Drink it within a month? The freshness of coffee beans is a false proposition!

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Almost all coffee books on the market will tell you that after roasting, it takes some time for the chemicals in the coffee beans to recombine or release the roasting gas to reach the best flavor. Some statements will give you a deadline, some will not, and some books or online articles will directly tell you that coffee beans are almost dead one month after being roasted. Such statements seem to link freshness with the time it takes to roast. Time is the most direct factor affecting freshness.

The more people are exposed to coffee, the more they tend to feel that the "freshness" of coffee beans is a false proposition, or in other words, this is an imprecise way of speaking, and it is easy for people to misunderstand and think that the "fresher" the coffee beans, the better.

The dictionary tells us that there are two definitions of the term "fresh". The first one refers to something new and novel that has never happened before, and the second one refers to food that is clean and fresh and has not spoiled. If it is in the field of coffee, we should use the second one.

However, the term freshness itself is not a specific enough description.

1. There is no specific standard for freshness itself.

Most of the current discussions about the freshness of roasted coffee beans point to how long after roasting, or how the coffee is brewed after being ground into powder (the state of exhaust or expansion after encountering hot water; how the size and color of the foam change; the speed of the water flow changes), and how it tastes when you drink it (is there an oily smell? Has the expected flavor developed? Is there an imbalance between the development of aroma, sourness, sweetness and aftertaste?) to determine the state of the coffee beans.

We can easily point out a lot of relevant observation points, but these are not a direct evidence of the freshness of coffee beans. We do not have a common standard to directly see the freshness of coffee beans. Instead, we need to use the above evidence as evidence to judge the state of coffee beans. Yes, freshness itself is not a clear and direct standard, and it requires a comprehensive judgment based on many objective standards.

In other words, freshness is an abstract concept, not a specific standard that everyone agrees on.

2. The freshness of the coffee beans has no direct correlation with whether they have just been roasted.

When we mention the adjective "fresh", what do we immediately think of?

In the case of agricultural products, it should be delivered directly from the place of production. If the farmer harvests the food in the early morning and delivers it to your home before noon, we will think it is fresh. The same is true for fish. Before dawn, the boatman pulls the fish from the sea ashore and delivers it to your kitchen. The fish is still alive and kicking, so we know that the fish is fresh. In the world of baking, we would say that the bread is fresh when it is just out of the oven, hot, soft and moist when bitten.

But what about in the world of coffee? Experienced players should know that freshly roasted coffee is not necessarily in its best state. The flavor of roasted coffee beans will vary during the maturation period due to the characteristics of the roaster and the operation of the roaster. Some roasters' beans reach a perfect state right after roasting, while some roasters' beans will mature to the maximum flavor after being sealed and left to stand for a week. Some roasters even claim that their beans will not taste the best until they are left for a month.

Think about it again, you will believe that sashimi directly delivered from the source is fresh, but why would you use the word "fresh" to describe something that has dried overnight? If it is coffee beans that have been left for a month, if the process and preservation are good, the fresh fish will become dried fish. If it is left randomly, it should have rotted to the point where there is no meat left.

In most cases, the flavor of coffee beans will rebound from the bottom after being roasted, and then decline again after reaching a peak. This is generally how coffee-related books describe it, and most articles shared online also describe it this way. However, some factory products have special roasting machines and roasting techniques, which allow their beans to be stored longer after roasting than those roasted at home. The flavor reaches its maximum value on the day it is opened, but the flavor is only half the next day, and then there is nothing left the next day.

Generally, coffee beans roasted in-house and sold by coffee shops can be drunk immediately or stored for a month before drinking, and can last at least one or two weeks after being unsealed. However, coffee beans roasted in large factories can still maintain a certain level of taste after being stored for half a year, but are best consumed immediately after being unsealed.

In this case, the term "freshness" is almost equivalent to a different meaning. Since the general concept of freshness may not be directly applicable to the world of coffee, is the term "freshness" really a good term for coffee?

However, the term "freshness" seems to have become a commonly accepted term when applied to coffee, and has become a tacit understanding or term in communication.

Since there is no universal standard for the freshness of coffee, it is too general to use the word "fresh" when discussing the problems encountered in brewing. Perhaps we can go a step further and try to clarify the causes of those problems:

"The beans are still releasing gas quite violently. Maybe I should brew them more carefully next time..."

"The foam is already whitish after a short while. Maybe the brewing rhythm needs to be..."

"The oil from the dark roasted Mandheling is absorbed back into the beans, and it is the right time for..."

The adjective "freshness" is more suitable for use in marketing promotion. When people hear or see it, a series of images related to "freshness" will naturally emerge in their minds. However, the term "freshness" is not suitable for coffee. Instead, the concept of "ripening" is closer to our setting when brewing coffee. Moreover, freshness is not the ultimate goal we pursue. What we need is a set of specific indicators that can more accurately confirm the state of coffee, so that we can formulate corresponding adjustments in advance during the next brewing process.

Since we know that the freshness of coffee beans is only a general and abstract description, we should develop more precise tools to examine it, extending forward to the quality of raw beans, the techniques of the roaster, the characteristics of the roaster, and then to how the subsequent brewing should be carried out.

But this process takes time to accumulate experience. Even in a busy coffee shop, it takes a year or two to gain some basic understanding and to have your own brewing database at a basic level. If you just play at home, the time and cost will be even more staggering.

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