How long is the shelf life of coffee beans? What does the coffee bean production date represent?

Recently, there are many friends in the backstage private message Qianjie, "how long can you keep the beans?" "how long is the shelf life?" Questions like that. In this way, Qianjie will solve your doubts about the "shelf life" of coffee.

"shelf life" ≠ "the best taste period" here first talk about one of the most common knowledge in our lives, that is, when buying food goods, we need to look at the production date and this shelf life, so how did this shelf life come from? This is China's food inspection and control agencies for each type of commodity shelf life, refers to the goods in this date can be safe to eat. The requirement for foods such as coffee is 365 days, which will be set according to the corresponding production standards when the coffee bean roaster applies for a production license.

The term shelf life comes from most goods, and when boutique coffee appears, we not only require the food to be safe, but also can taste the flavor. This refers to coffee beans cooked during this time, which can more fully reflect the aroma characteristics of coffee beans, not just a cup of safe coffee food. Qianjie advocated the length of the taste period, refers to the coffee beans roasted within 30-45 days after drinking, usually the amount of purchase is not recommended to buy too much. This period of 30-45 days is the "taste period" of coffee beans, which refers to the "best taste period" of coffee beans!

During the roasting process of raw coffee beans, the internal tissue expands and produces carbon dioxide, which is full of volatile flavor compounds of coffee and prevents the loss of volatile flavor compounds. With the deepening of the baking degree, the internal structure of the beans becomes looser and the carbon dioxide content is higher, which is why when we cook deep baked beans, good-looking hamburgers are more likely to appear in the steaming stage. Of course, some shallow beans, or beans with harder beans, are not twice as large as deep-baked beans after baking, because there is less air left in the body. The hamburger is not that big. Freshly roasted coffee beans release 60% and 70% of carbon dioxide over a period of about 4 to 7 days. After the emission of carbon dioxide is not so rapid, will be slowly and a small amount of discharge, tend to a stable state, but also the best state of coffee flavor! At this time, even the "hamburgers" of deep-baked beans began to decrease slowly. From the baking date marked in the coffee bean package and the performance of the "hamburger" during cooking, we can roughly tell whether the beans have not been baked for long.

During the "bean cultivation period", most baristas will suggest that freshly baked beans can be kept for a few days before tasting, and the flavor will be more stable. According to the relevant research, the aroma of coffee beans is at the peak between the 10th and 25th days after roasting, while the freshly roasted coffee beans may lack a lot of flavor, so the idea of raising coffee beans is put forward. In general, the medium-to-light roasted coffee beans have a growing period of about 4-7 days, that is, from the baking date, it is better to continue for 4-7 days to taste the flavor, while the medium-to-deep roasted (/ Italian beans) coffee beans take about 7-10 days to achieve a better flavor.

On the other hand, we also suggest that we ignore the idea of growing beans and suggest that you can drink coffee beans when you receive them. isn't this contradictory? Indeed, after the coffee beans are roasted, it will take several days for you to slowly begin to feel its aroma. However, if you have never experienced freshly baked coffee beans, and each time you look at the baking date and drink what the merchant calls "growing beans", then there will be only one result. In your whole life, you never know what coffee beans taste like. In other words, you never get the judgment to judge whether coffee beans are good or not. On the other hand, in most cases, the baking production plan for Qianjie coffee beans is based on the amount used within five days, and in the worst case, the beans are received for up to five days after they are roasted, plus the time it takes to deliver them. Based on the above two points, there can be a bean cultivation period. Or not. Of course, if you receive the beans we received yesterday, Qianjie Coffee suggests that you pay attention to the smell changes of fresh coffee beans every day. This is the fun of boutique coffee beans, rather than following others. This coffee bean needs a bean growing period.

How long can I keep the coffee beans after grinding? When you grind coffee beans, you can smell a touch of dry fragrance, which is actually the emitting of some volatile flavor substances in coffee. After the coffee beans are ground into powder, the contact area between coffee particles and air becomes larger, carbon dioxide slips faster, coffee flavor substances dissipate faster, and some carbon dioxide and flavor substances are lost in the grinding process, which can not be stored for too long. So how long is this time? In fact, a few hours after the coffee beans are ground into powder, they have already lost most of their aroma. Early grinding only provides a convenient way. Under certain conditions, Qianjie Coffee recommends that you prepare a bean grinder. Only in this way can you experience the aroma of freshly roasted freshly ground coffee. If you grind the coffee beans by hand in advance, you can't see the "hamburger" and the Italian style can't see the fat, which is already a big lack in the cooking process. Then is it absolutely impossible to grind powder in advance, of course not, just to get convenience while giving up the expectation of aroma, to be convenient or delicious, there is always a trade-off between the two.

Some people may want to ask, can not be filled with nitrogen or put in the refrigerator to keep fresh? What we need to know is that the application of nitrogen technology is the solution proposed before when coffee beans need to be transported across the ocean. Roasted coffee beans are shipped from one continent to another for dozens of days, which is a last resort. Nowadays, the pursuit of the aroma of boutique coffee is based on fresh roasting. If you can drink something fresh, why pursue freshness? Isn't it a perfect way to keep fresh every time you buy a small amount of freshly baked beans?

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Front Street Cafe

No. 10 Baoqian street, Yandun road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu district, Guangzhou, Guangdong province