Why Do Freshly Roasted Coffee Beans Need to Rest?
Roasting drives carbon dioxide into the bean, and right after the drop that gas makes up about 2 percent of the bean's weight. Brew too soon and the escaping CO2 disrupts the water flow through the coffee bed, so extraction becomes uneven and the cup tastes dry, harsh, smoky and sharp. Resting lets the gas leave before the beans are ground and brewed.
Leave beans 3-7 days in the original bag with its one-way valve, somewhere dry and cool. Light-medium, medium and medium-dark roasts each need different rest times, and cold winter weather stretches them further. You can check progress by watching the bloom in a pour-over or the crema on an espresso. That is the practical side of the roasting process that determines when a bean tastes right.
Why do freshly roasted coffee beans need to rest for a period? How does carbon dioxide release affect extraction and flavor? Based on the practical experience of Front Street Coffee, this article systematically explains the principles and necessity of bean resting, and provides recommended resting days for three roast levels: light-medium, medium, and medium-dark. At the same time, you will learn how to judge whether coffee beans have finished degassing by observing the bloom state in pour-over brewing and the crema performance of espresso, as well as how to flexibly adjust the resting period under low winter temperatures. Whether you prefer pour-over or espresso, these practical tips can help you present coffee with greater stability, fullness, and cleanliness.
For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)
For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of Front Street Coffee: qjcoffeex
"Coffee needs to be rested! The first three days after fresh roasting are not very tasty!" Have you often heard coffee friends discuss the topic of coffee bean resting/degassing? Coffee beans are not red wine, so why do they need to sit for a while before they taste good? In this article, Front Street Coffee will talk with you about the importance of resting freshly roasted coffee!
What is coffee bean resting?
Coffee beans produce a large amount of carbon dioxide during the roasting process, and when the beans come out of the roaster, a large amount is absorbed back into the beans, accounting for 2% of the coffee bean weight. If there is too much carbon dioxide stored in the coffee beans, it will produce many bubbles when in contact with water during extraction, changing the water flow channels in the coffee powder bed, affecting the stability of coffee extraction, and ultimately greatly affecting the expression of coffee flavor and mouthfeel.
Is resting the beans absolutely necessary?
Most coffee beans are not at their best-tasting state right after roasting. They usually carry an obvious dry, harsh sensation and a smoky, choking feel, and the mouthfeel is sharper and more irritating. Therefore, freshly roasted coffee beans need to be left still for 3-7 days in their original packaging with a one-way exhaust valve, in a dry and cool place, allowing the coffee beans to release part of their carbon dioxide on their own and take away the smoky, harsh sensation.
Coffee bean resting time
This needs to be determined by paying attention to the coffee roasting date and the coffee roast level. All coffee beans shipped by Front Street Coffee are dispatched within 5 days after roasting is completed. After receiving the coffee beans, you can check the roasting date on the back label of the packaging, and count the bean resting time from the roasting date.
At present, the coffee beans sold by Front Street Coffee are divided into three roast levels: light-medium roasted coffee beans are recommended to rest for 3-4 days; medium roast is recommended to rest for 4-5 days; medium-dark roast is recommended to rest for 6-7 days.
After proper resting, coffee beans become more stable in extraction, and the taste becomes fuller and cleaner. If the indoor temperature is relatively low in winter, the resting period can be appropriately extended by 2-3 days.
How do you judge that coffee beans have rested well?
The judgment for pour-over is very intuitive. Based on Front Street Coffee's daily brewing observations, if there is still a large amount of carbon dioxide inside the coffee beans, then during the bloom stage, after evenly wetting the coffee bed for 30 seconds, there will still be obvious large bubbles emerging; in that case, the coffee beans can rest for another 1-2 days.
For espresso extraction judgment, you need to pay attention to the performance of the espresso crema after extraction is completed. If the crema is too abundant/the crema layer is too thick, and the coffee taste shows a smoky/dry sensation, these all indicate that the carbon dioxide content in the coffee beans is relatively high, and you can leave them for another 2-3 days before trying the subsequent performance.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
