Smell that delicious freshly roasted coffee! Inhaling its rich aroma can be as intense an experience as sipping freshly brewed coffee.

Step back and think about that aroma, however, and you’ll soon realize that the very reason whole roasted coffee beans or ground coffee smell so good and strong is because their aromatic coffee oils are volatile, evaporating easily into the air.

Next, think about how good coffee smells while it’s brewing. That’s because the heat of the water draws more flavor from the ground coffee beans. The heat also, of course, launches that aromatic coffee flavor off into the surrounding air.

Knowing that air and heat draw aroma and flavor from coffee, you now have the basic information you need for storing coffee properly so you’ll be able to enjoy more of that rich coffee flavor as long as possible. Here are the steps to follow:

Buy freshly roasted coffee. The sooner you buy coffee after roasting, the more flavorful it will be. So buy coffee only from stores that do a brisk business and therefore have a regular turnover of product. Mail-order coffee companies usually roast frequently and ship coffee beans soon after roasting. When buying prepackaged coffee, look for products in vacuum-packed or nitrogen-flushed bags, which prevent interaction with air and resulting loss of flavor.

Buy no more coffee than you need. Stored properly (see below), whole bean coffee will stay fully flavorful for 3 to 4 weeks, ground coffee for just over a week. Don’t buy more coffee at one time than you normally go through in those time frames.

Choose whole bean coffee over ground coffee. Grinding dramatically multiplies the surface area from which coffee’s aroma and flavor can escape. As the storage times above demonstrate, whole bean coffee will stay fresher longer than preground coffee.

Store coffee in an airtight container. A glass jar or other nonporous container with a tight-fitting lid will minimize interaction with air and loss of coffee flavor. Old-fashioned jars with glass lids sealed with rubber gaskets and metal clamps make an excellent choice for storing coffee.

Store coffee someplace cool. The less heat the beans are exposed to, the longer their flavor will last. At the very least, store coffee beans at cool room or pantry temperature, away from light and heat sources. If you have room, coffee also stores well and stays fresh slightly longer in the refrigerator. Avoid freezer storage, as moisture from the air can enter the container when you take some coffee beans out for grinding and brewing; then, condensing in the freezer’s cold air, it can hasten the coffee’s decline in flavor.