Freeze Coffee Before Or After Resting?

#1: Post by **SEMIJim** » July 2nd, 2021, 2:24 pm

Hi All,

Just picked up two pounds of freshly-roasted espresso blend from my favorite local roaster. I know I need to let it rest a day or two before using it, but what about the portion I will vacuum-pack and freeze?

Last pound I bought I divided in half and froze one half right away. When it came out of the freezer a week or so later (I went though the first half pound much faster than I'd expected), the bag wasn't quite as vacuum-packed as it had been, and blew up like a balloon upon reaching room temperature.

So: Let it all rest a couple days, then freeze part of it, or freeze part of it right away?

TIA!

#2: Post by **scorecard** » July 2nd, 2021, 9:30 pm

Short answer: rest first

From what I've seen, usually you would rest espresso roasts longer than a couple of days... conventional wisdom seems to be something in the order of 2 weeks after roast. Some say that vacuum sealing adds a couple of days of age, so if I was looking to vac seal for espresso I would probably vac seal around 10 days after roast and then freeze straight away.

#3: Post by **Jeff** » July 2nd, 2021, 9:42 pm

Most "espresso" roasts seem to do well 1-2 or maybe 3 weeks after roast, so I'd freeze reasonably soon after you get them.

Medium-light and lighter roasts often benefit from 2-4 weeks of rest when destined for the espresso machine. There, I freeze when they're "ready". For the high-end, European rosters, for me, I freeze when the next month's subscription ships.