RapidCoffee wrote:Another possibility: this particular coffee has a narrow window of optimal usage. My bag from CCC was unimpressive, and that's without freezing.

Something funny was going on with that coffee.

I ordered two bags of it. They got here a couple of days after roast, so I let them sit in a cool dark place for three more days. Then I froze one bag (valve taped) and opened the other. First thing I noticed was how good the coffee smelled. And it made a really tasty espresso. As someone else mentioned, it was a bit oily and darkly roasted for an SO (then again, CCC recommends updosing the heck out of Shakisso, just like their big blends.) Anyway, a day or two later I noticed the coffee remaining in the first bag had a subtle but distinct rancid odor, and I could taste it in the cup, too. The coffee was still quite good, except for the hint of rancidity on the finish. Bummer. The second bag, which I pulled out of the freezer after about a week, was very good and never went rancid. I did drink it kinda fast though I thought maybe the coffee had baked in a UPS truck for a day in transit, but maybe the bad first bag had something to do with the nature of the coffee or the handling at CCC.

As it happens, the Shakisso was good enough to motivate me to revist updosed blends (been drinking mostly 14g SOs.) I pulled out some CCC Toscano and Rustico that had been in my freezer for 2-3 months because I didn't like them all that much first time around, and found that I like them quite a bit more now, especially in milk drinks. Not sure if my tastes have evolved or my updosing skills have improved.

As for the freezer, unfortunately it's a bottom-drawer frost-free type. With a few exceptions, I try not to freeze coffee for more than a month, and usually it's only 2-3 weeks. So far, results have been good. We do have a chest freezer in the basement but it's an old energy hog and literally runs constantly. Even for coffee I can't bring myself to use it.

If it's just about saving a buck or two, I'd rather buy or roast smaller batches at shorter intervals than fill my freezer with beans in jars and vacuum packing and freezing and thawing. While optimum flavor does fall off as the coffee ages, it doesn't drop precipitously, so I don't worry about it enough to start freezing. That's what milk drinks are for...

This thread did not start out as simple thread on the topic of freezing coffee. There are many other threads and articles on this board dealing with the topic of freezing coffee in general.

The point of the initial post was that by using a freezer one could greatly increase the proportion of coffee consumed that is consumed at its peak. Certainly, if you do not believe that the flavors in coffee deteriorate rapidly after roasting, then you may have no use for freezing at all. My experience and taste tells me otherwise, and I have found that with judicious use of a freezer I can consume almost all of my roasted coffee when it is at peak, as opposed to drinking most of it either before or after the coffee is at its best.

ken