| To Refrigerate or
To Freeze or To Leave at Room Temperature
Our answer is like one that our attorney would give:
It depends!!!
We all need to understand the life of the coffee bean or grind
after it has been roasted. For three days after roasting, coffee
beans emit carbon dioxide gas at room temperature. Emitting this
gas, the bean is actually changing its chemical composition to produce
a fine coffee flavor (as long as the bean has been roasted correctly
with respect to roasting temperature and length of time in roasting).
We have found the optimal flavor of coffee beans to occur at three
points: immediately after the roast (when the coffee is considered
the strongest), 72 hours after the roast degasses, and 5-7 days
after the roast. Throughout this life cycle, the carbon dioxide
is replaced with oxygen. This gradual oxidation process destroys
the flavor of coffee!
Refrigerating or freezing the bean can slow down this process.
Why? Even after the third or fourth day, the coffee bean continues
to chemically change its composition internally with air, heat,
light, and moisture. For instance, when heat is applied to room
temperature water, the molecules accelerate and turn the water into
a gas. On the other hand, when cold air is applied to room temperature
water, the molecules slow down and the water starts to freeze. Refrigerating
or freezing can slow down and control the interaction with the elements
of heat and light. One can then slow down the flavor degradation
of coffee beans by slowing down the internal chemical processes.
Refrigeration or freezing has one stipulation: The coffee bean
must NOT be allowed to thaw or change temperatures. This will create
moisture on the bean which would create an undesired flavor. In
addition, coffee must be stored in a sealed container to avoid having
the coffee beans acquire the flavor of other foods. Also, beans
should NEVER be frozen as they will ruin when thawed and frozen
beans, in their frozen state, will definitely damage your coffee
grinder. Therefore, the best rules for storage of coffee beans is
to purchase only what you need for a 1-2 week period and to store
them in an airtight, or even better, vacuum-tight container at room
temperature and free of light. The second optimal storage method
is your refrigerator and only remove what you will be using for
the day.
Now, our focus moves to coffee grinds. Depending on the roaster,
beans are either ground immediately after roasting (least desired)
or ground immediately before brewing (most desired). Grinding the
coffee bean finer gives you greater surface area to extract and
brew a flavorful cup. However, it gives your coffee a shelf life
of less than seven minutes. The reason is the surface area of the
grinds is one thousand times the surface area of a coffee bean.
This allows quicker interaction with the elements of air, heat,
light, and moisture. Therefore, the ground coffee needs to be sealed
into an airtight or vacuum-tight container immediately. Although
this will slow down the chemical interactions with the different
elements, the results will not be the same as with whole coffee
beans since the ground coffee has greater surface area.
In a nutshell,
a) Freshly roasted coffee peaks within seven (7) days,
b) Freshly ground coffee peaks within 7 minutes
c) Freshly brewed coffee is enjoyed within 7 seconds, especially
espresso!
We hope this helps! |
