I have some Espresso Classico that was roasted on Jan 25. I received the beans a couple of days later. When not using them, I store them in a Planetary Design Airscape air tight container. I used up most of the beans. But the remaining beans I have, I am not able to get good crema like I used to. I am also not able to get that red wine base with fruit accents as strongly as I used to. Is this because of my technique(I'm still new) or do these beans age a little faster than most beans?

Sorry for the confusion....I'm newish at pulling shots, not roasting. I don't roast. The roaster is Paradise Roasters(excellent roasters).

When I first got the beans there was an incredible strong red wine flavor with fruit accents. Now they seem very muted. The taste is generic to me. The pulls are acting like a beans that are older...The shot is on the faster side as if the grind is too coarse. And, the crema is harder to harvest and when I do get decent crema from it it seems more delicate(used to get really good crema from it that would last). Comparing this with Cueve and Redbird beans in my limited experience, it seems a little early for this. But then again, maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Darin, honestly, me think you're imagining a little too much. From doubting your Silvia temperature, to pressure, then to your grinder and now your beans.

As mentioned, beans need a slight grind tweaking as they age. To properly extract the flavors, the usual flow rate is needed. If they're too coarse, grind finer or updose if you can without hitting the screen.

Upload a video of the extraction if you will. This way, many experienced people here can give better advice of what went wrong. It's better than to shoot in the dark. Sometimes there're critical factors that you missed that might be caught in the video.

dman777 wrote:I am also not able to get that red wine base with fruit accents as strongly as I used to.

Generally speaking, fruit-forward blends age more quickly than blends favoring chocolate/nuts notes. Coffees that exude florals fade even quicker, peaking during a short 2-3 day period. Storing such coffees in an airtight container in a deep freezer will put off the inevitable; airtight containers at room temperature will extend the period a day or two at most. Practically all coffees will be enjoyable 10-14 days post-roast, but as you noticed, the character of some will change more dramatically than others.

samuellaw178 wrote:Darin, honestly, me think you're imagining a little too much. From doubting your Silvia temperature, to pressure, then to your grinder and now your beans.

+1

I know about tightening the grind as beans age. I mean the anomaly in the ratio of what a finer grind would be normally be typical at this point in age.

HB wrote:Generally speaking, fruit-forward blends age more quickly than blends favoring chocolate/nuts notes. Coffees that exude florals fade even quicker, peaking during a short 2-3 day period. Storing such coffees in an airtight container in a deep freezer will put off the inevitable; airtight containers at room temperature will extend the period a day or two at most.

Thanks! This confirms what I expected.

dman777 wrote:When not using them, I store them in a Planetary Design Airscape air tight container.

More consistent results are achieved by splitting the coffee into small [125g favoured here] jars and freezing immediately on receipt, removing from freezer a few days before use to allow beans to 'rest' to desired age.

dman777 wrote:I know about tightening the grind as beans age.

OTOH, increasing the dose slightly may give better results. Also, here in LaLaLand, when humidity and temperature yoyo, keeping the grind the same and adjusting the dose slightly gives excellent results.

another_jim wrote:Once the extraction rate is right, the grind setting should be sacrosanct, and you should control the flow rate by changing the dose. from Grind, not Dose