Freshness, flavour & a bit of experimenting

Our brewing recommendations are a guide. It does not preclude you doing what you wish with the coffee. For instance, the Kenya Peaberry is best suited for filter/plunger etc. I believe it is wasted brewing through an espresso style process. There are other coffees like the Yemen which brew wonderfully through espresso.

However, you will only discover this by living dangerously. EXPERIMENT!

What have we been drinking?

Apart from tasting nearly every coffee, more than once in Redfern, Waterloo, Eveleigh, Darlington, Newtown...you get my drift, we have been brewing coffees which were roasted on April 15. We missed these during our move from Redfern.

The coffees were Tsunami, Indonesia Toraja, Sumatra Blue Bianca and The House. The coffees were brewed over two weeks and were in all in good nick. However, by the end of the two weeks with the opening and closing of the bags they were showing flavour flatness.

And this my friends are where you come in.

Preserving freshness

Coffee has finite drinking window. Australian standards require a best before date of 12 months from the roast date. We prefer to put the roast date on the bag. The opening and closing of the bag will increase loss of flavour. Carbon dioxide (C02) which is a byproduct of the roasting process is heavier than oxygen and creates a barrier above the beans in your container or bag.

That is why our coffee bags feel puffy. The beans continue to degas over weeks. I also believe that the type of roaster, we use a Probat, and the style of roast adds to the longevity of coffee. But this is for another time.

The Upshot

We feel that most of our coffees have a fine flavour up to six weeks. On Our Story page there is mention of New Guinea coffee and aging:

"Our New Guinea coffee, after roasting, really comes to life after a three-week rest. Our cold drip coffee filled into glass bottles, tastes complex at 6 to 7 months. A bit like ageing wine."

Our blends tend to last longer, particularly the Tsunami. We have brewed that through espresso at 12 months and it was fine. Though it had deteriorated by the following morning. Our bags have a one-way valve which allows C02 to escape but prevents oxygen from entering.

If you have ground coffee, store the coffee in the freezer. Beans in the freezer are problematic because condensation settles on the bean at room temperature so only remove the coffee you need for that brew.

If you order multiple large format bags, we tend to provide different dates as one will be ready to consume immediately, and the fresher coffee can wait.

Finally, we believe that our coffees, including the single origins taste better after a week. We cup (industry process for tasting) after seven days.

Sometimes, coffee demands time. Sometimes fresh isn’t best at all.

For our blends, you can drop a note on your order requesting the age of the coffee you would like. We typically hold coffee for up to three weeks for our wholesale customers.

If you have any brewing questions or topics you’d like us to explore, please feel free to send us an email at quality@seventhwave.coffee.

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The Tsunami

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New Guinea Micro-Lot

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