Experimental Blog:
Does pre-ground coffee really have less flavor and aroma?
This has always been the assumption, but I don't know anyone that has actually tested it themselves. So I set out to do just that and here's what I found.
I pre-ground a single origin Colombian washed coffee, 3 days after roasting and then saved it in an airtight container with a majority of the air removed (using a jar similar to the Fellow Atmos). And then put whole bean coffee from the same batch into another jar.
After 1 month, I then ground the whole bean coffee and cupped the 2 blindly. I was actually quite surprised that the difference wasn't as staggering as I would have suspected.
So I sealed the containers and patiently waited another month. After 2 months I did the cupping again, but this time the difference was much more noticeable. After 3 months, again it was noticeable and the pre-ground coffee had very mutued flavors.
So In conclusion:
I'd certainly recommend grinding your coffee right before brewing it if possible. If not, please only get enough ground coffee for about a week or 2 (no longer than a month). But is it better to drink specialty coffee that was ground 6 months ago than to not drink coffee at all? Obviously not!
Ultimately, there's nothing wrong with pre ground coffee. It just won't have as much aroma and taste as it otherwise would.