Good morning, Friends,
This weekend, I will be roasting on Sunday, September 20, then shipping and delivering on Monday. Please have all mail orders, local deliveries and wholesale orders in by 10:00 Sunday. We have a few bags here if anyone is in need before then.
I wanted to write today on what goes on in coffee in the hours and days after it is roasted . . . and what this means for you.
Last weekend, when I was getting ready to roast, I got a panicked call from a wholesale customer saying that they had a larger than usual crowd of espresso drinkers that morning, and had run out of espresso. They asked if I had any extra on hand (sadly the answer was no), and then increased their order for the week ahead.
But this wasn't as simple as getting enough coffee to make it through the remaining hours of the afternoon until I could deliver the next morning - it was a problem that was likely to impact the coffee they served over the next 3-5 days or even a week.
Why?
In the 24-48 hour period after coffee roasts, the newly roasted beans emit a steady flow of "outgassing" carbon dioxide, and the beans go through a series of chemical changes that have a very positive impact on the taste. Thus, we try hard to plan the espresso purchases of the wholesale customers so that their coffee is roasted 3-5 days before it will be used. After "resting" for this period of time, the coffee mellows, much in the way wine does as it ages, and the acidic brightness of the coffee (that can become very pronounced with espresso extraction) fades dramatically.
So for this customer, the question was how to get through not only that day, but the better part of the week ahead.
A comment Tanji and I hear often is "wow, it must be great to be able to always drink all that coffee right after it is roasted." But we also "rest" the coffee we drink, because the differences in taste from day to day over the first week after roasting are noticeable, and I should say, very wonderful.
A lot of you around here get your coffee from us the day after roasting (your roasting date is always stamped on the bottom of the bag), so you can experiment with this phenomenon at home. Try a cup the day you get the coffee, then focus on the taste every day for the next week (or beyond). You should see the progressive mellowing and merging of flavors during the first 3-5 days, and then, if your coffee goes into the second week, you will experience the slight dulling of the tastes of the coffee and maybe even the beginnings of the coffee going stale.
So why does this happen? Much of these changes (especially with espresso) are related to the taste of carbonic acid trapped in the newly roasted beans by the carbon dioxide. When we describe coffee as "acidic," this is one of the acids you taste (and it is present in all coffees at varying degrees). As the CO2 leaves the coffee, it takes some of this acidity with it, and the sharp, piquant taste of newly roasted coffee begins to subside.
This outgassing is responsible for other phenomena too. In the first two days after roasting, coffee brewed by any method will "bloom", or foam, as a result of an intense burst of CO2 being released by the just ground coffee. The valves you see on higher end coffee bags (like ours) are there to allow coffee to be packed just after roasted, then provide a way for the CO2 gas to escape from the bag (otherwise the bags would pop!).
The CO2 also helps to protect the coffee from going stale by forming a cushion of escaping gas around the beans. This gives the beans a temporary break from being assaulted by air (which, along with light and moisture, is a natural enemy of coffee).
A quick word on packaging. The point of a good coffee package (or canister or other sealed storage method) is to guard the coffee from air, light and moisture - thereby keeping it fresher longer. So packaging is an important contributor to the taste of your coffee.
If you buy your coffee by the pound, as most people do, look for a multi-ply bag (that protects the coffee from the air) with a valve (meaning it was packaged right after roasting), and then if you keep your coffee in this bag, roll it up tightly after each use and wrap it with a rubber band. Stay away from coffee sold in bulk bins (a lot of exposure to the air - and is likely to be stale before you buy it) and from simple paper bags or those just lined with wax (almost no protection against the elements). If you need to buy in bulk, buy from a seller that turns over a lot of coffee - and if you used a paper bag with no lining, transfer the coffee into a sealed container when you get home.
Thanks for your support, folks - enjoy the weekend!
Kent
