"Coffee Knowledge" What is the use of growing coffee beans? Can you drink coffee beans without growing them?

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Usually when we buy things, we think the fresher the better, so we naturally want the coffee beans we buy to be fresh, preferably freshly roasted! However, coffee beans are not ready to drink right after they are freshly roasted! Friends who have been in contact with coffee for a while should have heard of the term "bean cultivation" more or less. So what exactly is bean cultivation, and what is its use?

Bean cultivation

To put it simply, bean cultivation is a process of "gas release", which is also commonly known as waking up the beans, cultivating the beans or ripening them.

Because about 2% of the weight of coffee beans that have just been roasted over a fierce fire is carbon dioxide, and this large amount of carbon dioxide is emitted along with the storage environment, equipment or method, making the pressure in the package higher than one atmosphere. The pressure helps the fusion of aromatic substances and oils, allowing all the aromatic substances inside the coffee beans to reach a state that is easy to extract.

Generally, the degassing of coffee beans begins three hours after roasting. Coffee beans that do not release any carbon dioxide will have a very unstable taste after brewing. If you have ever poured hot water into freshly roasted and ground coffee powder, or used it to make a cup of espresso, you will find that the taste is very sharp and irritating, with over-extracted bitterness and obvious acidity. It will be difficult for you to associate it with the smooth and sweet taste.

What is the use of growing beans?

Although the flavor composition of roasted coffee beans is roughly determined, many people attribute the change in flavor of coffee beans to the fact that coffee beans change every day. In fact, everything will deteriorate slightly after oxidation, affecting the taste. You may not have such a delicate taste sensation in fruits, but you can clearly feel the change in taste of coffee.

Don’t think that bean cultivation is unimportant. The coffee beans that are not properly cultivated have an unclean taste. I have experienced this myself! First of all, coffee beans that are not properly cultivated will have a "dry" feeling. This is the smoke smell left inside the coffee beans after being roasted at high temperatures. It takes a period of maturation and carbon dioxide emission to remove it. Therefore, let it sit for a few days during the bean cultivation period. You will find that the taste is clean and the flavor is prominent.

But whether or not to raise the beans is not absolute, and the length of time is not certain. If the raising time is too short, the flavor of the coffee will be incomplete and it will not be easy to brew, which cannot be considered good roasting. If the raising time is too long, from the perspective of freshness, it will definitely affect the maintenance of freshness later, resulting in the risk of staleness being pushed to consumers, which is certainly not good.

How to grow beans? How long should it take?

Having said so much, how should we cultivate coffee beans? Have you ever noticed that there is a round thing with several holes on the bag of coffee beans? We usually call it a "one-way exhaust valve". The best way to cultivate coffee beans is to put them in a bag with a one-way exhaust valve.

Place unopened coffee beans in a cool, dry, dark, and odor-free environment. After the bean-raising period, seal the one-way exhaust valve (use transparent tape).

As for how long the bean-raising period is, it is best to ask the merchant, because each roaster has a different roasting technique, a different roasting depth, and a different degree of damage to the coffee bean structure, so there is no standard answer to the bean-raising period.

However, we can mainly determine the time for raising beans based on the degree of roasting of the coffee beans.

After all, the degree of roasting can be said to be the biggest variable affecting the growth of coffee beans. The deeper the roasting degree, the longer the coffee beans are heated, and the more intense the caramelization reaction. In addition, because a large amount of heat is received in a short period of time, it triggers a strong oxidation reaction. Therefore, when the coffee beans are just finished roasting, they will continue to undergo intense oxidation and large-scale exhaust. It is often seen that the aluminum foil bags with one-way valves for deep roasting are filled with air in one or two days. This is the reason.

Generally speaking, the time for medium-dark roasted coffee beans to mature is shorter than that for light roasted coffee beans, and the normal data is about 3 days. Of course, there are also people who say that they don’t need to mature and can just brew directly, because the methods of each roaster are different, and there will be great differences. Maybe the coffee beans roasted by this roaster have a higher maturity rate than others, so they don’t need to mature.

However, beans used for Italian coffee need to be aged for 10 or even 15 days. This method is mainly for espresso machines, which use medium-dark roasted Italian beans with strong exhaust. If the beans are not aged for enough time, they will be exhausted when exposed to hot water, affecting the extraction and causing unstable extraction, which may result in poor espresso flavor or too strong flavor.

The way to reduce exhaust is to increase the time of the beans, so that the oxidation reaction of the coffee beans will gradually slow down and the flavor will become more balanced. If you use an American coffee machine or other equipment to cook Italian coffee beans instead of an espresso machine, you don’t need to consider increasing the time of the beans for exhaust.

By the way, some friends often ask, how should we store the roasted coffee beans we bought? Should we put them in a can or in the refrigerator?

In fact, the most recommended way is to store the coffee beans in a sealed bag with a one-way exhaust valve, and then place it in a cool and dry place.

Although using sealed cans to store coffee beans is a good method, you should pay attention to the quality of the sealed cans. If the quality is too poor, it is better to use the original packaging bags. Also, don’t buy transparent cans for the so-called beauty, after all, light can increase the oxidation rate of coffee. Some friends may ask, but most of the coffee you see in coffee shops is stored in transparent cans! This is mainly because the beans in coffee shops are consumed quickly, and secondly, because the transparent cans can directly see the roasted beans, which is helpful for consumers to choose.

As for putting it in the refrigerator, this method is not recommended. This is because coffee beans absorb odors and are easily absorbed by the odor in the refrigerator. In addition, the moisture in the refrigerator can easily enter the coffee bean packaging, affecting the preservation of the coffee beans.

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