Friday 16 March 2007

Fresh vs Frozen

The source of many cold disagreements and heated discussions - whether or not to freeze your coffee beans. This article brings some interesting contributions to the to and fro. If you can't be bothered reading the whole thing the conclusions were:

Two months is safe: Freshly roasted coffee that is immediately frozen after roasting in a near airtight container in a very cold freezer, can be kept undisturbed in the freezer for at least 2 months and be expected to produce espressos that are not obviously inferior to those made from fresh coffee that has never been frozen.

Freezing does not accelerate staling after defrosting: At least over a period of time extending to about 8 days after roasting, using the roasting and freezing procedure used here, there was no evidence that previously frozen coffee deteriorates more quickly after defrosting than does coffee that has never been frozen.

4 comments:

SamR said...

Might be true - I'll never know. I can't remember the last time I've needed to keep coffee. It just goes to quickly!

Matt & Kate said...

Ah, the pain of having a commercial machine? You do it tough Sambo. Hang in there bro! ;)

Guthers said...

i didn't read the article - but that line about "immediately after roasting" probably excludes me from freezing. I get my beans a couple of days after they are roasted...

Unless someone wants to buy me a coffee roaster for my birthday? :)

Matt & Kate said...

I chuck mine in the freezer after I open the bag the first time - they say you shouldn't do this as it lets moisture in which can them harm the beans if frozen again. Oh well. I can't really taste much difference with my machine - I've grown rather disillusioned with it.

I'll keep your wish in mind.Someone might like to buy me a commercial machine for my birthday? ;)