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Stale, bitter coffee. It’s gross. No one likes it. And when you buy pre-ground coffee from your local grocery store, almost all those bags don’t have a roast date. If you don’t know when that coffee was roasted, how in the world are you supposed to know if it’s fresh or not? That’s one of the many reasons that we put roast dates on our bags at Red River Roastery. We want to ensure that you have fresh, locally roasted coffee, and a roast date lets you make sure you have fresh coffee.
But what exactly is fresh coffee? If you think it’s right after the coffee beans are roasted, you might be surprised that it is not the same taste you’ll get if you waited five days. Like a fine wine, roasted coffee also needs to have a period of time before it’s at its peak flavor. Luckily for us, coffee only takes a matter of days.
Coffee Science: Roasting Process and Carbon Dioxide
Ah, chemistry. You were either good at it in school or in a perpetual state of being confused. But when it comes to coffee, chemistry is everywhere. Throughout the coffee roasting process, the coffee beans are subject to numerous chemical reactions. These reactions also generate carbon dioxide in the beans (CO2) and will continue to do so for days after roasting has completed. If you’ve ever purchased a bag of coffee that was freshly roasted within the last 7 days and it has a degassing valve on it, you may notice the bag seems “puffed up” and full of air. This is due to the slow release of carbon dioxide over time. Brewing coffee too soon after it’s been roasted means there is still a lot of excess CO2 in the coffee, which will significantly affect the flavor.
And definitely not in a good way.
Oxidation is the Enemy
While some exposure to oxygen in the hours following a completed roast can be beneficial, a constant exposure to oxygen will actually degrade your coffee. This happens due to a process called oxidation. When roasted coffee beans are exposed to oxygen, the oxygen begins to react with the various chemical compounds naturally found inside coffee. These reactions have a very negative effect on flavor and aroma. The longer that your roasted coffee is exposed to oxygen, the faster your coffee will become stale. It will lose its wonderful aroma and delicious flavor, leaving you with a bitter cup of disappointment.
Not to worry, though, as there are ways to drastically slow down the oxidation process. We cover that more down below in our section about properly storing your roasted coffee.
Whole Bean Freshness VS Ground Coffee Freshness
At Red River Roastery, we package our roasted coffee as whole bean coffee. Larger commercial-grade grinders are expensive since you need something built to handle the capacity of a roastery compared to at home, but the cost isn’t so much the reason. Rather, we package whole bean coffee because it lasts much longer than ground coffee does. The moment that coffee is put through a grinder, the surface area of the coffee increases significantly. As discussed in the previous section, oxidation is the enemy of fresh coffee. With a larger surface area, ground coffee will oxidize at a much faster rate.
When stored properly, whole bean roasted coffee can still taste fresh after weeks or even 2-3 months. Ground coffee, however, is best consumed within a week or two. For many coffee enjoyers (us included), we like to stock up on our coffee for a month or two at a time to ensure we don’t run out all of a sudden. By keeping our coffee as whole bean it maintains that fresh, delicious taste.
How Long to Rest Fresh Roasted Coffee
But here’s something you may not have thought of: is there such a thing as too fresh? Unless you are in a pinch and it’s all you’ve got, coffee that hasn’t been allowed to rest (or degas) may have an inconsistent, even better taste to it. This is because there is still a lot of excess CO2 in the coffee beans. As coffee degasses (gets rid of the excess CO2), there are other chemical reactions that are occurring, too. These reactions contribute to not only the smell of the coffee, but the flavor as well. Allowing the coffee to rest after it’s been roasted allows the deeper, richer flavors to emerge and really shine.
But how long should coffee be rested? Other than most store-bought coffee being pre-ground, our biggest complaint is that you don’t know when it was roasted! That’s why our coffee bags have a roast date on them, allowing you to determine when it’s time to open that bag. It’s important to note that just because you don’t let the coffee rest for a few days, doesn’t mean that it’s going to taste awful. In fact, if you took a freshly roasted bag of coffee and made a cup every day afterward for seven days, you’d be able to notice a progression of flavor. But how long should you rest your coffee?
- For anything that is a light roast, we recommend at least 4-7 days of resting/degassing. This is because light roasts spend less time in the roaster, and the longer a coffee bean is in the roaster, the more CO2 it releases during the roasting process itself.
- For medium roast coffee, we recommend at least 3-5 days of resting/degassing.
And finally, for dark roast coffees, we recommend at least 2-4 days of resting/degassing.
Proper Storage of Fresh Roasted Coffee Preserves Freshness
But you might be asking: how in the world do I keep my coffee from oxidizing while letting it rest and degas for delicious flavor? Preserving that freshness starts at the roastery level when we package our coffee. Have you even noticed that circular valve in the coffee bag? This is called a degassing valve, and it has one singular function: allows air (including CO2) to escape from the coffee bag, but prevents oxygen from getting in. This drastically slows the oxidation process, especially while the coffee is degassing (and another reason we put the roast date on the bag!).
You can also transfer the coffee beans to a special cannister that has a degas valve in it. If your coffee is fresh (roasted within the last three days), we don’t recommend storing it in a container that has no way for air to escape. Cannisters specially designed for coffee will achieve an airtight seal, making sure your coffee stays fresh for a much longer period of time. Here are a few additional tips to storing your coffee to keep it fresh:
- Store your coffee in a cool to room-temperature place. Hot temperatures can accelerate degradation of the coffee.
- Don’t store your coffee in direct sunlight, especially if you are storing it in a clear container.
- Make sure the moisture levels in the storage area aren’t high. High humidity will affect your coffee.
- While it’s convenient to have coffee grinders with a large hopper to store your coffee for fast, easy access coffee grinding, these do not have airtight seals and your coffee will degrade much faster.
Get Fresh Roasted Coffee in Saginaw, TX
From our roastery to your mug, we do everything that we can to ensure you have the freshest cup of coffee possible. Even our green coffee is stored in airtight, good-grade containers that help to preserve the beans and keep away outside contaminants. The roasted coffee is properly bagged and sealed within an hour of being roasted to maintain that fresh, delicious taste for as long as possible. So, if you’re tired of stale, store-bought coffee like us, order some fresh roasted coffee from right here in Saginaw, TX!
