Brew it right - the first time!
Not many people would leave a freshly baked loaf of bread out on the counter for a week. For one, it would likely grow mold, which obviously isn't appetizing. But even if it didn't do that, it would become stale and hard. The bread would be nearly tasteless by the time you got around to eating it, and wouldn't offer any suggestion of uniqueness or artisan craft.
So why do people do the same kind of thing with coffee? For those in the industry, it's tough to explain. Perhaps it's because the coffee beans themselves don't actually develop physical signs of age. Or maybe it's because corporate shops and supermarket brands have developed an expectation that bags should have best before dates of six months to a year on them. Either way, it's destroying the hard work that the growers, pickers and roasters have put into it, because coffee is a crop that is extremely responsive to factors such as time and air.
This blog entry isn't intended to shame you for keeping beans too long. We at Caffe Rosso care about coffee, and simply want you to have the same (hopefully excellent) experience that you'll have in our shops. With that in mind, here's a couple of tips to keep in mind when buying beans.
- Look for a roast date on the bag. We're not talking about a best before date, or a date scooped. Once green beans are roasted, they begin to oxygenate at an accelerated rate. Once they're ground, that rate will increase exponentially. It's important to know when the coffee was roasted in order to establish whether the company deserves your hard-earned money.
- Use the coffee within a 30-day period. At the shop, two weeks is our limit, but we have a significantly higher consumption rate than what we expect you to have at home (if that's not the case, invite us over). After a month, the unique qualities of the coffee will have disappeared, and you'll be brewing brown water. If you're alright with that, then feel free. But if you want to actually taste the flavour notes that expert tasters have picked out (in our case, it's the gents over at Phil & Sebastian), then you'll want to use the beans within that window. There's exceptions to this, of course. I've had some great shots of spro at the 30-day mark. But use fresh when you can.
- Because of the tip above, buy in small quantities. Caffe Rosso and P&S all sell their coffee in 3/4 pound (340 grams) bags. We're not just trying to rip you off. That amount is intended for you to use within the window mentioned above. Once that's out, you'll buy more. That way, you're ensuring freshness and flavour in every cup (providing, of course, that you're brewing it correctly). There's no way that you'll get through the four pound bags that the supermarkets sell. This isn't a marketing ploy. We want you to enjoy everything great about the coffee.
- Grind when you need to. Don't pre-grind beans, and let them sit for days. They'll lose their flavour overnight, and will contribute to a very mundane cup of coffee. We get that grinders can be pricey, but it's by far the most important part of your home set-up: It makes sense to invest. We have some relatively inexpensive ones at the shops if you want to take a look.
- If you're using the coffee for manual or automatic drip methods (regular coffee maker, pour-over, Aeropress), let the coffee sit for a day or two after roast. This allows the beans to "de-gas." If you don't go that, the coffee with be too fresh, and the taste will be muddled. If you're using the coffee for espresso, let the coffee rest for eight days before using. It's the same principle. Too fresh means that you're not getting all the flavours of the coffee. We religiously stick to this rule at the shop.
- Try not to freeze beans if you can help it. Whether to freeze or not is a super contentious topic in the coffee world, but it just makes sense to stick by the rules listed above. Buy what you need, use it within the time-frame and you don't have to get into a heated debate on some geeky forum about it.
- Store your beans in an air-tight container, preferably with a one-way valve in it to release the CO2. After closing, we store our beans in their original bags by using a hair straightener to seal the top. Let us know if you need ideas for your home set-up.
But if you don't brew fresh, then there's little chance of tasting the glorious results of coffee that succeeds in all those other categories. Let us know if you have any questions, or ideas for future blog topics. Remember, we're all in this together, and all want the same thing: Great coffee.