Espresso is a fast-ticking clock. And the tip of this stopwatch is nothing you need. Recent espresso is all about aroma and depth—the fragile notes of toffee or nectarine that make every bean distinct. Previous espresso loses all of this. It tastes as an alternative acrid and flabby, like a cup of moist cardboard.
However freshness is a troublesome goal. I drink espresso about like a horse takes to water, however I purchase it simply as impulsively. I’m additionally continuously testing out espresso to search out the Finest Espresso Subscriptions, and to offer every model a good shake, I at all times drink these contemporary within the optimum tasting window. Which implies the rando particular bag I purchased for myself final Thursday typically has to attend. And typically I can not handle to brew all my espresso inside a number of weeks of its roast date.
That is the place freezing is available in.
So, do you have to freeze espresso beans? Or is freezing only a new method to mess up espresso beans—by introducing frosty moisture, or tainting it with the scent of the frozen hen and peas in your icebox? The reply, in keeping with espresso specialists and chemists alike, is that you just’re most likely higher off freezing espresso than letting heat air do its sluggish work. However that is solely true if you happen to do it accurately.
What’s extra, frozen beans can in reality result in higher taste on light-roast espresso particularly, in keeping with a minimum of one examine—as a result of it helps you get extra constant espresso grounds and subsequently higher taste. Extra on that later.
This is a fast rundown on find out how to maintain your espresso contemporary with out additionally ruining it, and why frozen espresso typically trumps contemporary.
When Does Espresso Begin Going Stale?
Imagine it or not, there’s such a factor as espresso that is too contemporary. You most likely do not wish to brew espresso the day after it is roasted. For mild roasts particularly, most roasters are likely to suggest you wait 5 to seven days after the roast date earlier than brewing, with the intention to permit your espresso to off-gas a bit and turn into slightly simpler to extract. That is particularly essential in the case of espresso, the place extraction is a unstable and finicky course of.
However, alas, if you happen to simply depart the espresso in its bag, on the counter, it could begin to go stale starting a pair weeks later. You understand that good scent of contemporary espresso beans? These beautiful fragrant compounds are exiting the beans, and dispersing into the air: That is why you possibly can scent them. Ultimately, they’re going to diminish. On the identical time, oxygen is sneaking in to do its grim work, turning your beans to stale rust.
Relying the way it’s saved, espresso can start to degrade anyplace from two weeks to a month after roast date (i.e., the optimum window may be every week or two for every bag).
You’ll be able to delay this a bit by storing the espresso in an hermetic container. One which I notably like (and that we suggest in our Items for Espresso Lovers information) is the vacuum-sealed Fellow Atmos. This could maintain your beans more energizing for longer in your counter and likewise maintain them from taking over dangerous aromas in your freezer.
When to Freeze Espresso Beans
If you realize you are not going to get by means of a bag of beans, the very best time to freeze is not when your beans are already beginning to go stale. Moderately, accomplish that simply earlier than the optimum taste window.
The science on the endurance of frozen espresso is considerably skinny, notes Christopher Hendon, a supplies chemist at College of Oregon, whose analysis into espresso extraction and taste has earned him the nickname “Dr. Espresso.” However there’s motive to imagine freezing slows the staling course of however would not halt it.