Here's How Long Canned Coffee Will Stay Fresh

While most people probably get their daily caffeine fix from a brewed pot at home or at a local café, there's a third option that's been gaining quite a lot of popularity over the past couple of years — canned coffee. Although some coffee-in-a-can is definitely better than others, none will taste as good as hand-brewed. Even so, the convenience of a can allows you to avoid waiting for your coffee machine to brew, or the hassle of standing in line. Additionally, canned coffee also promises a great shelf life, meaning so long as it's not open, you can keep it in your pantry until you need it. But how long does it last, really?

The short answer is: typically up to a year past the brew date. The reason it lasts so long has to do with how canned coffee is actually produced. Like most things that are canned, before being sealed in aluminum the coffee must undergo pasteurization between 250 to 270 degrees Fahrenheit in order to kill any bacteria. The aluminum can itself is also boiled to sterilize it to ensure that by the time the coffee is canned, anything that could spoil is cleaned off. Manufacturers also use nitrogen flushing to preserve the coffee which helps many canned coffees retain the smooth, velvety texture that consumers have come to love (it's also part of the process that makes Starbucks' nitro cold brew so creamy).

It's worth mentioning that the process of preservation gets more complicated when milk and other ingredients are added to the coffee. Depending on the exact ingredients being added, the shelf life of your canned coffee can change significantly. Because it's perishable, dairy can significantly cut down on just how long your canned coffee stays fresh. Something like a vanilla latte, for instance, will have a shorter shelf life than plain black cold brew by several months. Black coffee, on the other hand, can survive for anywhere from 180 days to up to two years, depending on the brand and how the cans are stored and refrigerated.

This is exactly why you should take an extra second to check the expiration date when grabbing any canned coffees with extras mixed in. With that said, keeping an emergency pack of canned coffee in the pantry to grab when you're short on time could be the perfect solution for anyone who needs an extra caffeine boost but is short on time.