CaffeineAndKilos38:

Thank you. These kinds of insights are exactly what I'm after right now. I'm going to start getting serious about isolating one variable at a time, which admittedly can get away from me on occasion.

Hello!

I hope I'm not too late into this discussion!

I've been exploring coffee for awhile now, and yes, v60 seems hard to dial in.

For example, I have a 2-week old Kenyan from a reputable roaster here. The first V60 I did was finely balanced, sweet, no bitterness and a bit of acidity, but the flow was quite slow (finishing at 3 minutes, grind at 8 clicks in the Hario). I'd called it a good cup by my standards.

2 days later, exactly the same parameters, the floral sweetness was gone, and the some bitterness set in. It was still better than pre-ground coffee, but I'm comparing it against the first cup I've had, and it fell short.

A day later, I tried with lower temp water which reduced the bitterness, and brought back some sweetness but not the floral finish.

Will a roast typically degrade over the course of days?

All your 2 cents are greatly appreciated.

Hi, Dilin

Appears the the consensus on roasted coffee freshness is that, once a bag is open, you've got about 7 days max. The degradation seems relatively nominal on days 1-4, and then suddenly skyrockets throughout the course of the last three. Curious to hear other forum members' opinions on that.

I think all you can really do is control for however the decline seems to be manifesting. Increased bitterness seems pretty common in the stuff I've been pouring as well, which I handle basically the same way you describe.

Lower temperature; back one click off the grind; adjust ratio accordingly.

Edit: A couple other things,

1. Some coffees seem to age more gracefully that others.

2. I would love it if roasters offered 125-150 gram bags.

3. Home-roasting seems inevitable.

In terms of freshness I've found that keeping my beans in a vacuum sealed plastic container keeps them palatable for at least 2 weeks. The one thing I'll change is a longer brew time and maybe a slight adjustment in grind setting. But I just had a 2 week old four barrel roast this morning and it was quite good

Sorry if i'm asking a repeat. We have an 8 cup chemex in the house that my better half uses in the morning (but we have made larger brews on the weekends and such). She is only putting about 18g of coffee in the thing and i'm curious how I would tune this. Would it be best to just get the pint sized chemex or would I be shooting for a 'coarser' grind with a shorter extraction? I made a test brew at 18g/306mL, 200F in 2:30 and it was pretty bitter (think a little ashy). It is around a fully city roast. Would I be best at 18g/306, 198F in 2:15?

I tend to taste more distillates than I like from most full city roasts regardless of how I brew them (aside from using them to pull shots). But as a general matter, brewing faster, cooler, and with a coarser grind should all work to lower the extraction a bit and give a bit more acidity, both of which might help to dial down the bitterness.

And yes, I'd get a smaller Chemex for 300mL batches.

I've been pretty consistently a center-pourer with the v60, but recently started pouring in concentric circles, taking care not to breach the last quarter inch or so of the edge, and can't believe the increase in performance, especially with coffees older than a couple of days.

Very nice thread. I recently went from a regular electric drip to a chemex and a melitta. The quality of the coffee increased so much with the chemex that we threw the elec drip pot away. My better half continues to buy regular grocery store, supposedly Colombian, preground canned coffee (we all know the common brands) or "anything" on sale. Amazingly, they taste pretty good in the chemex! I'm truly shocked! I've been roasting my own beans for a few years. I roast light single origin green beans from different countries but my fall back bean is Colombian Supremo. When I brew coffee, I usually use what I roast. When I finish roasting I start brewing that day, though, most literature states you should wait 24-48 hours. I can definitely state the coffee flavors change almost on a daily basis from day 1 up to two weeks. I don't use a bean vac. This almost daily change has to make it difficult to get an exacting cup of coffee without variables. I think we can minimize variables but they will always be there, hence, the once in a while wonderful cup. My home roasted coffee never gets more than 10 days old as I stay with small batches. After reading this thread I can see I need to work on my pour. Just for me. My wife is perfectly content with Brand X in a can brewed in the chemex with the water poured haphazardly up to the top, repeatedly, till the pot is full. Hey, it makes her happy! I count myself lucky and have learned to keep my mouth shut about temperatures, pour methods, ... spiral to the outside ...