Guide to coffee freshness Gwilym Davies
Excellent guide by Gwilym Davies to freshness of coffee, not old and stale nor too fresh.
Interesting point the age of the coffee depends upon whether used for espresso or filter coffee, different degrees of freshness suits different brewing methods. Use first for pour over then for espresso. Not a concept I have come across before.
- filter 5–14 days
- espresso 14–21 days
For brewing at home, always check the roast date when buying, buy the most recent roast date, we can always leave to rest when too fresh.
Which in turn implies, buy from a coffee shop where they know and care about coffee, or direct from the roastery.
In Coffee Aroma prominently displayed when the coffee served was roasted.
How we store our coffee is also important. Gwilym Davies has stored in the coffee bag in which the coffee was shipped. I would recommend squeeze the bag to ensure the air is squeezed out, then seal the bag.
When next in a coffee shop at the end of the day, when they are shutting down and cleaning their espresso machine, check if they empty the coffee beans from the grinders into airtight containers. If not, ask why not? Beans left overnight in the hopper will oxidise.
Do not buy the coffee beans from a zero waste shop where the beans are loose, as they will oxidise and have lost their aroma, equally likely absence of information on the beans, lack of roast date or where roasted, nothing on the provenance of the beans.
Somewhat depressing this was how I found the coffee beans on sale in Lincoln Eco Pantry, the beans loose in tins, shipped from the roastery in plastic boxes, then bagged in brown paper bags. Unfortunately Lincoln Eco Pantry not the only ones following this bad practice. It is OK to ship loose beans to a local coffee shop where they will be used within half a day. Not OK for a zero waste shop, scooping out loose beans, what is on sale will be stale oxidised beans.
