Many people do not understand that it is vital to buy your coffee in whole beans. And why would they? Many retailers sell their pre-ground coffee products as if it's not a problem. I would like to totally disagree with that fact because the question of the freshness of the coffee beans is at stake!
When buying whole bean coffee, you need to consider when it was roasted. Not many people can afford to live near an artisan coffee roaster, otherwise consider looking for online retailers that ship whole coffee beans freshly roasted. To buy whole bean coffee online, search through various sources.
This is incredibly necessary if you want to have quality in your coffee bean purchase, rather than dealing with dull, stale flavors in your coffee beans.
On top of that, consider the fact that if you buy pre-ground beans at a grocery store, they'll already be pretty rancid. When you grind your freshly ground coffee beans, they will start to lose their freshness within 30 minutes. 30 minutes!
This means that there is absolutely no way that the coffee you buy straight off the shelf at the grocery store will have any kind of freshness if it is pre-ground. If it's a whole bean, it can still be a problem because it may have been there for weeks.
When freshly roasted, whole bean coffee will stay fresh for up to 10 days. That's why it's important to buy your coffee as a perishable item and buy only the amount you'll need for up to a week.