I get asked the same question every day: “What’s the easiest way to make better coffee at home?” And I give the same answer is always the same...
Always buy freshly roasted coffee beans - there's no substitute!
Bitter, dull, and stale beans don't take you to your happy place. Sure, you get some energy, but it's nothing like the vibrant sensory of experience of fresh coffee that can really turn an ordinary mug of coffee into an extraordinary daily experience.
You're about to learn...
- How fresh coffee can have wild flavors like fruits, flowers, and spices
- Why coffee beans go stale so fast (and what you can do about it)
- The #1 way to make sure you're always buy fresh, uber-flavorful beans
And once you taste fresh coffee... you'll never go back.
Fresh Coffee Can Have Unbelievable Flavors
Have you ever had coffee that tasted like blueberries, oranges, roses, or jasmine?
These flavors are actually aromas being given off by the coffee’s natural oils. When these aromas enter your mouth via your coffee, they rise up into your nasal passage and your brain interprets them as rich flavors.
And this is where things get crazy...
You can only taste these complex, exceptional flavors for 1-2 weeks after the coffee is roasted. The organic compounds begin breaking down after two weeks, making the coffee taste "muddy" and more dull.
And it's even worse for pre-ground coffee, taking only 20 minutes for the best flavors in your coffee to start disappearing.
This is why buying fresh coffee is the #1 non-negotiable if you want coffee that transforms your daily mug into an extraordinary daily experience.
Read: Skip The Coffee Aisle, Here's How To Find The World's Best Coffee
When high-quality coffee is well grown, well roasted, fresh out of the roaster and freshly ground, the flavor possibilities can be astounding.
Fruits like blackberries, mangos, and grapefruit make appearances. Rose, jasmine, and other sweet floral notes show up. Pleasant woody and earthy notes are pleasant and balanced. The sugars are vivid and ripe, tasting like honey, cane sugar, or brown sugar. The acidity is crisp and refreshing.
Simply put, fresh coffee is exploding with flavor. That’s what we’re all after!
How Coffee Goes Stale
When green coffee beans are roasted, thousands of chemical reactions take place, altering the beans rapidly and significantly. The sugars caramelize, the aromas are unlocked, and the flavor develops.
Read: Whole Bean vs Ground Coffee: 3 Reasons You Should Be Buying Whole Bean
Carbon dioxide trapped within the coffee begins to seep out rapidly immediately after roasting. As the gas forces its way to the surface of the bean, it pushes some of the natural coffee oils with it. This results in two things:
- The aromatic coffee oils evaporate now that they are closer to the surface of the beans, which means those aromas will fly away more quickly.
- The empty space that once contained the carbon dioxide is now free for oxygen to invade, causing the beans to decay more quicklyl.
Generally, roasted coffee is at peak freshness for only about two weeks. Well-packaged coffee can keep oxygen out of the beans while letting the CO2 out, but as soon as you open that bag, oxidation will begin.
Read: The Easy Guide to Coffee Bean Storage
Oxidation Kills Coffee (And Everything Else)
Allow me to introduce oxidation (you know what it is).
With hot materials, oxidation produces fire. With some metals, oxidation produces rust. With food, oxidation brows apples, hardens bread, and stales coffee.
Basically, oxidation makes the things we love decay.
And it happens all around us. Is your cereal not as flavorful as it was? Has it lost its crisp texture? Oxidation. Have your bananas become mushy and brown? Oxidation? Is your coffee lacking any zing or brightness? Oxidation.
With coffee, oxidation breaks down the cells walls, altering the flavor of the coffee dramatically. That refreshing sweetness and crisp acidity in fresh coffee becomes a muddle swamp of dull and bitter flavors.
You deserve better!
For pre-ground coffee, it’s even worse. Since the beans are ground to small particles, it doesn't take the carbon dioxide long to exit, and it doesn’t take long for oxygen to find its way in. Once coffee is ground, it only has about 30 minutes until the flavors are disappointingly different.
This is why a burr grinder is the most important coffee investment you could make: grinding coffee just before you brew is a non-negotiable when it comes to freshness.
Check out the JavaPresse Manual Burr Coffee Grinder
Stale Or Satisfying?
The choice is yours: will you take a few extra minutes to seek out the freshest coffee you can, or will you fall back into habits that result in dull, stale coffee?
If you’re ready to experience coffee at its very best, you want to make sure the beans you're buying are as fresh as possible.
Happy brewing!
