Drinking great coffee, and brewing great coffee, is all about quality in, quality out. Beans, water, and your equipment all add to the quality of your cup, and in this article, we’re going to look at how the freshness of your beans impacts your coffee and how you can put time on your side.

Good coffee is all about aroma and flavors

To start, there are over 800 individual flavor compounds identified in coffee. These compounds are responsible for the array of complex tastes and aromas that we experience when drinking coffee. They can range from fruity and floral to nutty and spicy, or even earthy and smoky.

The flavor of coffee resides primarily in the oils within the coffee bean. These oils contain many volatile compounds that contribute to the taste and aroma of the coffee. When coffee beans are fresh, these oils are preserved, leading to a vibrant and rich flavor.

The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) has a wonderful poster that explores all the flavors of coffee. This certainly is not required to brew or enjoy coffee, but is a wonderful way to expand your ability to speak about the tasting notes of a coffee.

Flavors change as coffee ages

From the moment that coffee is roasted, it begins to reduce the intensity and change what you can taste once brewed. These oils and volatile compounds where the flavors and aroma come from are quite fragile. This happens because the volatile compounds within the oils start to degrade or evaporate. This process is accelerated when the beans are exposed to air, light, or heat. As a result, the flavor of the coffee becomes dull and less complex.

This leads to a simple fact: The freshness of your coffee plays a crucial role in the integrity of its flavor. It’s best to drink most coffee between 7 day and 21 days of the roast date.

The ideal window for coffee freshness

There is an “ideal” window to enjoy a bag of freshly roasted coffee. There is a myth that drinking freshly roasted coffee within a day or two is going to yield the best cup of coffee. There is a period of time the coffee should be rested after roasting and before brewing.

After coffee beans are roasted, they release carbon dioxide in a process known as degassing. This process is crucial as it helps to preserve the flavor of the coffee by pushing out oxygen that could lead to oxidation. During the first few days after roasting, coffee beans release a significant amount of carbon dioxide. Brewing coffee during this period can result in a less desirable taste as the high amount of carbon dioxide can interfere with the extraction process. Therefore, it's recommended to wait at least a few days after roasting before brewing your coffee.

However, while some degassing is beneficial for preserving the flavor of the coffee, waiting too long after roasting can also negatively impact the coffee's taste. After about 7 days, the degassing process slows down significantly, and the beans start to lose their freshness. The volatile flavor compounds within the coffee beans begin to degrade or evaporate, leading to a less vibrant and complex flavor. After 21 days, most of the carbon dioxide has been released, and the beans may start to taste stale. Therefore, for the best taste, it's recommended to consume coffee within a window of 7 to 21 days after roasting.

The ideal coffee journey

Let’s wrap this up with the ideal coffee journey.

• Your coffee is harvested and processed. No time constraints here! Green coffee is good for up to 1 to 2 years!
• Day 0: Coffee gets roasted!
• Day 4-7: Start brewing! Your coffee has rested, degassed, and is ready for you.
• Day 7-21: Ideal freshness window. Keep brewing!
• Day 22-30: Still good, some of the flavors will be more blunt or faded
• Day 30+: Great time to make some cold brew!

That’s it! Brew fresh coffee, but not too fresh. We will post an article soon on making cold brew with older coffee to give it new and delicious life, get subscribed to our email list to watch for that post!

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