Espresso is a fast-ticking clock. And the tip of this stopwatch is nothing you need. Contemporary 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 a substitute 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 always testing out espresso to search out the Finest Espresso Subscriptions, and to present every model a good shake, I at all times drink these recent within the optimum tasting window. Which suggests the rando particular bag I purchased for myself final Thursday usually has to attend. And generally I can not handle to brew all my espresso inside just a few 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 approach 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, based on 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 should you do it accurately.
What’s extra, frozen beans can in reality result in higher taste on light-roast espresso specifically, based on 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.
Here is a fast rundown on how one can maintain your espresso recent with out additionally ruining it, and why frozen espresso generally trumps recent.
When Does Espresso Begin Going Stale?
Imagine it or not, there’s such a factor as espresso that is too recent. You most likely do not need to brew espresso the day after it is roasted. For gentle roasts specifically, most roasters are inclined to advocate you wait 5 to seven days after the roast date earlier than brewing, with the intention to enable your espresso to off-gas a bit and turn out to be a little bit simpler to extract. That is particularly necessary relating to espresso, the place extraction is a unstable and finicky course of.
However, alas, should you simply go away 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 recent 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 will diminish. On the similar 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 per week or two for every bag).
You may delay this a bit by storing the espresso in an hermetic container. One which I notably like (and that we advocate in our Presents for Espresso Lovers information) is the vacuum-sealed Fellow Atmos. This could maintain your beans brisker for longer in your counter and in addition maintain them from taking up dangerous aromas in your freezer.
When to Freeze Espresso Beans
If you already know you are not going to get via a bag of beans, the perfect time to freeze is not when your beans are already beginning to go stale. Somewhat, 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 cause to consider freezing slows the staling course of however would not halt it.
