Oregon and Seattle both seem obsessed with coffee; there are tiny little roasters all over; pretty much every city has one or two small boutique roasting businesses. There are drive-through expresso kiosks and little carts. There are chains of coffee shops. You'd think, then, with this ubiquitous coffee culture, and the emphasis on buying the beans and brewing your own coffee, that people would know how to store their coffee.
They don't. I've seen people buy a pound of beans for 20.00 or more, and then leave the bag on the kitchen counter. This has caused me physical pain on at least one occasion. So here's a the basic run down on how to store your beans, in whole bean, or already ground. My assumption here is that you aren't going to grind the beans until just before you brew the coffee because you're not a barbarian. Right?
The basic idea is to keep your coffee away from moisture, air, light, and heat. That said, you also don't want to expose your drug of choice and elixir of life coffee anywhere it will be exposed to large changes in temperature. The ideal place is cool, dry, and dark.
"Cool, dry, and dark" does not mean your freezer. Here's the deal; if you're going to store your beans for a long time, yes, put them in a sealed air-tight container in your freezer. But you don't want to take them out of the freezer, and then put them back all the time. That exposes them to constant temperature fluctuations, and moisture will condense on and in the beans. Take out enough beans for a week or so, but keep the rest in the freezer. Keep the beans for the week in a sealed, air tight container in your pantry where it won't be exposed to light.