I was on the hunt for high quality glass jars that would provide an airtight seal in order to properly store my coffee beans. I searched for them on Amazon but couldn’t find anything suitable (a lotof the jars didn’t have the rubber gasket and clamp). They were either sold by a third-party who didn’t offer free shipping or they were too expensive. Luckily, the idea to shop at Crate & Barrel struck me. What better place to search for such an item but a place that sells kitchenware and the like? Sometimes, I wonder where my brain is when it comes to searching for things.

I already had one that was probably a .75 liter capacity, but with my coffee promiscuity demanded more jars. I purchased three 1 liter capacity Fido jars for an amazing $5 apiece. When they arrived, I washed them and dried them and proceeded to put my various coffee beans into them: a Sumatra, a Brazil, and an Africa. I realized that I would have to label them if I wanted to be sure of what I was grinding, so I went online to look for decent labels. In the interim, I just used some masking tape.Shortly, I had the bright idea of looking for plastic label holders. I could’ve just bought laser printer label sheets, but I demanded more from myself. I figured that plastic label holders would help me to avoid gunking up the clean glass surface of the jar with the constant replacement of the labels as I go through different beans.Again, Amazon came up short. Luckily, eBay has all sorts of things for sale. After some digging around, I found some plastic label holders from C-LINE. Being a stickler for the details, I measured out the flat surface area of my Fido jar and came to the conclusion that model #70023 would be just right for my needs. It measures 1 3/4″ by 2 3/4″, yielding a very large labeling surface. I was most pleased and immediately ordered them from Buy.com.

As soon as the order came in, I found the templates for the #70023 labels and printed out various labels for my coffee in the pleasingly clean and bold typeface of Helvetica.

And now, just look at how handsome those jars look! It seems a little obsessive to hunt down the perfect jar and the perfect label and the perfect font, but I always demand the best. And here, the best only cost me roughly $6 a jar (including the label and all) after shipping and taxes. Six dollars for something that’ll essentially last a lifetime is a pittance.

So there you have it folks: this is how you get good looking coffee jars like mine!

P.S. I have concluded that the African Burundi Bwayi beans are too dull for my tastes. While they are indeed very low in acid, it is too muddy for me. Perhaps I will try it as a drip coffee (I have been using the French press).