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It works with whole beans and ground coffee.

By

Rochelle Bilow

Editor

Rochelle Bilow is an editor at Serious Eats. She’s tested thousands of cooking tools and kitchen appliances, and has been writing about food professionally for over a decade.

Published February 03, 2026

Serious Eats / Rochelle Bilow

Coffee snobs will tell you. Baristas will tell you. Heck, even I will tell you: For the freshest coffee, buy whole beans and grind them just before you brew. It’s the easiest way to upgrade your cup, and yet: Do I, a professional kitchen equipment tester and the writer of our coffee makers review, grind beans every morning? Nope. Not at all. In my house, we batch-grind coffee once a week because our mornings go better when we don’t have to start them with a loud burr grinder. But my drip coffee still tastes bright and lively. The trick? A really good (but cheap!) coffee canister.

Why I Love the MiiR Coffee Canister

I’ve been storing my pre-ground coffee in the 12-ounce MiiR Airlock Coffee Canister for two months, and I’ve noticed a huge improvement in the taste and aroma. But I was surprised that this $40 canister performed so well. See, the original MiiR Coffee Canister, which we tested in 2024, didn’t do so hot. Activating it required flipping a fussy switch, and it couldn’t create a tight seal, so it didn’t make our winners’ list. But when MiiR redesigned its coffee canister with a push knob—no more annoying switch—I thought it was worth another look.

I ended up loving this simple, affordable coffee canister. It’s so easy to use: Just add your beans or coffee grounds, place the silicone stopper on top, then push it down as far as it’ll go. Add the lid, and store your beans! The stopper displaces air, keeping coffee fresh-tasting for well over a week. (Oxygen expedites a bean’s journey to going stale.)

The MiiR Coffee Canister doesn’t keep coffee quite as fresh as vacuum-sealed coffee canisters, like the Fellow Atmos, which won our review. But you can’t use vacuum-sealed canisters for pre-ground coffee, because the vacuum will suck up grounds, causing the seal to malfunction. (How do I know that? Don’t ask me how I know that.) Point being: If you want the best coffee canister that works for whole beans and coffee grounds, it’s the MiiR Airlock Coffee Canister. When I use it, I don’t notice a negative change in my coffee’s flavor until about day eight—and by then, I’ve used almost the whole canister and am ready for some new beans.

Credit: Serious Eats / Rochelle Bilow

Credit: Serious Eats / Rochelle Bilow

Credit: Serious Eats / Rochelle Bilow

Credit: Serious Eats / Rochelle Bilow

52f9791c-eba0-4f07-b9c6-7e28957f0b89. Credit: Serious Eats / Rochelle Bilow

Why We’re the Experts

• Rochelle Bilow is an editor at Serious Eats.
• She has been testing kitchen equipment since 2021 and has reviewed hundreds of products.
• Rochelle has written many of our coffee gear reviews, including coffee makers with thermal carafes and the OXO Rapid Brewer Review.
• For this review, Rochelle tested the MiiR Coffee Canister by using it to store beans and grounds for 10 days. She also tested its durability, then began using it daily for long-term testing.