Phaedrus wrote:Thanks John! Do you vacuum seal the jars or simply pour the beans in, screw on the top and freeze?

I fill and then tap the jar a few times to tamp the beans a bit, and fill some more to the brim. Then I simply make sure the rubber-seal Ball top is firmly seated and freeze. I've used a vacuum pump in the past, but didn't see that it made any difference. You'd probably be better off blowing in some inert gas than taking out some air, but that's something I haven't tried.

I JUST ordered 49th parallel old school and seen this now. Think I'm going try the Josuma Malabar Gold after depending on how much I like 49th old school to my goto caffe lusso GMC. Going put that as a bookmark in case I forget!

Great! I'm off to josuma.com and amazon.com. Thanks again for the advice.

Balthazar_B wrote:I fill and then tap the jar a few times to tamp the beans a bit, and fill some more to the brim. Then I simply make sure the rubber-seal Ball top is firmly seated and freeze. I've used a vacuum pump in the past, but didn't see that it made any difference. You'd probably be better off blowing in some inert gas than taking out some air, but that's something I haven't tried.

Phaedrus wrote:Do you freeze your bags of Malabar immediately upon arrival or do you let them reach their optimal age and then freeze? Also, do you tape the one-way valve on the bags when you toss them in the freezer? I'm planning on placing an order soon, but since it takes me quite a while to go through 5 pounds, I want to make sure I know how to preserve the goodness for as long as possible.

I freeze them within a day of getting them, typically. Josuma suggested a freezer bag, and then thawing the freezer/coffee bag on the counter (I usually let it thaw for 24 hours, or a longish overnight). So each 1lb. bag goes into a separate 1 gallon freezer bag, long side to bottom of freezer bag, roll it over to squeeze air out, and zip it up. I have not taped over the one way valve, not sure if it would matter or not. I'd assume, but we know what that leads to, so I'll speculate instead that not much outgassing will occur during the freezing/frozen stage. I suppose you could wait until they rest before freezing.

Some grind directly from frozen, but I have not tried that. I wouldn't want to bust open the back (I live in a reasonable humid area) because I wouldn't want the condensation forming on the beans remaining in the bag. I suspect it wouldn't matter to the beans about to be ground, and might even count as RDT.

There may be ways to improve this or optimize it, but my results have been solid following Josuma's suggestion. I keep notes, and a bag frozen for 3 months behaved the same as the fresh, unfrozen bag that I used upon arrival. Grind size was the same, shots pull and taste the same.

I use the larger 12 oz Ball Jar, and freeze immediately upon receiving the beans, as usually they are 3-5 days old depending on the vendor. MG ship very quickly, another plus. This is, as I mentioned way back, a CLASSIC blend that has been around forever, it seems. There is no other quite like it.
Josuma's pricing is spectacularly good.

marlodmb wrote:I JUST ordered 49th parallel old school and seen this now. Think I'm going try the Josuma Malabar Gold after depending on how much I like 49th old school to my goto caffe lusso GMC. Going put that as a bookmark in case I forget!

I've been drinking 49th Old School and just about to jump into my order of Epic! Not quite as crema as Josuma IMO, but tasty nonetheless. Relatively well priced, even if shipping to the US!

IMAWriter wrote:This is, as I mentioned way back, a CLASSIC blend that has been around forever, it seems. There is no other quite like it.

Well Rob, Alan, Mike, and others in this thread, just placed an order for MG based on all the positive reviews. Got the email reply with the special cooking instructions. Interesting that they suggest a much finer grind, triple basket and much higher brew temp. Never played with brew temp. It should be good to get out of ones comfort zone.

Peter, I brew MG in a 15g VST basket, slightly updosed at 16g, and above 201F, with a slightly finer grind than I use with other blends, and some preinfusion. Works very well, and my take is that this coffee is quite forgiving. Enjoy!

WWBeagle wrote:Well Rob, Alan, Mike, and others in this thread, just placed an order for MG based on all the positive reviews. Got the email reply with the special cooking instructions. Interesting that they suggest a much finer grind, triple basket and much higher brew temp. Never played with brew temp. It should be good to get out of ones comfort zone.

I wouldn't say MUCH finer, but yes, a bit finer, as these beans are lower grown Indian coffees roasted to FC, and the bit of Robusta element will be sweeter this way. He also (in person) was doing VERY long pours with a ratio of what looked like 22 grams in 50 grams out. You could stand a spoon up in the crema. In my experience, 202-203 in your Anita, which I also owned. A Lovely machine, that. Your SJ will bring out the caramels. Do a short flush only. it's near impossible to pull a bad shot...only if you either see a VERY dark ring around the cup, or conversely have done the HX water dance a bit too long. Congrats for the member using a VST basket with this blend. I had more success with my former Strega using an IMS basket. Also the EPNW "HQ" baskets.

Thanks John and Rob. For the past 3+ years, have stuck with Redbird out of simplicity while dealing with throat cancer. Glad that I am able now to start experimenting.

The QM Anita has been moved aside for a VFA Expes Elite 1 group commercial that I just restored-refurbed. Its a E61 HX, 6 liter, rotary.

One question. Rob, like you, I like the Mason jar freezing. With MG, do you wait the 10+ days from roast that they recommend as optimum and then freeze? Or freeze upon delivery? Tks!