If you’re a real coffee fan, chances are you’ve taken matters into your own hands – that is to say, you purchase those lovely fresh green beans from a supplier, and do the rest yourself, not relying on large commercial companies to do the roasting, grinding or brewing for you.

A rule of thumb when it comes to fresh coffee is to remember that coffee’s shelf life decreases significantly the closer it comes to being in liquid drinking form.

Over the past century, it’s become more and more common to let the big coffee companies take care of our coffee preparation for us. We buy our favourite hot beverage in the form of a steaming mocha or frothy cappuccino at the nearest coffee stand or shop. If we do brew our own coffee at home, we tend to buy ready-ground coffee at the supermarket – all you have to do is put it into the machine and wait for the pot to fill. Or we buy roasted beans and grind them as we need them, because that’s the best way we know to preserve the freshness of coffee. Ground coffee loses its rich, characteristic flavours within a very short time period.

Buying green coffee beans is a great way to ensure that you both save money and get the freshest cup of coffee possible. Green coffee beans will keep for a few years, while roasted beans can only be considered truly fresh for around a month after roasting.