The Art and Craft of Coffee by Kevin Sinnott Read Free Book Online

coffee’s roast is crucial to its taste. So are its bean and roast freshness.
    Beans are at their fresh flavor peak one to fourteen days following roasting. The first twenty-four hours after roasting is called resting. During this period, coffees typically are too fresh to be at their best. A coffee brewed immediately after roasting will foam up when hot water hits the grounds in the brewer due to excessive carbon dioxide escaping from the beans and impeding the extraction process (see “Brewing,” chapter 5 ). Truthfully, this is rarely a problem when buying already-roasted beans.
    You want fresh beans whenever possible. The best way to buy fresh is to find a shop that roasts its own beans or roasts locally and receives regular deliveries. If you buy coffee anywhere else, how it’s packaged becomes important. Here are some freshness guidelines.
• Look at the label. Labels on fresh-roasted coffee beans should list their roast date. Beans should be used within two weeks of roasting, so be suspicious of a date more than two weeks prior.
• Ask questions. For coffee beans packaged without a freshness date, ask when the roasting happened. “This morning,” “Yesterday,” or even “Last week” are good answers. You don’t want to hear “This past spring” or “No idea.”
• Be wary of “Best by” dates. Some coffee roasting companies project their products’ freshness will last up to a year. Try to use this date to calculate the date of bean roasting.
• Seek out beans packaged in methods that prolong freshness. For example, one-way valve bags allow air to exit but do not allow air inside. Also, beans packaged while surrounded by nitrogen don’t stale as quickly because little oxygen enters the bag.
• Consider aroma (does it smell right?), storage (where and how is the coffee stored?) and turnover (how quickly does the store sell its stock?) when trying to find fresh beans.
    Freezing Coffee Beans
    Freezing coffee beans or grounds is controversial in the coffee industry. Adherents claim it prolongs freshness. Detractors claim coffee oils and aromas inside the beans cannot literally be frozen and that the condensation that forms on the beans as they go in and come out of the freezer cancels out any improvements. After many years of testing and analysis, I believe that freezing beans or grounds works well to give them additional shelf life—as long as they are appropriately packaged and removed.
    Two innovations appear to greatly slow the green coffee-staling process: airtight containment and bean freezing. Airtight and opaque materials such as aluminum foil—not, at first glance, innovative but radically different technology in the world of coffee—block oxygen, moisture, and competing aromas. This allows for bean shipment alongside other products without concern that outside scents or moisture will damage the coffee. Tests conducted by a major U.S. importer have shown that aluminum barrier packaging results in beans with fewer off-tastes and less moisture damage.
    Also keep roasted beans—those you roast at home or those you purchase already-roasted—fresh by freezing them. Freeze beans roasted at home immediately after cooling. Freeze already-roasted beans immediately after purchase. Say your favorite Internet roasting company offers free shipping with a three-pound (1.4 kg) bean purchase. Here’s what I would do:
1. Freeze a maximum of one-third of the package (or one week’s worth of beans) per container. If separated into three, keep the coffee in the packages in which it came. Leave one at room temperature for use.
2. Cover each bean bag you plan to freeze with a second freezer bag.
3. Squeeze out the air and seal tightly. Freeze.
4. Each time you remove a coffee bag from the freezer, let it come to room temperature before opening its outer bag or original package.
5. Once at room temperature, unseal package and use as you would fresh-roasted beans. Keep it tightly closed and set it away from