Whats the obsession with freshly roasted coffee?
When it comes to produce, “fresh is best” seems to be a thought process shared by many, but when we are talking about coffee (especially when roasted on the lighter side), freshly roasted beans never represent the full flavour potential a bag of coffee has to offer.
Why does coffee need resting after roasting?
When coffee beans are put through the roasting process, they start to release Co2. We call this part of the production process the “degassing stage”.
Over the first day or two, coffee loses around 50% of the CO2 we want it to, but it’s the remaining gas we really want to see go, and this takes time.
A big difference between light and dark roasted coffee is the resulting density of a bean after roasting.
Darker roasts have a lower density and are more porous, allowing gas to leave the beans quicker, making the flavours left in the beans to become clearer in less time.
Even with dark roasts, coffee should be left for a couple of days to a week; but when getting into lighter roasts, beans need more time due to the roasting style and the types of coffee being roasted.
Higher quality beans generally have a more dense cell structure due to the growing altitude, variety of bean and the processing method used in harvest.
Coffee grown at higher altitudes takes longer to ripen, which adds complexity to a cup's profile with most specialty coffee being grown at higher altitudes (~4-5000 ft. asl).
What am I trying to say?
Light roast coffee gets a bad wrap when it comes to dialling-in and consistency in flavour.
If you don’t already, I really, really, really recommend switching to brewing coffee that is over two weeks past the roast date. It is SO much better.
The biggest benefits with aged coffee are:
Cleaner, clearer and sweeter flavour profiles.
It’s easier to dial in and keep dialled in.
All coffees we serve in our cafes have been rested for a minimum of two weeks before they’re brewed, with some actually tasting best two months after roasting.
Once a coffee bean has “settled”, the grind size will be a lot more consistent, meaning that you wont need to adjust your grinder as much, day to day.
Tried and tested.
Not only can we show you in our cafes how aged coffee tastes, but we regularly put coffees side by side when to see how a coffee ages.
We have found that coffee origins like Ethiopia, where quality coffee beans are incredibly small and dense, taste a lot sweeter and fruitier after over a month from when they were roasted.
This isn't something that is rarely talked about, but is quite a niche topic that hasn't been completely explored yet, especially in the North American market.
Back in 2023, Scott Rao, one of the most experienced names in the world of coffee roasting, talked about their findings on the subject in their post “RESTING ROASTS: IS FRESHER BETTER?”.
Their overall take is that if you’re drinking the darkest of dark coffee, your beans are actually better fresh, but for more quality focused styles of roasting, a resting period makes a huge difference in the overall quality in the cup.
When buying retail beans to take home with you, the first thing to consider is when do you plan on using the coffee.
If you’ve run out and are planning to brew in the next few days, buying beans that are rested between 2 - 6 weeks means they are ready to go.
I honestly feel like we have been missing the full potential of flavour from a lot of beans by working with coffee that has only just left the roast machine.
It’s not saying that fresh roasted coffee always tastes bad, but I firmly believe that those beans could be even better with a bit of resting.