Preservation of Drip-Style Pour-Over Coffee Bags: Drip Coffee Has a Long Shelf Life but a Short Optimal Flavor Period

Due to food safety regulations, China's relevant food laws stipulate that the shelf life of coffee products is one year. In reality, if you want to enjoy a good cup of coffee, FrontStreet Coffee recommends drinking it as soon as possible. Coffee enthusiasts who frequently buy coffee beans from FrontStreet Coffee know that the optimal flavor period for coffee beans is 30 days, which means we can enjoy the coffee's flavor within one month. After all, coffee aroma is a natural substance that diminishes over time. Once coffee is ground into powder, it dissipates even faster. Of course, if you only treat coffee as a refreshing beverage, you can also use it within one year.

What is Drip Bag Coffee?

The origin of drip bag coffee came with economic development and accelerated life pace. Many coffee enthusiasts who have become office workers don't have much time for pour-over coffee. If they rush through the pour-over process, the resulting coffee will inevitably taste bad, and thus drip bag coffee was born.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, it was initially Japan's Yamanaka Industry Co., Ltd. that applied the concept of tea bags to coffee, inventing and patenting filter-hanging coffee. However, Yamanaka Industry's designed drip bag couldn't bear the weight of brewing coffee and easily lost balance during the brewing process, so it wasn't successfully commercialized. Until 1998, Taiki Shoji improved the original invention by extending the hanging ears outward, creating the drip bag coffee we have today.

Most coffee enthusiasts who come to FrontStreet Coffee to purchase drip bag coffee are working professionals. With the support and demand from coffee enthusiasts, FrontStreet Coffee also began developing single-origin coffee beans suitable for making into drip bag coffee for customers to taste, such as the recently popular Honduras Lychee Orchid coffee beans and Sherry coffee beans favored by FrontStreet Coffee enthusiasts. FrontStreet Coffee has made them into drip bag coffee. However, some first-time brewers of drip bag coffee have questions about how to brew them correctly. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will demonstrate how to properly brew drip bag coffee!

Correct Brewing Method for Drip Bag Coffee

1. Warm the Cup

Prepare the cup for brewing drip bag coffee, first pour some hot water to warm the cup. The purpose is to prevent the brewed coffee from cooling too quickly, because coffee will develop different flavors as the temperature drops, creating flavor layers. If it cools too quickly, you'll miss many different taste experiences.

2. Water Temperature

The water temperature for brewing is very important. It's recommended to be between 85 and 90 degrees Celsius. If the brewed coffee is too bitter, try lowering the water temperature. Conversely, if it's too weak or too astringent, you can increase the water temperature, but it should still remain within the 85-90 degree range.

3. Hang the Ears

Gently shake the drip bag to let the coffee powder settle, avoiding spillage when opening. Then pour out the hot water from the cup, tear open the seal on the drip bag, extend the paper hanging ears on both sides, and shake to level the coffee powder. Finally, hang it on the cup rim.

4. Pre-wet the Drip Bag

For the first water pour, inject just enough to wet the coffee powder. Too much or too little will affect the flavor. Then wait 20 seconds for the coffee powder to fully absorb the water. The coffee's strength can be adjusted by the pre-wetting time - extending to 40 seconds will yield stronger coffee.

5. Water Pouring

The second water pour can fill to eight-tenths of the filter paper. It's best to use a thin, steady water stream. When the water level drops to the pre-wet height, continue pouring to eight-tenths full until extracting 150-180cc. Once extraction is complete, you don't need to wait for all the water in the filter paper to drain - simply discard it.

Why Brew Drip Bag Coffee Correctly?

FrontStreet Coffee thinks some coffee enthusiasts might wonder why drip bag coffee can't be steeped directly like tea bags. This actually relates to specialty coffee. Coffee enthusiasts who have drunk specialty coffee know that over-extraction during the pour-over process makes coffee bitter and unpleasant to drink. That's why the brewing time needs to be precise. Drip bag coffee is essentially a portable version of specialty coffee. It's pre-ground coffee powder in a bag, just saving coffee enthusiasts the grinding step. Therefore, if drip bag coffee isn't brewed correctly, the flavor will still be poor.

Precautions for Brewing Drip Bag Coffee:

1. Cannot be brewed repeatedly.

2. After brewing, do not continue soaking the coffee grounds in the cup, as this will cause over-extraction.

3. Directly throwing the drip bag into the cup, although convenient, will cause the water temperature to start dropping before the hot water completely soaks the bag, leading to under-extraction and affecting the drinking taste and flavor.

Optimal Flavor Period for Drip Bag Coffee

As mentioned above, drip bag coffee is essentially pre-ground specialty coffee, so the shelf life should be similar. However, the optimal flavor period for drip bag coffee is actually shorter than coffee beans. Generally, drip bag coffee should be consumed within two weeks after production. This is because drip bag coffee production starts by grinding coffee beans into powder, which increases the surface area exposed to air, making preservation more difficult. Within two weeks, you can fully experience the coffee's original aroma. However, this requirement is only for coffee enthusiasts who have high standards for flavor. If you don't have high requirements for coffee aroma and flavor, it's actually fine to consume within a year, as the coffee beans won't spoil.

Extending the optimal flavor period for drip bag coffee is actually difficult to achieve. According to FrontStreet Coffee's experience, even vacuum packaging cannot prevent the dissipation of coffee aroma. This is because carbon dioxide begins releasing from the moment coffee beans are roasted. Therefore, careful coffee enthusiasts will notice that the packaging is slightly puffy when receiving drip bag coffee mailed by FrontStreet Coffee, which means the coffee was packaged when fresh, so when coffee enthusiasts receive it, it's at the optimal flavor period.

When the carbon dioxide in the coffee is completely released (about two weeks), it begins releasing aroma. While there may be no visible changes on the surface, the coffee is slowly deteriorating. If left at room temperature for more than two weeks, most of the coffee's aroma will be gone. However, because drip bags are sealed packaging, you can still smell the aroma when opening, but it won't be as fragrant after brewing. That's why FrontStreet Coffee recommends coffee enthusiasts consume drip bag coffee within two weeks of receiving it to enjoy its best flavor.

This is why you can see many coffee bean packages on the market equipped with one-way valves. The purpose is to allow carbon dioxide from the coffee to escape, preventing packaging from bursting due to carbon dioxide expansion while also preventing large amounts of air from entering. However, many unknowing coffee enthusiasts might squeeze the one-way valve to smell the aroma, but this actually shortens the coffee's life when you squeeze out the aroma. Therefore, even if drip bags were equipped with one-way valves, not only would it be costly, but it also wouldn't extend their optimal flavor period.

How to Choose Drip Bag Coffee?

So how should you choose drip bag coffee? As mentioned above, drip bag coffee is essentially ground specialty coffee. Therefore, coffee enthusiasts can choose according to their usual favorite single-origin coffees. For example, FrontStreet Coffee Panama Butterfly coffee beans or Honduras Sherry coffee beans, etc., can all be made into drip bag coffee by FrontStreet Coffee for coffee enthusiasts to choose from. Therefore, if you're a friend who wants to drink coffee during work hours, you might as well try drip bag coffee!

The above is the information about drip bag coffee compiled by FrontStreet Coffee, hoping to help coffee enthusiasts who want to understand drip bag coffee.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473