Can You Keep Brewed Coffee In The Fridge?

Whether it's brewed from raw or roasted coffee beans, there is no denying that coffee tastes the best when it is fresh. Still, in the spirit of getting the most out of a brew, coffee can be refrigerated to be consumed later, albeit with less flavor. While the flavor will dissipate over time, the caffeine will either remain constant or decline a negligible amount, making the refrigerated brew still effective for jumpstarting a day. If you want your brewed coffee to last well beyond the couple of hours it's good for after brewing, it is best to refrigerate it and avoid adding milk or creamer.

Brewed hot coffee and espresso could last three to four days if refrigerated in an airtight container. If milk and creamer were added before refrigerating, you have–at most–a couple of days to consume the coffee. While keeping brewed coffee in the fridge is a great choice for those who enjoy this beverage for its caffeine, for those who savor its flavor, there may be better uses for leftover coffee.

While the flavor of coffees brewed with heat may not hold up well in a frigid fridge environment, that of cold brew coffee will. Cold brew, not to be mistaken with iced coffee, will retain its flavor for the first week of being stored in the fridge, only beginning to lose its flavor after about seven days. After this, the beverage is still consumable for a few more days but will gradually lose its defining flavor.

Still, not all versions of cold brew coffee will hold up for long. Diluted cold brew or cold brews from coffee shops, for example, have a shelf life of three to four days in the fridge. As with hotter brews, adding milk and creamer will drastically reduce the shelf life of cold brew coffee; cold brew with milk and creamer already added into it will only stay fresh for a couple of days at most.

Regardless of how it was brewed, always check for signs of spoilage in refrigerated coffee before enjoying it; if there is mold, discoloration, or suspicious smells wafting from the brew, it is best to throw out the whole batch.