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. Outdated espresso loses all of this. It tastes as a substitute acrid and flabby, like a cup of moist cardboard.
However freshness is a tough goal. I drink espresso about like a horse takes to water, however I purchase it simply as impulsively. I’m additionally continually testing out espresso to seek out the Greatest Espresso Subscriptions, and to offer every model a good shake, I all the time drink these recent within the optimum tasting window. Which implies the rando particular bag I purchased for myself final Thursday usually has to attend. And typically I am unable to handle to brew all my espresso inside a couple of weeks of its roast date.
That is the place freezing is available in.
So, must you freeze espresso beans? Or is freezing only a new approach to mess up espresso beans—by introducing frosty moisture, or tainting it with the scent of the frozen rooster and peas in your icebox? The reply, in accordance with espresso specialists and chemists alike, is that you just’re most likely higher off freezing espresso than letting heat air do its gradual work. However that is solely true in case you do it appropriately.
What’s extra, frozen beans can actually result in higher taste on light-roast espresso specifically, in accordance with not less than one research—as a result of it helps you get extra constant espresso grounds and due to this fact higher taste. Extra on that later.
This is a fast rundown on find out how to preserve your espresso recent with out additionally ruining it, and why frozen espresso typically trumps recent.
When Does Espresso Begin Going Stale?
Consider it or not, there’s such a factor as espresso that is too recent. You most likely do not wish to brew espresso the day after it is roasted. For gentle roasts specifically, most roasters are likely to suggest you wait 5 to seven days after the roast date earlier than brewing, in an effort to enable your espresso to off-gas a bit and turn out to be a bit simpler to extract. That is particularly vital on the subject of espresso, the place extraction is a risky and finicky course of.
However, alas, in case you simply depart the espresso in its bag, on the counter, it could begin to go stale starting a pair weeks later. You already know that good scent of recent espresso beans? These pretty fragrant compounds are exiting the beans, and dispersing into the air: That is why you may scent them. Finally, 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 could be every week or two for every bag).
You’ll be able to lengthen this a bit by storing the espresso in an hermetic container. One which I notably like (and that we suggest in our Presents for Espresso Lovers information) is the vacuum-sealed Fellow Atmos. This will preserve your beans more energizing for longer in your counter and in addition preserve them from taking up dangerous aromas in your freezer.
When to Freeze Espresso Beans
If you are not going to get by means of a bag of beans, the perfect time to freeze is not when your beans are already beginning to go stale. Moderately, achieve this 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 purpose to consider freezing slows the staling course of however does not halt it.
