How Long Can Coffee Beans Be Stored? A Guide to Coffee Bean Resting and Blooming Methods - What's the Ideal Resting Period for Coffee Beans?

FrontStreet Coffee has encountered many customers who purchase coffee beans. Their requirements for coffee beans, besides wanting their desired flavors, also include that they must be fresh, preferably beans that have just been roasted. This is where coffee differs from general agricultural products. While general vegetables or fruits are certainly most delicious when tasted right after being picked, coffee is different. Everyone, please listen slowly as FrontStreet Coffee explains.

The Importance of Coffee Bean Degassing

Generally, freshly roasted single-origin coffee beans are not suitable for immediate brewing. FrontStreet Coffee generally recommends that customers first let the beans rest, and tasting these beans after two to three days of resting is most appropriate. In fact, bean resting isn't so mysterious - biologically, it's a process of gas release that we generally call "blooming," "resting," or "maturing."

This is because freshly roasted coffee beans contain a lot of carbon dioxide. When coffee beans are placed in air, they slowly release this gas, typically starting about three hours after roasting. If everyone immediately brews coffee right after roasting, the beans still containing large amounts of carbon dioxide will release large amounts of gas when encountering hot water, hindering the extraction of coffee substances. The extracted coffee flavor will not be as good, and the taste will be very sharp. Even if your brewing time is correct, there will still be over-extracted bitterness and noticeable acidity.

Optimal Resting Time by Roast Level

Of course, the resting time for beans is not fixed. If the resting time is too short, the coffee flavor hasn't fully developed, and the brewed coffee will be very weak in flavor. If the resting time is too long, the coffee beans will pass their optimal tasting period, affecting the bean's flavor. Therefore, different roast levels generally require different resting times. The more pronounced the degassing effect, the faster it completes to reach maturity.

The lighter the roast level, the less obvious the degassing effect, and the longer the time needed for maturation. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests that when purchasing beans, in addition to paying attention to the coffee's expiration date, also pay close attention to the coffee's roasting date, and ask the barista how long the beans need to rest. This way, you can taste the best flavor of these coffee beans.

Proper Coffee Bean Storage Methods

Resting beans isn't troublesome - you just need to place unopened coffee beans in a cool, dry, dark, and odor-free environment. After the resting period, seal the one-way valve (with transparent tape is fine). This resting process is important, but the storage method for coffee beans is also very important, because if the opened packaging bag isn't sealed well, the coffee beans can easily absorb moisture, and the aroma will dissipate very quickly. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests that everyone can store them in sealed containers, preferably placed in cool, ventilated areas. If you don't have sealed storage containers at home, keeping the coffee beans in properly sealed bags with one-way degassing valves, then placing them in a cool, dry place is fine.

Of course, some friends might store opened coffee beans in the refrigerator. FrontStreet Coffee believes that coffee beans have absorbent properties, and coffee beans stored in the refrigerator can easily absorb odors from inside the fridge. Additionally, moisture from the refrigerator can easily enter the coffee bean packaging, affecting the preservation of the coffee beans.

Quick Brewing Methods for Fresh Roasted Beans

If everyone really can't wait for the resting period and wants to immediately taste these coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee will share one or two small tricks. Everyone can let the ground coffee powder sit for two to three minutes first. This is to appropriately reduce the impact of carbon dioxide on the pour-over process. After grinding, the coffee powder's increased surface area contact with air allows carbon dioxide to escape from more places, with faster volatilization speed. What's volatilized isn't just carbon dioxide, but also small molecular gases that affect coffee flavor. This is also why coffee needs to be brewed and consumed as soon as possible after grinding.

Alternatively, everyone can appropriately extend the blooming time. This is because during the brewing process, there's a blooming stage where the coffee powder releases carbon dioxide, and extending the blooming time allows more gas to escape. At the beginning of brewing, about twice the amount of water as the coffee grounds is first poured, then wait for 30 seconds. This step is called "blooming," with the purpose of appropriately releasing carbon dioxide, thereby allowing subsequent water pours to better contact the coffee grounds for extraction. Therefore, you can appropriately extend the blooming time to release more carbon dioxide and reduce its impact on extraction. Similarly, some coffee beans that have been stored for a long time might need shortened blooming time. This might also be why some coffee shops' pour-over coffee only blooms for 5 seconds.

Drip Bag Coffee Considerations

Additionally, the drip bag coffee that everyone purchases has already had the coffee beans ground into powder, so FrontStreet Coffee recommends drinking it within a week. Because within a week, the coffee powder's flavor will dissipate very quickly, making the optimal tasting period for drip bag coffee beans very short. Therefore, everyone might discover that when brewing coffee, the coffee powder surface doesn't form a hamburger shape during the blooming process but collapses, which indicates the coffee beans might not be so fresh anymore. Because drip bag coffee is very convenient and doesn't require other troublesome steps, many customers come to FrontStreet Coffee to purchase drip bag coffee packs.

Although drip bag coffee is very convenient, there are some small issues that need special attention. Can drip bag coffee really be brewed multiple times? Actually, a small pack of drip bag coffee generally contains 10 grams of powder, and 10 grams of powder can generally only be brewed once. When you brew drip bag coffee multiple times, you might find that the coffee taste is still strong and should still be drinkable.

In fact, this is not the case. Because when you brew drip bag coffee for a long time, the longer the coffee steeps, the more caffeine is released. This is because the coffee has been over-extracted. Over-extraction will release the bitterness and astringency in the coffee, and at that point, the flavor of this coffee is basically gone. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee generally does not recommend that customers brew the same drip bag coffee multiple times.

Furthermore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests that when purchasing drip bag coffee, try not to buy drip bag coffee that was made more than five days ago, because when coffee beans are ground into powder, the coffee quickly loses its unique aroma, greatly reducing the coffee's flavor. Just like customers who generally come to FrontStreet Coffee to buy coffee beans, we will recommend that customers grind beans immediately before drinking. However, many customers don't have grinders at home and will have the beans ground directly at FrontStreet Coffee's store, but FrontStreet Coffee still recommends that everyone try to drink it within a short period.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of FrontStreet Coffee, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

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