Okay, every time I mention freezing when I go into Barefoot Coffee roasters I get the "Oh no, don't freeze, that's bad". This time I had a very interesting claim from their head roaster. I had already mentioned how there's been a thorough study on Home-Barista. It seemed like he might have already been aware of it. He then claimed that coffee will absorb flavors from inside the freezer. I mentioned that I have them stored in air tight mason jars and he says it doesn't matter. Now is there something I'm missing here? Air is not passing in or out of these jars as they are in the freezer. I know because when I take it out, they release a bit of pressure that has built up from the gas the beans had given off since being in the freezer.

So how the heck are they absorbing flavors from the freezer?

Here's my very easy taste test. It happens every time for me. I buy 5 bags of beans at a time at Barefoot. Or if you buy 5lbs online in bulk, take 2 lbs, let them naturally degas, and age in one-way valve bags or mason jars. But at the same time put the rest in the freezer immediately. After you've finished the 2lbs, perhaps 1.5 weeks later, go the freezer, pull a mason jar out and defrost. Voila, you should immediately notice that the beans from the freezer are much fresher than the 1.5 week old beans. In fact, they should taste like they are perhaps only aged a few days.

Or perhaps I'm fooling myself and my taste buds don't know what they are missing and I really should be listening to the master roaster and buying fresh all the time. Am I crazy or what?

Buy new fresh and compare to your frozen bag at the same time, that would be a bit closer to real condition testing, though not a blind test yet.

CoffeeOwl wrote:Buy new fresh and compare to your frozen bag at the same time, that would be a bit closer to real condition testing, though not a blind test yet.

I'm not sure I understand what you are suggesting.

I have some fresh bags that I just bought. They were roasted on the 30th and will age a couple more days as I use up the last of the frozen coffee. Definitely, those will taste like coffee that is fresher because I'll be using it on day 3 or 4. But the frozen coffee still taste likes coffee that's aged perhaps 6-7 days, although it's been in the freezer for over 2 weeks.

roblumba wrote:So how the heck are they absorbing flavors from the freezer?

They aren't but it would be fun to hear his theory on how they do this. I'll throw something else into the mix. I've been comparing my vacuum bagged beans to beans stored in half pint canning jars in the freezer & have found that the v/b beans retain their flavor/freshness longer then those in the jars. Not surprising when you consider that vacuum bagging meats doubles the freezer life, adding 6 months over conventional freezer wrapping.
No scientific data to back up my claim, just my taste buds & a year of v/b freezing experience.

sweaner wrote:Now I finally know why my coffee tastes like broccoli!

It's funny to consider that if the coffee naturally brought the flavor of broccoli it might gain 1st place in a competition somewhere and we would all be paying $50 a lb to experience this rare flavor profile

sweaner wrote:Now I finally know why my coffee tastes like broccoli!

But does your broccoli taste like coffee?

roblumba wrote:Okay, every time I mention freezing when I go into Barefoot Coffee roasters I get the "Oh no, don't freeze, that's bad". ... He then claimed that coffee will absorb flavors from inside the freezer. I mentioned that I have them stored in air tight mason jars and he says it doesn't matter. Now is there something I'm missing here?

A little known fact: Planks constant is 5 trillion times higher for any coffee container stored inside household freezers than in the rest of the universe. So off flavors are quantum tunneling their way into your coffee (thanks to George Gamow)

another_jim wrote:A little known fact: Planks constant is 5 trillion times higher for any coffee container stored inside household freezers than in the rest of the universe. So off flavors are quantum tunneling their way into your coffee (thanks to George Gamow)

Oh yes, quantum tunneling. Wasn't there a 15 page thread about that earlier. Shame on me.