# How freshly roasted does your coffee need to be?



## ATZ (Aug 4, 2017)

The guy in this video reckons it's hours up to 7 days after roasting














Any longer and it's stale? I new fresher was better but is this the case?


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## Rakesh (Jun 3, 2017)

Freshly roasted beans are at their best between 10-30 days after roasting stored under normal conditions (in a resealable bag with a valve in a cupboard). Any fresher and they won't taste as good as the coffee needs to rest, any later and staleness becomes apparent in the cup. This is just my opinion and they can last much longer if stored in the freezer in a vac sealed bag.


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## Obnic (Jan 14, 2014)

I think @MWJB discussed this a short while back. Fresh works well for pour-over but for espresso you need to lose some of the CO2 first.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Obnic said:


> I think @MWJB discussed this a short while back. Fresh works well for pour-over but for espresso you need to lose some of the CO2 first.


Sure, for brewed you can start the day after roasting, you might occasionally get a slightly slick/slimy mouth feel early on, but it will extract OK.


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

ATZ said:


> The guy in this video reckons it's hours up to 7 days after roasting


He is a grade one tosser....


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

dfk41 said:


> He is a grade one tosser....


Is "Grade 1":

a) Top of the scale

b) Bottom of the scale

Pls I wonder which he would rather be.......

Edit: I've just seen his picture in the video... He is a right tosser!!


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

I doubt he knows the difference! Hired audience, change the scenery for each speaker. Even I know ponytails went out ages ago!


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

dfk41 said:


> I doubt he knows the difference! Hired audience, change the scenery for each speaker. Even I know ponytails went out ages ago!


I must be honest - last time I wore a pony tail was 35+ years ago....


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

Drewster said:


> I must be honest - last time I wore a pony tail was 35+ years ago....


Still in pig-tails here


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

MildredM said:


> Still in pig-tails here


Ian's fantasy about Mrs Trunchbull/Heidi (Delete as required) don't count!


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

Drewster said:


> Ian's fantasy about Mrs Trunchbull/Heidi (Delete as required) don't count!


I will take that as a compliment. It isn't every day I get mentioned in the same breath as Miss Klum









(Just rememberd I wore pigtails on our wedding day too!!)


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

Drewster said:


> I must be honest - last time I wore a pony tail was 35+ years ago....


All this talk of pony tails . . . Bring 'em back! John Travolta/Pulp Fiction


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

MildredM said:


> All this talk of pony tails . . . Bring 'em back! John Travolta/Pulp Fiction


Dunno if you'll find a righteous man round here......


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

What a c**t. Bullshit from start to finish. Using numinous terms like "alive" and "potent" to peddle his new age spiritiualism and home made roasters. I wonder how much money he's making from his 'university'. You can't brew espresso properly even 24 hours after roasting never mind 11. He's probably using crema volume as a benchmark. I wonder what independent scientific studies have been performed or even ones that he's funded to back up his claims.


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## Beanedict (Aug 14, 2017)

Drewster said:


> I must be honest - last time I wore a pony tail was 35+ years ago....


So it's back in fashion then


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## Beanedict (Aug 14, 2017)

MildredM said:


> All this talk of pony tails . . . Bring 'em back! John Travolta/Pulp Fiction


I'd say pony tails are better than man buns? Have I made any enemies yet?


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## Beanedict (Aug 14, 2017)

I saw this video before I joined the forum. It made me feel sad and and annoyed - all that coffee I was actually enjoying before, I was enjoying wrong apparently. But this raises more important question for me personally: how can supermarkets claim best before date year in the future on the bag of ground coffee, which is likely to have been roasted and ground 6 months before? what is a sensible range? Another roaster on youtube, no pony tale, was saying the resting time was invented by the roasters so that they can shift their batch of beans whilst it's still considered fresh, and coffee is good to go the moment it's been roasted.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Under every pony tail there's an arse. People, believe only what your taste buds tell you. If you like it, is good. If you don't, post a thread to ask for tips. It's all about enjoying your favourite beverage at the end of the day, tats, tails and TED notwithstanding. Don't believe the hype etc. I may have had one or two bevvies tonight but I think I'm still making sense...


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Beanedict said:


> I saw this video before I joined the forum. It made me feel sad and and annoyed - all that coffee I was actually enjoying before, I was enjoying wrong apparently. But this raises more important question for me personally: how can supermarkets claim best before date year in the future on the bag of ground coffee, which is likely to have been roasted and ground 6 months before? what is a sensible range? Another roaster on youtube, no pony tale, was saying the resting time was invented by the roasters so that they can shift their batch of beans whilst it's still considered fresh, and coffee is good to go the moment it's been roasted.


I've no idea how supermarkets get away with that. Probably because 'best' is subjective. They might require a date by law so they just pluck that out of thin air to prolong shelf life. The majority of people don't brew it properly anyway. The people who buy supermarket beans are unlikely to be the type to buy premium equipment, use precise scales to measure coffee and water, and use a precise water temp when brewing. The majority of people probably grind in blenders and cheap grinders that retain so much coffee they never really drink it freshly ground anyway, and then bung it into a drip machine or toy espresso machine. Maybe coffee goes stale somewhere around a month after roasting and then goes rancid from there, so best before could be the time before the stale coffee is completely rancid.

It's a bit weird enjoying stale/rancid coffee but I guess we've all been there. I used to think it was normal to need water after espresso because it was so drying/bitter. I enjoyed the caramel and chocolate, and even enjoyed the charcoal from starbucks. I enjoyed instant once upon a time.

Anyway with regards to your youtube roaster, I've seen the video and it's been posted here before. I tried brewing fresh from the roaster and it was a disaster. To be honest I can't remember exactly why. I think there was a lot of channeling and it just gushed out in about 6 separate streams. I've tried a day after roasting and it's just a lot of crema that tastes bland or bitter with sour or bland coffee underneath it. It's always either unpalatable or just a lot of nothing. I don't know the exact time it's good to drink, and it probably varies from coffee to coffee, but my last roast was at its best after about 14 days and was still good up a month after roasting (when I finished it), the cherry cola/herbal flavours were dropping away by then but it was still rich and sweet. The same coffee brewed a day or two after roasting is dull.

So you could say from my last roast of Red Bourbon.

1-5 days: Dull.

5-10: Sweet and Rich.

10-15: More flavours emerge. Sour cherry and herbal flavours.

15-20: Flavours integrate. Cherry and herbal/cola characteristics.

20-25: Flavours just begin to drop away. Cherry begins to drop back. Coffee is less intense. Still sweet and rich.

25-30: Approaching end of its window. Only a hint of cherry. Still sweet and rich but declining.


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## Beanedict (Aug 14, 2017)

Thanks @Rob1 for detailed explanation from real life experience. The good thing is that most roasters post beans about 1 week old. The bad news is that I need to step up with my brew methods







Also, you made me want to try Red Bourbon now


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