How to Properly Age Roasted Coffee Beans - A Step-by-Step Guide to Coffee Bean Awakening

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FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Single-Origin Coffee Bean Resting

All foods have their shelf life, and coffee beans generally have a shelf life of 1 year. However, for those pursuing high-quality coffee, mere preservation is clearly not enough. So how long exactly is the flavor life cycle of coffee beans? Are coffee beans better the fresher they are?

Friends who enjoy red wine know that good red wine needs to be opened 1 hour in advance to allow oxidation, which helps release aromas better. Although the principles differ, coffee indeed has similar practices, which we call bean resting.

Like other coffee topics, bean resting is also controversial in the coffee industry with no definitive conclusion—truly a matter of opinion. Let me briefly discuss a few points.

Infancy — Newborn Calves

Freshly roasted coffee is full of vitality, which manifests in coffee extraction as abundant bean gases that expand upon contact with water. At this stage, the coffee is too active, making the crema coarse when brewing Espresso, which dissipates quickly. When extracted using pour-over or other methods, the flavor is bright but lacks richness, with acidity often too sharp—like a child: active, simple but emotionally unstable and lacking composure. This is when bean resting becomes necessary.

Some advocate for sealed bean resting, others for resting in open air—meaning freshly roasted beans need appropriate contact with air for a certain period. The resting time depends more on roast level and extraction method. Lighter roasts and coffee extracted using vessels generally need 1-3 days of resting, while darker roasts and coffee extracted with espresso machines require 3-5 days.

Prime — The Golden Age

Rested coffee beans should be sealed and stored as soon as possible. As the saying goes, beauty fades quickly, flowers don't bloom for a hundred days, and the same applies to coffee beans. The peak flavor period of coffee beans generally lasts only 2-3 weeks, at most not exceeding 1 month, so we can also consider the freshness period of coffee beans to be 1 month. Of course, artificial means such as inert gas infusion can appropriately delay aging, but natural laws cannot be reversed by human effort.

Decline — Heroes in Their Twilight Years

Who would be more attractive: a seventy or eighty-year-old former beauty or a sixteen-year-old girl in her prime? A top-tier coffee in decline may perform less impressively in terms of flavor and aroma than an ordinary coffee in its prime. Therefore, when selecting coffee beans, it's important not only to look at the brand and variety but also to pay attention to the production date.

Key Point: Bean resting must be done in packaging bags with one-way degassing valves.

In brief: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research hall, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation simply to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Additionally, we hold three low-discount coffee activities every month because FrontStreet Coffee wants to offer the best coffee at the lowest prices to more friends—this has been FrontStreet Coffee's principle for 6 years!

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