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How long should suitably stored beans stay palatable after roasting?

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  • stavros87
    replied
    Originally posted by emslibbles View Post
    IMHO, the beans are a massive variable that is under discussed.

    Something like a lighter roasted fruity Ethiopian heavy blend could last aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages. For example, ONA use to recommend you don’t start drinking their Raspberry Candy blend till 35 days. Now they recommend a more moderate 21 days, but still, especially if you store it well, it’s super fruity well over 40 days.

    Whereas I find things like darker Allpress roasts peak at about 10 days and go rapidly downhill not too long afterwards.

    tl;dr the beans and taste will dictate terms.
    Agreed, my lighter roasts are still good 5-6 weeks post roast but darker roasts I tend to stop using if more than 4

    Leave a comment:


  • greenman
    replied
    My espresso roasts hold up well for a several weeks with subtle changes along the way, even after a couple of months they still taste a lot better than cheap supermarket beans. However rarely do they ever last that long in our household!!!

    Leave a comment:


  • thasan01
    replied
    I've been my dads place and i dont know how old his coffee beans are or whether his actually dialed in the grind. He seems to love his coffee. So i think its also relative to your taste and expectations.

    Leave a comment:


  • LatteLarry
    commented on 's reply
    Very useful observation, thanks!

  • emslibbles
    replied
    IMHO, the beans are a massive variable that is under discussed.

    Something like a lighter roasted fruity Ethiopian heavy blend could last aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages. For example, ONA use to recommend you don’t start drinking their Raspberry Candy blend till 35 days. Now they recommend a more moderate 21 days, but still, especially if you store it well, it’s super fruity well over 40 days.

    Whereas I find things like darker Allpress roasts peak at about 10 days and go rapidly downhill not too long afterwards.

    tl;dr the beans and taste will dictate terms.

    Leave a comment:


  • LatteLarry
    replied
    OK, I'm getting that up to 8 weeks after roasting is still quite acceptable in many cases, for different peoples tastes, so that's a number I can use as a rule of thumb for planning, at least initially. I go through about 1/2 kilo of coffee/week (ran out of my first 1kg bag this evening, right on 2 weeks.) I've bought a half kilo yesterday evening from a friend who gets his beans from a roaster on the Gold Coast. It's labelled "Brazil, Fazenda, Santa Cristian Espresso Roast", so will be something different to the Honduran which I've enjoyed. Will be interesting to compare.

    Thanks all for your input.

    Leave a comment:


  • GrahamK
    replied
    It can also be a moving target.

    Your/our palate undoubtedly changes as you become more "snobbish". Once you have experienced another level of excellence, either due to a new blend, single origin, roast level, extraction method or equipment, it can be hard to return to where you were before and get the same amount of satisfaction from something less excellent.

    What I happily imbibed and enjoyed 10 years ago, I would now certainly ditch down the sink.

    So be prepared to change. Maybe order a few bags of roasted from Andy on BeanBay as a comparison to your current purchase?

    GrahamK

    Leave a comment:


  • Rocky
    replied
    I have friends that operate fully automatic machines using a variety of bean from local Cafes (not Roasters). My humble opinion of the coffee that they produce is that it is borderline undrinkable. They say my coffee is "really good" but do not fall off their chairs in rapture which tells me that they are probably not all that discriminating.
    So - "palatable/enjoyable/etc" is probably not that meaningful to the 'average Joe', HOWEVER I would expect much more congruence on this Forum.
    I would suggest that "how long" you can store your bean for before it deteriorates significantly is dependent upon "how" you store your bean.
    Like you I live in a climate that is warm to hot for most of the year and I keep my bean in the 'fridge and detect little deterioration in flavour up to a couple of months.
    I keep the bean in their original clip-seal packets, exclude the air and roll the top of the packet to keep it that way and then tightly roll the packet in a cotton bag and then a small handtowel before storing in the Crisper of the 'fridge.
    Most on here would say I must have a 'crap' palate as the bean would have to be stale. I have been wine tasting most of my adult life and I can assure you there is nothing wrong with my palate. So don't worry too much about the opinion of others (including me) just approach your coffee with an open and enquiring mind and if it tastes fine to you at 2, 4, or 8 weeks then it's all good.

    Leave a comment:


  • Yelta
    replied
    Originally posted by LatteLarry View Post
    Everyone talks about the dreaded stale coffee bean. But how long should suitably stored beans stay palatable after roasting?

    By "suitable stored", I'm thinking airtight canisters, etc. I've got some "airscape" canisters I'm using for the purpose.

    I've read some people saying that 2-3 months after roasting, beans will still be fine. Other writers seem to think this is far too long.

    Opinions?
    Palatable! it really is an open ended word, what's palatable to me may well be unacceptable to many people.

    To me palatable means it can be safely consumed, not necessarily enjoyed.

    Many food stuffs and drinks are palatable while being far from excellent.

    My father in law once remarked, when asked if he liked the sweet potato (he had never tried it before) "you can eat it" far from high praise, the same remark could be applied to most supermarket coffee, you can drink it, won't kill you, on the other hand, you probably wont ask for a second cup.?

    Leave a comment:


  • simonsk8r
    replied
    Yeah honestly I'm finding over time that I'm valuing resting my beans more. I think there are no hard and fast rules, but what everyone has said is good advice in general. I'm trying to rest my beans for a minimum of 7 days (more towards 9 or 10 days), and some have been the best they've ever tasted at 4 or even 5 weeks, which is bizarre. For some beans though there is definitely a drop off around this stage or a bit earlier. I think it may be very dependent on the particular bean, roaster and roasting method, depth of roast, storage method of course and so on. And yes if your beans are tasting great, awesome! I guess the aim is always to find ways of getting them tasting better, and getting the most out of them

    Leave a comment:


  • level3ninja
    replied
    Generally best until 3ish weeks and palatable until 4 or so weeks. I am yet to find a coffee at 6 weeks that I don't wish was half its age. As 338 said, "The point isn't that your coffee is terrible, but how much better it would be at its best."

    Leave a comment:


  • 338
    replied
    Larry, I drink the bulk of my coffee between 1 week and 4 weeks, with the aim to be between 1 and 3 weeks. There is a bit drunk a few days after roast and a very small amount over four weeks. The coffee doesn't fall off after 4 weeks, but isn't the same coffee if drunk at one week. The point isn't that your coffee is terrible, but how much better it would be at its best. Your Aldi I am sure would better at say one week post roast versus six, even though you are comfortable at six. As I roast my own with beans from here, the cost is modest to waste some beans if I miscalculated my usage.

    I would suggest, for how I like coffee, to purchase enough coffee to consume most of it in the 1-3 week.

    Leave a comment:


  • LatteLarry
    commented on 's reply
    Basically, a range of answers would give me a sense of how long I could reasonably expect to store roasted coffee once I got it home. Particularly if I, say, wanted to have more than one bag of beans on the go at one time. I'm not forcing anyone to share if they don't want to offer an opinion. So far, I have one data point. Thanks @WhatEverBeans!

  • Andy
    commented on 's reply
    Why do you care when I (or others) find it enjoyable?

    "What I'm getting at here" is when do you not enjoy it as much is the only important thing.

  • LatteLarry
    commented on 's reply
    saeco_user Don't be modest! You don't have to be an advanced user to be an advanced snob... ;-)
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