SPECIALTY COFFEE BEANS × AGING
Specialty Coffee × Aging
It is often said that coffee is best enjoyed around 2 days to 2 weeks after roasting, and that it becomes less palatable after that as oxidation progresses, but this is merely a general rule and does not necessarily apply to specialty coffee.
In the first place, there is no clear definition of when coffee is best enjoyed or what its best-before date is, and this period varies depending on the roaster and shop.
This time, we will explain the best time to enjoy specialty coffee, its best-before date, and aging as simply as possible.
What is aging?
It refers to letting roasted coffee rest for a certain period (aging).
By allowing for an aging period, unwanted gases generated during roasting are released. This prevents the gases from hindering extraction and also allows you to enjoy the changes in flavor compounds over time.
It is often said that coffee is delicious from 2 days after roasting, which can also be considered a 2-day aging period.
Best time to enjoy and best-before date
The best time to enjoy and the best-before date are largely determined by the roasting approach applied to the green beans and the roast level.
For example, in the case of a lighter roast, less gas is generated, and the cell structure is not broken down as much as in a darker roast (due to phenomena such as glass transition), so the flavor compounds are less likely to escape, and the period during which it is best enjoyed lasts longer. As the roast progresses, more gas is generated and the cell structure is broken down more, so the flavor compounds volatilize more quickly along with the release of gas. As a result, coffee that is roasted darker than a light roast is thought to have a shorter period during which it can be enjoyed.
Lightly roasted and darkly roasted coffees, which differ in roast level, expand differently when ground. From this, you can also intuitively understand the above points.
The "best time to enjoy" is the period during which the flavors can be most fully appreciated, including the aging period. Although it will remain sufficiently delicious even after this period, the flavors will gradually diminish and be replaced by less desirable components, so please make sure to finish it by its best-before date (from the roasting date, in bean form: 60 days for light to medium roasts / 45 days for medium-dark roasts and darker) . If you cannot finish it within the best-before date, we recommend freezing it.
At THE WORD COFFEE, under our current roasting approach, when stored at room temperature (in bean form), we consider the best time to enjoy light to medium roasts to be 1 week to 30 days after roasting, and medium-dark roasts and darker to be 2 days to 2 weeks. (This period is the "best time to enjoy," not the best-before date.)
As mentioned above, the best time to enjoy and the best-before date depend on the roasting approach. Please consider the best time to enjoy and best-before dates set by THE WORD COFFEE to be limited only to coffee roasted by THE WORD COFFEE. And even with coffee roasted by us, if the roasting approach changes, naturally, the best time to enjoy and best-before date will also change.
Although we have summarized it simply, because specialty coffee is of high quality, many roasters focus on roasting to highlight the unique flavors of the beans. As a result, it is often offered from light to medium roasts, so it can be enjoyed for a relatively long period, including the aging period.
What you look for in coffee and how you perceive it varies from person to person. Whether you feel more sweetness in the second week than the first, or discover flavors in the third week that you had not noticed before, is not this one of the unique pleasures of specialty coffee—being able to explore your preferred flavor through aging?
-The above applies to general varieties, but with larger-bean varieties (such as Pacamara), you can enjoy an even longer aging period.