Recently, everyone must have taken advantage of Double Eleven to stock up on beans. The questions I asked Front Street were questions such as "How long can the flavor of unopened coffee beans be preserved?" and "How to store opened coffee beans to reduce the speed of flavor loss." Today Front Street is going to talk about the preservation of coffee beans.
How long does the flavor of coffee beans last?
Most of the people who ask this question are friends who are pursuing the flavor of coffee, but Front Street still needs to learn more about this issue of flavor and taste. Flavor refers more to aroma, such as the aroma emitted when grinding coffee powder, and the pleasant aroma of brewed coffee liquid. The aroma of off-flavored coffee when ground is relatively heavy, with some flavors of peanuts and almonds, and the aroma of brewed coffee is also light and heavy. However, the general taste of coffee is still there. The main source of these tastes is the water-soluble substances in coffee, which themselves are not easy to evaporate.
So what we call off-flavor actually means that the flavor has run away, so it won’t taste as good as before. However, if it is still within the shelf life (within 12 months), it can still be drunk. The flavor of coffee beans reaches its peak after roasting and the bean-raising period, and then the flavor will slowly decrease until it is all gone. The length of the bean growing period and the tasting period (flavor period) vary from bean to bean, and are also related to the storage environment, so a general range is given. The bean growing period is about 4-7 days, and the tasting period is about 30-45 days.
Can it be stored longer by blocking the exhaust valve?
After receiving the beans, some friends immediately sealed the exhaust valve with tape to prevent the flavor from leaking out. In fact, this approach seems reasonable but is actually redundant. Because this one-way exhaust valve is only to prevent the coffee beans from being exhausted and bursting the bag; under normal circumstances without external force, the exhaust valve does not work. Only when there is too much gas in the bag will the excess gas be discharged through the pressure difference. Seal the exhaust valve, the coffee beans should be exhausted or the bag should be inflated.
Sealed jar & original bag?
Some friends also pour the coffee beans into sealed jars for storage after opening. In fact, if it is a well-sealed jar and an original coffee bag with a sealing strip, the effect of preserving coffee beans will not be much different. What has a greater impact on the loss of coffee flavor is the frequency and duration of opening the package.
Every time the bag is opened, it is equivalent to a connection between the inside and the outside, and the flavor of the coffee beans will be lost faster. Therefore, this is why some coffee beans have a good flavor when brewed for the first time after being stored for 30 days, but when brewed again after two days, the flavor drops sharply.
Should coffee beans be stored in the refrigerator?
Some friends saw that freezing storage can slow down the loss of coffee flavor, and they followed suit. But frozen coffee beans also have their own problems. If they can't be handled well, it's actually worse than not freezing them at all.
The first is the issue of odor transfer. If you put other frozen items in the cold storage of your home refrigerator and then put coffee beans in for freezing, the coffee beans may absorb other odors, or the cold storage area that has not been cleaned for a long time may also easily produce "refrigerator smell", which is also easy to affect the coffee beans.
The second is the problem of thawing. When we take out a bottle of drink from the refrigerator, after a while the originally dry plastic bottle is covered with small water droplets. The same principle applies to frozen coffee beans. When the coffee beans move from -10 degrees to a room temperature of 28 degrees, the surrounding water vapor will condense into water droplets and attach to the beans, causing the coffee beans to become damp.
The best way to preserve flavor
No matter which method is used, the loss of coffee flavor over time is an inevitable process, so the best way is to calculate your coffee consumption, and then buy a month's consumption according to your needs. After drinking it, buy freshly roasted coffee beans. Don't be greedy for temporary gains and hoard coffee beans in large quantities. In the end, the flavor will be gone, and it will become a waste if you can't drink it.
If the coffee beans are unopened, try to keep the original bag in a cool, dry place away from light. After opening, you can use the sealing strip on the original package to seal and store it. However, you need to check the sealing of the package after closing. If you find that the bag is broken, you need to use other sealed containers to store the coffee beans.
The flavor of the coffee beans can be preserved for 30 days by ensuring that they are kept sealed and the packaging bag is opened regularly to take out the beans.
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
