The old freezing beans theory...

[byronator]

It may come down to the technology used to freeze too. It's quite likely that state of the art snap frozen is superior to sticking the beans in the freezer at home. I saw a show where they were blind taste testing snap frozen salmon versus fresh salmon and serving it up to self confessed fussy sushi snobs. I think from memory more of them actually favoured the frozen...

[Rami]

Personal experience, I grabbed some good coffee on a trip and didn’t want it to go stale. Half the bag into the hopper and half vacuumed sealed and into the freezer.

Once the hopper was empty, I hit the freezer bag. Can taste the coffee fresher than the one in the hopper. Did go stale a little quicker than normal. So maybe freeze smaller amounts next time.

now that I roast my own (badly 😂), i suspect I will not need to freeze any. The 1 week resting time is sufficient to make sure I have some fresh coffee all the time.

[prh]

Here is another article in support of freezing roasted beans, by Seven Miles. I gather that I can't post a link, but hopefully I won't violate CS terms by giving the title "Should you store coffee in the Fridge, Freezer or Shelf?" The article concludes that fresh is best, followed by freezing.

[LeroyC]

funny how the original post of this thread was basically not advising freezing beans, and 2 years later its 180 degrees haha. definitely need to try freezing some green beans, i have few kg and dont consume much at all.

George Howell has been at the forefront of freezing green coffee and has been a proponent of it for probably a good 10 years or so. If you’re interested in doing so then look up any articles they’ve contributed to regarding this topic. Michael Cameron has also done a fair bit on this over the last 4-5 years.

[mocchi]

funny how the original post of this thread was basically not advising freezing beans, and 2 years later its 180 degrees haha. definitely need to try freezing some green beans, i have few kg and dont consume much at all.

[byronator]

More about the ONA cafe (like the previous 2 posts in this thread) which is claimed as having the most expensive coffee in Sydney. According to the article there are 3 keys to creating the perfect espresso one of which is freezing the beans, it's the description of frozen beans shattering being a good thing that caught my attention, see below. The full article is at https://www.dmarge.com/2020/09/sydne...expensive.html

Thoughts?

...in order to attain consistency, you need frozen beans.

As Head Barista and Manager of ONA Coffee Marrickville, Isaac Kim, once explained, “Frozen coffee is more brittle so it shatters when ground, giving us a more even distribution of grind sizes. This means we can easily focus our extractions on the distinctive flavours that make each coffee unique.”

“By freezing our doses, we can preserve a coffee at its peak when the rate of carbon dioxide release has slowed down from the roasted beans.”

[simonsk8r]

New article, pretty fascinating huh! You'd have to get it just right, but really interesting what it could do, and the impact it could have

https://www.beanscenemag.com.au/big-...fee-freshness/

[simonsk8r]

Sorry quick post: I went to a freezing coffee (roasted) masterclass that ONA recently ran. In short freeze the coffee in individual portions when at its peak and seal in vacuum bags and keep as stable a temp while frozen as possible, grind asap once out of freezer (ie don’t thaw). Need to possibly go a touch finer from memory.

Ah nice, that's right I remember watching ONA coffee's Hugh Kelly using the freezing beans technique in the National championships, and explained it in a way that you can freeze beans right at their peak flavour profile. Fascinating, I was gobsmacked!

[Jackster]

I work away, so am away for varied times. So freezing beans stops them staling in the cupboard.
I have noticed (as we all have) that everyday we grind a little finer till we get fresh beans, then jump back coarser and start again. So if im away for a week, i would need to jump finer to catch the beans staling.

Recently, i have been freezing beans into 100g lots and using from there. But my latest idea im trying, is to individually packed 20g beans into a ziplock bag, the bag is a size that requires the beans to be quite loaded in. I put the bags into a larger sealed jar.
I remove 1 20g bag, grind and go. Everyday, the grind is now very close to the same. It seems that at around 3 months freezer time, the beans need to be ground progressively finer.

I can get fresh beans, use them daily till the grinder is set at (say no2). Then split them up into ziplocks. Then knowing that i can change beans and retain the same grinder setting!

As only grinding for myself, 1 doppio per day, i couldnt keep up with the constant grind changes. Now its much easier! Works for me...

[Mb21]

Sorry quick post: I went to a freezing coffee (roasted) masterclass that ONA recently ran. In short freeze the coffee in individual portions when at its peak and seal in vacuum bags and keep as stable a temp while frozen as possible, grind asap once out of freezer (ie don’t thaw). Need to possibly go a touch finer from memory.

[LeroyC]

yes. they do have to be kept air tight. I use them straight a way in a single dose situation because I dont want them exposed to any moisture due to condensation. I will have to try thawing them as I'm sure there is more wear to the burrs.

I will have to consider storing green beans in the future. inhave never even considered that before

One other thing to consider is that coffee beans tend to pick up whatever flavors are in your freezer so sealing them is of utmost importance.

Freezing greens is probably only necessary if you’ve got a good amount and you don’t think you’ll get through them in a reasonable amount of time, or if you live somewhere hot and humid and can’t control the environment they’re stored in very well.

[wilpark]

Absolutely, if you do it right freezing batches of both green and roasted coffee can be a great way to keep them fresh for longer. I think most people would suggest you allow them to thaw before use, but I know there’s a bit of debate around this as well and it can depend on other factors such as the grinder you’re using.
The thing to avoid is what people used to do quite a bit which is keep open bags of coffee in the freezer and have them going in and out each time they used some. This of course will wreck them quickly due to the moisture that’s added each time.

yes. they do have to be kept air tight. I use them straight a way in a single dose situation because I dont want them exposed to any moisture due to condensation. I will have to try thawing them as I'm sure there is more wear to the burrs.

I will have to consider storing green beans in the future. inhave never even considered that before

One other thing to consider is that coffee beans tend to pick up whatever flavors are in your freezer so sealing them is of utmost importance.

[LeroyC]

I roast coffee at home in rather large batches. and rather than roasting every week I would do 10-15 pound batches (4.5-5 kilos) and freeze them using a home vacuum sealer after they have degassed.

doubt they are as good as a 3-6 days old batch but they do remain fresh for months. I even found an intact vacuumed bag that was 8 months old and it was not stale.

as for grinding I ground them straight from the freezer without thawing and were delicious.

some roasters freeze batches and keep them up to year as a reference for current crop of the same coffee from the same farms.

here is another article regarding an experiment conducted by founding member of SCA Jim Schulman regarding the freezing of coffee for long(er) term storage.

https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/20...ffee-question/

Absolutely, if you do it right freezing batches of both green and roasted coffee can be a great way to keep them fresh for longer. I think most people would suggest you allow them to thaw before use, but I know there’s a bit of debate around this as well and it can depend on other factors such as the grinder you’re using.
The thing to avoid is what people used to do quite a bit which is keep open bags of coffee in the freezer and have them going in and out each time they used some. This of course will wreck them quickly due to the moisture that’s added each time.

[wilpark]

I roast coffee at home in rather large batches. and rather than roasting every week I would do 10-15 pound batches (4.5-5 kilos) and freeze them using a home vacuum sealer after they have degassed.

doubt they are as good as a 3-6 days old batch but they do remain fresh for months. I even found an intact vacuumed bag that was 8 months old and it was not stale.

as for grinding I ground them straight from the freezer without thawing and were delicious.

some roasters freeze batches and keep them up to year as a reference for current crop of the same coffee from the same farms.

here is another article regarding an experiment conducted by founding member of SCA Jim Schulman regarding the freezing of coffee for long(er) term storage.

https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/20...ffee-question/

[heavansabove]

Reviving an old thread...

I read this article - https://baristahustle.com/blogs/bari...aper-explained - which found that heat adversely affected grind quality, and recommended using frozen beans, stored in single use lots in the freezer. So... I had some 8 week old Decaf WOW! beans that were lacking somewhat, and froze some into small ziplock bags. Now the article suggests freeezing the beans at the time of peak quality, say a week or so after roasting, so I was not expecting a miracle.

Taste test: Ground 14gm nett in cleaned Eureka Mignon (no retained grounds), and pulled a shot on La Pavoni Pro - I was surprised to see a decent crema, and pleased with the taste. I was considering no longer buying the beans because it was taking me too long to get through a kilo, but now I think I will be able to continue with the excellent Decaf WOW!. In case you are wondering why decaf... just think caffeine - increased heart rate and higher blood pressure - abnormal heart rhythms - atrial fibrillation - stroke.

I recommend people give it a try.

Cheers
Peter