High-quality coffee raw beans: the difference between new beans and old beans

After dry and wet processing, coffee fruit becomes coffee raw bean (Raw bean/Green bean).

The main ingredients of raw beans are:

Carbohydrates, about 49%

Moisture, about 12%

Protein. About 11%

Chlorogenic acid, about 7.6%

Alkaloids and trace elements, about 0.4%.

According to the length of time, raw beans can be divided into:

Seasonal beans (Current Crop), that is, raw beans just harvested

New beans (New Crop), that is, raw beans in the first year

Old beans (Past Crop), that is, raw beans stored for two years

Old Crop, that is, raw beans that have been in stock for too long.

Aged beans (Aged Bean), unlike old beans, are stored in a unique way: wrapped in endocarp, stored in a high and cool warehouse of origin, and often turned over. After baking, the acid quality of the old bean flavor becomes weaker, the mellowness becomes higher, the texture becomes thicker, and the old bean can be integrated with the new bean to balance the acid quality. In addition, the aged beans after baking should be placed for 3 days after extraction and drinking, so that their thick flavor can be displayed.

In addition, compared with the old bean, the new bean is difficult to bake because of its high water content and difficult heat transfer. After baking, the new beans feel lively, with natural flower aroma, high-quality sour taste, high water content, rich chlorogenic acid, relatively bright and strong taste; old beans feel calm, mellow and thick, low water content, slightly expanded volume, soft taste.

With the growth of time, the internal moisture of raw beans gradually decreases, the color of raw beans will gradually change from dark green to blue to white and yellow; the smell of fresh fruit or grass will also gradually weaken; vitality will decrease. All these can be used as the basis to distinguish the freshness of raw beans.

The common distinction between new beans and old beans:

New beans (left) old beans (right)

New beans (new corp), newly harvested coffee beans, coffee beans are usually harvested at the end of the year, but in Chinese mainland, it is still a bit difficult to buy raw beans of the season; new coffee beans are high in water content, rich in chlorogenic acid and relatively distinctive and strong taste. The difficulty of baking new beans is greater, the water content is more, and the heat transfer performance is poor.

Old beans (old crop) are not coffee beans harvested in the season. The moisture of raw coffee beans is relatively easy to distribute. The new beans bought in March are green, and after a few months, they turn a little white and have some raised white spots on the surface. If they have been put for longer, they can be called Chen dou. The color is a little yellow, the water content is small, and the volume expands slightly. Coffee beans that have been kept for a long time are easier to heat transfer, easier to bake, and taste relatively soft. The amount of raw coffee beans of the same weight seems to be significantly higher than that of aged beans.

Generally speaking, new coffee beans are better, but some people also prefer old beans; they don't really know which one they like until they have experienced it.