Do you know the difference between fresh coffee beans, old beans and aged beans?

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How to tell the difference between new beans and old beans?

New beans (New Crop):

The coffee raw beans harvested in that year are called "new beans". The water content is about 12-13%, which is dark green. The beans are rich in taste and aroma, obvious flavor and full of personality, giving full play to the characteristics of each kind of beans to the limit. However, due to the high water content, there are more changes when baking, so it takes a little more time to bake. If there is no solid baking technology, the moisture of the beans will be removed, leaving the bean heart unbaked. In this way, the baked beans will have a strong sour and astringent taste. This is because it contains so much water that new beans have different results every time they are baked.

There are so-called New Crop Only in Europe and the United States, they think that the taste and aroma of new beans are excellent, and they are the highest grade products.

Old beans (Past Crop):

The raw coffee beans produced the year before have a slightly less water content than the new beans, about 1011%, and are light green. They will also be easier to bake than the new beans, with less changes in baking, but the taste and aroma will be less obvious, and the overall taste is "more balanced and mild."

Lao Dou (Old Crop):

Coffee raw beans, which have been harvested for more than 2 years, are yellow and will gradually approach yellow and white, so it can be judged as new or old beans according to the color of raw beans. The water content is very little, about 910%, it is quite easy to bake, and the flavor and aroma of coffee are light.

Old beans are particularly popular in Japan. In order to make coffee beans fully mature, some deliberately leave beans in special warehouses for a period of time, or even as long as several years, in order to achieve a unique aging smell in the brewing process, such as aged beans, called "aged coffee beans" (Aged Coffee). Raw beans that have not yet been baked can subtract excess acidity, increase texture, become more mellow, and have a unique and mature flavor. And because of the long-term relationship, moisture has been removed, baking is relatively easy, but if the quality management is not proper, it will become a general old bean.

Caf é de Lambre, a famous shop in Ginza, Tokyo, was founded in 1948. The owner, Ichiro Kawaguchi, 97, only sells coffee and develops its own coffee equipment and utensils, of which the most famous is the hand-made crane-billed pot, while the store is most famous for its storage of many kinds of aged coffee beans, all of which are more than ten years old, with the highest reaching 40 years. Some coffee makers from Taiwan will visit Japan, and they are all deeply impressed by the store's stored beans, professionalism and sincerity in treating guests. Be sure to visit Japan next time you visit.