title_body: What actually happens with the ground coffee that lost its flavour?
upvoted_answer: As far as I know the aroma is gone first, the oils begin to dry out and the taste goes down as well. I don't know how long it takes the caffeine to go away. I have drunk coffee over a year old and there still was caffeine. (I go camping and there was a bag left over from the previous year.)
  
  On a different note - as a lifelong NYer I don't see how living in a small space precludes having a grinder. Even - gasp - a cheap krup kitchen grinder is better than buying bags of store ground coffee. (IMHO) Although I would buy a hand grinder instead.