What does the baking date of the coffee tell you?

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You want freshly baked coffee, but you don't know how fresh it is? This article answers the impact of the baking date on coffee, even beyond your expectations.

Baking date isn't everything.

First of all, we must clarify a few things. Just because we are only talking about the baking date here does not mean that we can find out the good coffee through the roasting date. When you buy food, you will find the freshest expiration date, of course, you will see the best taste period, there can be some visual clues: hardened avocados, bruised onions, red gills … However, if you want to know whether the food is delicious or not, you need to cook to taste it.

The same principle can be applied to coffee, don't judge coffee beans just because of the baking date, at least you need to open the coffee bag, evaluate and taste the coffee, now we know that baking date is not everything, let's see why we can say that.

What exactly does freshness mean?

Which coffee is the freshest?

If you are a bean baker, you must have heard this sentence many times. Many people who are reading this article may have asked this question, and I usually answer like this: are you going to buy it as a gift, or will you drink it within a week?

I would advise customers to choose coffee beans 4-7 days after roasting, which is also defined as fresh coffee beans, but usually when I ask, guests often respond impatiently or even impolitely: I am looking for coffee that was just baked yesterday or today.

Some people claim that coffee only takes 24 hours to grow beans, and the third day is the peak of flavor, but this time is not enough.

After baking, the coffee beans will be placed in a sealed bucket and stored overnight, which will be done the next day when the beans are packaged or prepared.

When is the best time to drink coffee after roasting?

Buying coffee beans is like buying bread. It only takes one week to buy enough. Find out the best coffee appreciation period (flavor peak), and then push back from the coffee you want to start drinking first, which can help you find the ideal baking date and find three to five days before and after that date.

Usually if you want to buy coffee that you need to drink immediately, the author thinks it is best 8-21 days after baking. However, the store must make sure that the baker or barista uses the beans at the peak of the coffee flavor.

Why do people think that the fresher the better?

With regard to the misconception that the fresher the better, the author believes that it is because the bean bakers of the third wave of coffee hurt themselves after educating consumers. Yeah, you read it right.

Between 2007 and 2010, when the third wave of coffee was on the rise in Singapore, we tried to separate ourselves from commercial bean bakers with slogans such as "small batch baking" and "Please look at the baking date rather than the expiration date". After that, of course, we paid less attention to freshness and marked in the beanbag: "it is best to drink / brew the coffee within a month after baking." however, the idea that the fresher the better, is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

How long does the coffee mean too long?

This is a very subjective topic. Many professional bean bakers set an average life span for coffee beans, and there are too many variables that we can't grasp. The author once compared shallow roasted coffee into concentration (not shallow roasting, just shallow). Coffee that has been put for a month tastes as good as coffee that has been kept for two weeks, but there are also coffee that has been roasted for only 11 days but has lost its flavor.

Why are there so many variables? Coffee itself affects itself, and the methods of the bean baker can also change the characteristics of coffee, leading to differences in the peak or average lifespan of coffee. Some coffee with roasting techniques can allow the coffee to peak from 14 to 30 days after roasting, so it is difficult to tell before tasting that the coffee is past its peak or is too fresh to drink. When in doubt, ask the barista or baker and they will give you the best advice on specific coffee beans.

How to make the best use of coffee in different bean cultivation periods?

In order to elicit the best flavor of the old beans, you must correct and confirm the coffee grinding thickness and adjust the amount of powder used. The longer the beans are kept, the more holes there will be, which means that when you grind these coffee beans, they will disintegrate more easily, so that hot water can dissolve substances more easily. If the same grinding thickness is used to grind such old beans and fresh coffee, this will lead to insufficient extraction and make the coffee not tasty.