Often selected at Front Street Coffeefreshly roasted coffee beansCoffee enthusiasts know that the best flavor period for coffee beans is within one month,the best flavor period for drip bag coffeeis half a month; does this mean that freshly roasted coffee beans are at their freshest? This is certainly wrong, because after coffee beans are roasted, there is still a process called "bean resting." So in this article, Front Street Coffee will explain the relevant knowledge about bean resting.
 
What is bean resting?
 
Coffee enthusiasts know that tasting coffee is about tasting its aroma and flavor. The longer coffee beans are stored, the more aroma they lose, so coffee beans should not be stored too long, as it will affect their flavor. The flavor period of drip bag coffee is shorter because it is already in the form of coffee grounds, and its contact area with air is much larger than that of coffee beans, so its flavor period is half that of coffee beans.

  
The bean resting mentioned here by Front Street Coffee refers to the process of green coffee beans releasing gas after roasting. Because coffee beans just completed through intense roasting have about 2% of their weight as carbon dioxide, and this large amount of carbon dioxide is released depending on the storage environment, equipment, or method, making the pressure inside the packaging higher than one atmosphere. This pressure helps aromatic substances and oils integrate, allowing all aromatic substances inside the coffee beans to reach a state where they are easily extracted. Therefore, bean resting is the process of releasing carbon dioxide.
 

Front Street Coffee generally starts degassing only after the 3rd hour after coffee beans complete roasting, because coffee beans that have not released any carbon dioxide will have a very unstable taste after brewing.
 
Front Street Coffee once used freshly roasted coffee beans for brewing experiments and found that whether used for pour-over coffee or espresso, the flavor and mouthfeel were very sharp and stimulating, with bitterness from over-extraction and obvious acidity, completely failing to express the coffee's original good flavor. That is why the operation of "bean resting" came about.

  
Why rest the beans?
 
As Front Street Coffee said above, even coffee beans that have already been roasted need to go through a period of time before they are consumed, because coffee beans are oxidized every day until their aroma completely disappears. This is also why coffee beans in Front Street Coffee's store are definitely discarded if they have not been used up after two weeks.
   

The importance of bean resting is to release carbon dioxide, because coffee beans with insufficient resting will have a strong "harshness," that is, the smoky, pungent taste left after coffee beans are roasted at high temperatures. This unpleasant taste must be removed through a period of carbon dioxide release. Therefore, compared with the coffee beans mentioned above by Front Street that have not gone through bean resting, coffee beans after a few days of careful resting will have a cleaner flavor and can perfectly express the coffee beans' unique good aroma.

  
However, Front Street Coffee wants to remind everyone here that the bean resting time should not be too long, nor too short, because if rested too short, the coffee's flavor will be incomplete and not easy to brew, which cannot be called good roasting; if rested too long, from the perspective of freshness, it will definitely affect the later maintenance of freshness, causing the coffee beans' flavor period to be shortened.
 
How long should bean resting take?
 
So how exactly should the bean resting process be carried out correctly? Generally speaking, coffee beans can release carbon dioxide even when sealed in packaging bags, but it will take a little longer. However, Front Street Coffee still recommends that bean resting packaging bags should have a one-way exhaust valve as much as possible, and that unopened coffee beans be placed in a cool, dry, dark environment without irritating odors. After the bean resting period, seal the one-way exhaust valve (transparent tape is fine), because the subsequent carbon dioxide will gradually fill the packaging bag to form a low-oxygen environment and reduce the oxidation rate. Therefore, coffee enthusiasts who often choose coffee beans at Front Street Coffee all know that Front Street Coffee's coffee bean packaging has an independent one-way exhaust valve.
 

However, regarding the bean resting time, because the roasting methods of cafes or coffee brands are all different, different coffee beans also have different roasting degrees, and the damage to the coffee bean structure is also different, so there is no standard answer for bean resting time. But Front Street Coffee believes that the approximate time range for bean resting can still be determined according to the roasting degree of the coffee beans.
 
For example, the darker the roast degree, the longer the green coffee beans are exposed to heat, and the more intense the caramelization reaction. At the same time, because they receive a large amount of hot air in a short time, strong oxidation is triggered. Therefore, freshly roasted coffee beans will continue to undergo intense oxidation, leading to large-scale degassing.
 
Generally speaking, medium-dark roasted coffee needs a shorter bean resting time than light roasted coffee, usually about 3 days. Of course, there is also the saying that no resting is needed and it can be brewed directly, because different methods vary greatly. Perhaps the coffee beans roasted by one roaster have a higher aging ratio than others, so no resting is needed.
 

Compared with coffee beans for drip coffee, coffee beans used for espresso need a longer bean resting time, generally up to 10 days or even 15 days. Because the coffee machine extracts espresso through pressure extraction, and water is an inert liquid that tends to flow to looser places, so the resistance caused by too much carbon dioxide can easily obstruct the water flow, leading to channeling, uneven extraction, and naturally unsatisfactory coffee taste.
 
However, coffee enthusiasts choosing coffee beans at Front Street Coffee do not need to worry too much about this problem, because Front Street Coffee generally calculates the time well and provides coffee enthusiasts in need with beans that are almost rested or already rested, so that the coffee beans are in the most suitable state for drinking as soon as coffee enthusiasts receive them.

  
The above is the relevant knowledge compiled by Front Street Coffee on how to rest beans. We hope it can help coffee enthusiasts better understand relevant knowledge about coffee beans, so as to choose thesingle-origin coffee beansthat best suit their own taste.

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

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.