In the past, when buying food, we would always check the production date and then the expiration date, because it is common sense to avoid eating food that has passed its expiration date.
But when it comes to coffee beans, the production date refers to the roast date, that is, the point in time when the green coffee beans are roasted. However, we pay attention to this roast date not because we are afraid it has passed its expiration date or anything like that, since the shelf life of roasted coffee beans is mostly in the range of six months to a year. Under normal circumstances, a bag of coffee beans cannot possibly remain until it expires (unless it itself does not taste good).
Then why do we still look at the roast date? Of course, it is to taste the best flavor of this bean. Nowadays, the vast majority of single-origin coffee beans pursue fresh roasting. This is related to the current preference for lighter roasts. The flavor of lightly roasted coffee beans dissipates much faster than that of dark roasts. Generally, by 1 week after roasting, they will give off pleasant aromas such as floral, fruity, and cookie-like notes. After 2 months, these pleasant aromas of lightly roasted coffee beans are noticeably much weaker, and they are also accompanied by smoky, almond, and grassy odors. Therefore, for single-origin coffee beans used for pour-over, a fresher roast date is pursued.
However, it is not necessarily true that coffee beans closer to the roast date are the best tasting. There are two reasons: the first is the need to release an appropriate amount of carbon dioxide, and the second is to reduce the "dryness" brought by roasting. The biggest characteristic of freshly roasted coffee beans is vigorous degassing, and this "gas" actually refers to carbon dioxide. After coffee beans are roasted, they also begin to release a large amount of carbon dioxide, and the presence of carbon dioxide actually creates a certain obstacle to our coffee extraction.After roasting, carbon dioxide in the coffee beans exists in the loose structure of the beans. During extraction, the presence of carbon dioxide hinders water from entering these fibrous structures to dissolve the flavor substances in the coffee. The more carbon dioxide there is, the stronger the obstruction to water.Generally, the best flavor period of coffee is shown after the coffee is roasted, after going through a 4~7 day resting period, when the flavor reaches its peak, and then it declines over time, until in the end only a woody taste remains. The flavor substances that are lost first are mainly volatile compounds such as floral and fruity aromas, while water-soluble compounds such as sugars, nuts, and chocolate are relatively less prone to volatilization.
Therefore, the flavor period of generally lightly roasted coffee beans is recommended to be from the 4th day to the 40th day after the roast date. For dark-roasted coffee beans or espresso coffee beans, the resting time needs to be longer, about 1-2 weeks. Therefore, the coffee beans shipped by Front Street Coffee are all within 5 days of roasting, so that through 1-2 days of express delivery, it is ensured that when the coffee beans arrive in the customer's hands, they have just passed the resting period and are exactly at their best flavor.When everyone receives the coffee beans, they can also first look at the roast date on the packaging and calculate the time to consume them.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
