Coffee Freshness is Key - Because Fresh is Best

Contributing Author:  Connor Roessler Pretty much everything in life is better when its fresh, except for that vintage bottle of wine or your father’s old bottle of scotch, and coffee is certainly something that is discernibly better when its fresh. But what exactly is fresh coffee? Some people equate freshness to when the coffee was brewed, which is also important, while others think freshness is how recently the coffee was opened.  While both of those things are good, fresh coffee is all about the amount of time it took to get from where it was roasted to you at home. carbon dioxide left in the beans. The fresher the beans, the better your coffee will taste. more carbon dioxide they contain. When the beans are finished being roasted, they are the freshest that they can be because they have the highest levels of carbon dioxide at this point. Interestingly enough, purists will tell you that coffee that is past three weeks old is considered to be stale, but fret not, an unopened bag has a special stay-fresh valve (also called a one-way degassing valve) in the front that allows the coffee to release gasses while at the same time not allowing any Oxygen (coffees worst enemy) into the bag which will help maintain freshness since we all cannot visit a roastery on a daily basis.   There are also packaging techniques that can be used for grocery store coffee to extend the life, where Nitrogen is injected into the bag purging any residual oxygen out of the bag before the bag is sealed. but the very best method is to buy the beans straight from the roaster.  When you purchase directly from Joffrey’s website, the beans that you buy are roasted to order so they are the absolute freshest they can be and are assured you are getting the most flavorful cup of coffee that you can. Now lets talk about why freshly roasted coffee is important. First off, fresh beans simply taste much better. If you were to brew a cup of coffee from fresh beans and compare it to a cup of stale beans, the difference is astounding. Fresh coffee is naturally sweeter and less bitter, and the flavor notes of the beans, like banana, caramel, or chocolate, are easier to discern and much more pronounced. Second, fresh coffee has a much better aroma. People everywhere tell us they simply can’t wait to open a new bag of coffee.  In fact, the anticipation of opening a new bag of coffee actually has a psychological benefit of releasing endorphins, making you actually feel good when preparing your coffee. Lastly, coffee offers many health benefits, all of which are increased when the coffee is fresh. But with all of these good reasons to drink fresh coffee, how exactly can you keep your Joffrey’s fresh? Well, there are a couple of ways to keep it fresh that are quite simple and will help you enjoy fresh coffee for longer. Once you get your coffee, you want to keep the beans in a sealed container in a cool environment. The bag that you get your coffee comes in can be resealed but is generally not the optimal way to store it. An airtight  ceramic container with a rubber gasket is the absolute best method both for keeping air and sunlight away from the beans. Keeping the beans in a cool, dry place is also very important; try to keep them out of any direct sun and away from the oven. Some old coffee lore suggested keeping beans in the freezer, and you may even read otherwise, but we recommend never to store beans in the freezer.  This is because coffee absorbs the moisture, odors, and tastes from the air around it and will permeate most storage containers and will alter the taste of the beans. If you buy a few bags of Joffrey’s at a time. You can store the unopened bags in a cool, dark cabinet or pantry.  While beans packaged by Joffrey’s can last up to 6 months, we highly recommend brewing within the maximum of two months. By following these simple guidelines, we believe you will value the difference fresh coffee makes.  Freshness is our promise to you and can count on Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea to maintain only the highest standards in sourcing, roasting and delivering coffee to your home or office.   https://blog.dailygrind.com/   https://www.ncausa.org/About-Coffee/How-to-Store-Coffee   https://www.idealcoffee.ca/blog/the-benefits-of-fresh-roasted-coffee/