Freezing is a very popular way to "preserve" coffee beans in recent years. Just seal the coffee beans and throw them into the freezer of the refrigerator. The loss of flavor of the coffee will be slowed down and the tasting period will be extended. Many friends adopt this method to stock up on large quantities of coffee beans purchased at the Front Street discount event.However, a friend recently reported that he also used freezing methods to store coffee beans. But he found that the coffee brewed after freezing these beans was not as fragrant and full of flavor as when it was stored conventionally. Therefore, he suspected that freezing had no effect and could not extend the tasting period.Although the topic of frozen coffee beans is rarely mentioned on Front Street, it is undeniable that freezing can indeed have a certain "preservation" effect. Because the low temperature environment will reduce the thermal motion of molecules, the exhaust rate of coffee beans will be slowed down.(just slow down). The specific degree of slowdown mainly depends on the temperature of the freezer. The lower the temperature, the slower the exhaust speed and the longer the tasting period of coffee.So, the question arises, why is the aroma and taste of this friend’s beans after freezing not as rich as when they are stored conventionally?In fact, there are nothing more than two reasons: not correct frozen storage, and the "way" of brewing is wrong.What is proper freezer storage?Some friends will throw the coffee beans directly into the refrigerator for freezing without taking any measures after receiving them. But in fact, coffee beans, like many frozen foods, also need to be sealed when freezing. The purpose of this is not only to prevent the coffee from getting damp and accelerating the escape of the aroma, but also to prevent the coffee beans from absorbing the odor in the refrigerator and being contaminated by odors.(Those with exhaust valves need to use stickers to affix the exhaust valves)But sealing alone is not enough! If possible, it is best to pack the coffee beans when we freeze them. The specific method is to split a bag of coffee beans into several sealed portions, each portion is exactly the same size.The reason why we need to do this is to reduce the impact on other coffee beans every time we take the beans. What does it mean? That is, if we directly seal and freeze the entire bag of coffee beans, then every time we take out the coffee beans for brewing, the remaining coffee beans in the bag will be taken out together and exposed to room temperature.Although this time is very short, it is enough for the coffee beans to produce condensation water and then become damp, which will affect the flavor and state of the coffee beans. Therefore, if you have the conditions, it is best to package the coffee beans when sealing and freezing.Of course, more diligent friends can also put a layer of sealed bags outside the packaging bag, which can further slow down the loss of aroma. Or you can replace the plastic sealed bag with a sealed bottle, which is more convenient than the bag and can be reused~Why do I need to adjust parameters when brewing frozen coffee beans?Because coffee beans are kept in a frozen environment for a long time, their various states and structures will change. For example, the temperature becomes lower, the crispness becomes higher... These are changes that will directly affect brewing. And if we brew such a frozen coffee bean without making any adjustments, the final result will most likely be like this friend's, a cup of coffee that is not as fragrant in aroma and not as full in taste.How big is the specific difference? Front Street has already prepared frozen coffee beans in the refrigerator for brewing comparison. It is the Front Street Yirgacheffe Guo Ding Ding in the bean list that Front Street used in yesterday’s article.In yesterday’s article, Front Street used conventional parameters to brew diced fruit in a conventional state, and finally gotExtraction rateIt is 19.46%, and has a very rich flavor: white floral, lemon, berry, oolong tea, balanced taste, mellow taste, and long aftertaste. When Front Street used the same brewing parameters to brew frozen fruit dices, the extraction rate was 18.06%. The flavor performance was consistent, but it was much weaker, the taste was not as full, and the drink tasted a little thin.As you can see, the difference is quite big. Although it's not to the point where it tastes bad, it's not that delicious either. So, if we want to use frozen coffee beans to make a delicious cup of coffee, we can choose the following two methods:①. Improve extraction efficiency during brewing: The first method is relatively simple, just improve the extraction efficiency during brewing. The reason why many friends cannot brew frozen coffee beans is because they brew them directly without defrosting them after taking them out of the refrigerator.This is not to say that this behavior is bad. Brewing frozen coffee beans without thawing actually has more advantages. For example, the particles of coffee powder will be ground more evenly because the coffee beans are crisper. At the same time, because the temperature of the coffee beans is lower, too much aroma will not be lost during grinding. There is also no need to worry about moisture, etc...But! If we want to brew frozen coffee beans that have not been thawed, we need to increase the extraction efficiency during brewing. Because if the coffee beans are not thawed, they will absorb a large amount of hot water during the brewing process due to the low temperature, which will lead to a decrease in extraction efficiency and the brewed coffee will not be so fragrant.Therefore, appropriately improving the extraction efficiency of parameters can solve this problem well. There are many parameters that can be improved, such as increasing the water temperature during brewing, extending the steaming/extraction time, finer grinding, etc.~If we don't want to make changes to the parameters, we can choose to defrost the coffee beans, which is simpler. Because when the coffee beans return to normal temperature, we no longer need to adjust the parameters.There’s no need to explain the method of thawing. You just need to take the coffee beans out of the refrigerator and leave them for more than half an hour.That's it. But it should be noted that we do not open the package when thawing, so that the coffee beans remain in the sealed environment of the bean bag.Because once we open the package, condensation water will immediately be generated on the surface of the coffee beans due to the huge temperature difference. This will cause the coffee beans to become damp and soft, affecting the extraction and flavor of the coffee. So everyone still needs to pay attention to this~So, the above are some things we need to pay attention to when freezing coffee beans and brewing frozen coffee beans. Having said so much, Front Street does not recommend that friends who are just getting started or those who are not familiar with brewing use freezing methods to store coffee beans. Because freezing has a greater impact on brewing, using freezing to "preserve" freshness when you are not familiar with it may be counterproductive, resulting in the inability to brew the delicious taste of coffee beans. So, everyone, come and see for yourself~
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
