If you want to buy fresh coffee beans, you must learn to "look, smell, ask and feel"

Friends who often buy coffee beans will encounter a problem. Sometimes the surface of the coffee beans they buy is "oily" and sometimes "dry". Even if the coffee beans are roasted on the same day, they will have different "skin textures". What is going on? Are coffee beans fresher with oil or without oil? How to judge the freshness of coffee beans?

Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes “observation, smell, questioning, and palpation” when treating patients. Only by fully understanding the symptoms can the right medicine be prescribed. Similarly, to determine whether coffee beans are fresh, you also need to master the professional skills of “observation, smell, questioning, and palpation”.

"Wang" - Grease

After the coffee beans are picked, they need to be roasted at a high temperature of 170-200℃ to become ripe beans. The roasting process of coffee beans is the process of releasing moisture by heat. The roasting degree of coffee beans can be divided into three types: light roasting, medium roasting and deep roasting.

The principles of roasting coffee beans are:

The more moisture the coffee beans release, the lighter the coffee beans are, the longer they need to be roasted, the higher the roasting degree will be, and the coffee oil will be present in large quantities inside and outside the coffee beans.

The less water the coffee beans release, the lighter the coffee beans are, the shorter the roasting time required, and the lower the roasting degree. Most of the coffee oil will remain inside the coffee beans rather than on the surface.

The oil in coffee beans will slowly seep out from the inside of the coffee beans to the surface over time. This theory is one of the criteria we use to judge the freshness of coffee beans with our naked eyes.

Generally speaking, the degree of coffee bean roasting is proportional to the coffee oil.

We often encounter such a phenomenon: when buying two types of coffee beans, both roasted within 3 days, the surface of the deep roasted coffee beans is full of coffee oil, and the oil is increasing, while the surface of the medium roasted coffee beans is dry. This is because the roasting degrees of the two coffee beans are different. In essence, they are both fresh coffee beans.

For example: coffee beans of the same variety are roasted on the same day, one is heavily roasted and the other is deeply roasted.

10 days later:

Medium roasted coffee beans: The surface is still dry.

Dark roasted coffee beans: shiny and oily surface.

30 days later:

Medium roasted coffee beans: slightly oily on the surface.

Deep roasted coffee beans: The surface is oily and scattered.

45 days later:

Medium roasted coffee beans: shiny and oily.

Deep roasted coffee beans: dry and oily on the surface.

As the storage time of coffee beans increases, the oil inside the coffee beans will slowly seep out over time.

Deep roasted coffee beans have a lot of oil, which will seep out a lot at the beginning, and the surface oil will gradually decrease over time;

The oil in medium-roasted coffee beans is hidden inside the beans and will slowly seep out to the surface, with the surface oil gradually increasing over time.

Therefore, if deep roasted coffee beans contain a lot of oil, it means that the coffee beans are very fresh; if medium roasted coffee beans contain a lot of oil, it means that the coffee beans have passed their best drinking period.

“Smell” – Aroma

The most obvious smell of roasted beans is the coffee aroma. If the beans are roasted for a long time, the aroma will be very faint, and may even have a greasy smell like peanuts that have been left for a long time.

No matter how much effort you put into making stale coffee beans, it is difficult to make delicious coffee.

“Ask” – Origin

Well-known coffee beans all have fixed origins or even production areas.

If the Blue Mountain coffee you buy online is not produced in Jamaica, then there is nothing to say. Of course, it is not bad if it is not produced in the place of origin. This kind of coffee generally has a similar flavor and is much more affordable.

Another thing to do is to ask about the price. Always believe that you get what you pay for. Expensive is not necessarily good, but good quality beans are definitely not cheap.

“Cut” – Pressing beans

Fresh coffee beans are crisp when pressed, and emit a fragrant aroma when cracked. Coffee that has been fully roasted and has been drained of moisture can be used to brew delicious coffee, which can be determined when grinding the beans.

Good quality coffee beans will make a gentle rustling sound when they are ground. Just shake your hands gently and the original flavor of the coffee will overflow.

Poor quality coffee beans will make a crunching sound and feel like they are stuck when ground.

One point that needs to be emphasized is:

Freshest ≠ Most Suitable ≠ Best Tasting

Some people like lightly roasted coffee with high acidity and no oil, some people like medium-roasted coffee beans with a balanced acidity and bitterness, and some people like deeply roasted coffee beans with a strong bitterness and rich oil.

Some people simply require the "freshest" when choosing coffee beans, and do not care about the origin, variety, roasting degree, and flavor of the coffee beans themselves. As a result, they may buy a bag of fresh but "unpalatable" coffee beans.

Therefore, the best standard is to like what you like.