Dear All,

I have always been interested in the logical discrepancy between our definition of staling and the practical need to let the coffee rest, and you know what, I have an interesting question for you!

Something that I have always asked myself is whether the changes involved in the coffee resting involve aging or not. Is completely fresh coffee impossible to brew as espresso? I find this question to be pretty interesting.

And you know what, I have a good experiment which might provide a partial answer to this. What if, and I am just saying, what if we could successfully rest coffee beans in the freezer (where aging reactions are greatly slowed down or somewhat stopped). This might suggest that the resting period is needed for certain chemicals to cure, but that aging (losing flavors) is not an absolute necessity for espresso brewing.

I have heard many theories and personal speculations about "aging reactions" being necessarily involved in resting the coffee, which were allegedly the reason why roasted coffee emits a lot of CO2 after roasting. Yet, I also know from experience that if coffee was sealed in vacuum after roasting then it DOES NOT emit any CO2 at all, and would still be perfectly brewable as espresso.

My thinking leads me to believe that coffee beans can be rested in the freezer. Leading to a coffee that is completely fresh (0 days old) yet perfectly brewable.

Have anybody tried?

Orwa.

I guess that shows what I know, because I've always heard coffee frozen at normal freezer temps, zero to minus 15 degrees did nothing to prevent aging. It had to be frozen at some ungodly cold temp like on dry ice or something to prevent aging.

As for the rest period, I do it because all mine taste better. Some taste much better after a five day rest than even a three day rest, but most all of them taste better with at least a three day rest. The only time I ever use a coffee after only a one day rest is when I let myself run out and I'm not about to drink much of anything in a stale, store bought coffee.

Yet, I also know from experience that if coffee was sealed in vacuum after roasting then it DOES NOT emit any CO2 at all, and would still be perfectly brewable as espresso.[/u]
Orwa.

I often roast, let the beans rest/de-gas for 12-24 hours, and vac-freeze. if I let the beans stay several weeks, the hard vac pack may starts to soften. I've have some that have distended the vac pack so that the beans will shake and rattle. So, I have different experience than you.

I try to control the variables that I can, but never could establish a completely consistent protocol. I drink some coffee prematurely, most is just right, and as long as I can keep up with my 1 lb roasting sessions (maybe 2 or more if I vac and freeze) it works out well enough.

BenKeith wrote:I guess that shows what I know, because I've always heard coffee frozen at normal freezer temps, zero to minus 15 degrees did nothing to prevent aging. It had to be frozen at some ungodly cold temp like on dry ice or something to prevent aging.

Ken Fox and Jim Schulman froze coffee for four to eight weeks in a -15F to -20F and found no significant differences when blind tasting. That's reported in detail in Ken's article, "Coffee: To Freeze or Not to Freeze Test Design Details."

Resting the coffee in the freezer is an interesting idea and I would be surprised if that hasn't been tried. Perhaps someone can cite such research. But then my usual practice is to freeze coffee after it has rested to peak and consume it in far less than four weeks. This seems better than letting it tumble over the hill to staleness before finishing it.