and didn’t want it anymore. (The flavor oils are pretty volatile and evaporate quickly, I guess.) However, if you’re not picky about your coffee to that degree, and you like coffee from, say, Denny’s, and a switch to Folger’s Crystals wouldn’t fool you, perhaps your coffee would do just fine in the fridge for a while. I’m not sure I’d keep it for a week, though, or any longer than you’d keep iced tea.

Why not try it out? See how you like the taste on day 1, day 3, day 7. Worst case scenario, you need to make new coffee, right?

You can but why would you want to?

If you keep it refrigerated and don’t add anything to it, it should be fine.

I made the mistake of making coffee ahead in large amounts one summer. But I also put sugar in while it was still hot.

After a few days, it got thick and sort of mucillagenous. It tasted Ok, but coffee isn’t supposed to be slimy like that.

But when I left the sugar out it was fine and made great iced coffee.

Obviously it tastes better fresh made due to the added flavor compounds from the volatile oils. But it wasn’t horrible.

The other thing you might want to try is cold brewing.

This eliminates a good deal of the acidity and is supposed to taste really good.

I’ve been meaning to experiment with this technique myself.

The anti-carcinogenic properties of coffee are lost after the first 20 minutes if that matters to you.

Here’s more on cold-brewing. You make coffee concentrate and keep it in the fridge. Mix with hot water (or ice) when you’re ready for some joe.

From the NY Times
Cold-brewed coffee is actually dirt simple to make at home. Online, you’ll find a wealth of forums arguing for this bean or that, bottled water over tap, the 24-hour versus the 12-hour soak. You can even buy the Toddy cold-brew coffee system for about $30.

But you can also bang it out with a Mason jar and a sieve. You just add water to coffee, stir, cover it and leave it out on the counter overnight. A quick two-step filtering the next day (strain the grounds through a sieve, and use a coffee filter to pick up silt), a dilution of the brew one-to-one with water, and you’re done. Except for the time it sits on the kitchen counter, the whole process takes about five minutes.

The full coffee experience begins with grinding the beans and brewing the coffee. If the taste and quality matter to you, then arrange your time better so you can derive all the benefits. If any coffee taste and the “buzz” are all you need, then others have offered a number of alternatives.

i say go thru drivethru and get a fresh cup

I’ve heard that instant coffee can be tasty.

Sure you CAN. There’s no way I could drink old coffee. I make it one cup at a time, so I’m kind of a fanatic about fresh coffee. I do know someone who uses your considered method. It seems to work for him.

@skfinkel I’ve heard that instant coffee can be tasty.

I actually like Folger’s instant.

It’s not brewed coffee anymore than Sprite is brewed coffee. No comparison. But on its’ own merits, it’s not bad.

Maybe I should not admit this

I second the cold brew method for making a concentrate. Lately I’ve been using my French press to quickly get grounds out of the way, but I still strain thru a filter before I refrigerate.

I was going to suggest the homemade cold brewing method myself, but since @rexpresso fully admits in his details that, referring to himself, “I am lazy,” apparently too lazy to make a fresh pot of coffee in the morning, :-) and even I, the laziest of the lazy will make myself coffee… well anyway, I opted for the 32oz bottle of pre-made coffee concentrate. It seemed more suitable to his temperament and nature. Making your own homemade cold brew coffee concentrate is not that difficult or expensive but it can be messy. @rexpresso, just get the bottled concentrate and be done with it.

Have to love how content-rich this thread became. Thanks everyone…

In the meantime I got myself some modafinil yesterday and won’t be needing coffee for the awakening at least..

@rexpresso Good for you; but I have a feeling that freshly ground modafinil doesn’t smell nearly as wonderful as freshly ground coffee.