The key to great tasting beans, or any other stored food, is to make sure it is as fresh as possible at the time of storing. It sounds simple, but you'd be surprised how many people use the old lots of their food for long term storage, trying to be frugal. Never a good idea.
Along those lines, always test your supplies! When storing food in large quantities, always store some of each type in a smaller container for future testing. This way you wont have to open a 5 gal bucket just to test the lot. To test, make sure you are cooking with the equipment and condiments that you think will be available to you in an emergency, and no cheating! This not only helps to make sure your stores are truly good, but also helps you know that you have the right tools and recipes to make good use of those stores if they are ever needed.
I hope this helps someone
Brian
