Freshness

Freshness is crucial to the experience of high quality coffee. "Fresh is Best!" is a mantra to be lived by in the world of coffee. Despite this fact, more than 90% of all coffee sold in the U.S. is already stale.

This is because contact with oxygen over time causes deterioration of all the qualities one drinks coffee to enjoy. If stored in bins or other containers with air, the roasted beans begin to stale after as little as two weeks. Aroma and acidity are quickly lost, while flavor still remains. Between four & six weeks after roasting, even a noble bean roasted with the most delicate precision has become a mere shadow of its former self.

After roasting, beans produce more than three times their volume in carbon dioxide, thus making packaging in cans or other solid containers impractical. This problem was solved more than 30 years ago, when the one-way valve was invented. This could be laminated into an oxygen-impermeable material, so that carbon dioxide could be released without allowing oxygen to reach the coffee and destroy its virtues. This does extend the life of roasted coffee beans and allows for shipping, however, the best cup of coffee results from grinding and brewing beans as soon as possible after the 24-48 hours of degassing which occurs after roasting.

We bag our coffee by hand in such packaging immediately after roasting to minimize contact with oxygen.  The ideal way to store the beans once this bag has been compromised (ie. you have opened it to brew your first cup) is in a sealed glass jar, preferably one that does not allow sunlight to permeate. A less expensive option (and rather efficient one) is to use a Ziploc to minimize beans’ contact with oxygen.  Simply press air out before sealing.

The Roasting Process

A large-scale roaster (or even a small portable home roaster) may be used to roast the green beans so that they may be brewed. Before roasting green beans are typically greenish-brown and have a somewhat grassy smell. Roasting causes many complex chemical reactions to occur, much like baking.

At Ashley & Cooper Coffee Roasters, we use a Diedrich IR-12, which has a 12 kg or 30 lb maximum capacity (see photo at left, showing coffee cooling after roasting).  During roasting, there is a distinctive aroma released that pervades our facility...that of roasted chocolate, with a slightly sweet perfume.  Our roastmasters have between them 20 years experience roasting gourmet beans to their perfect state.  Each bean must be test roasted and cupped to find the perfect level of roasting.  This is because every bean has a different size, moisture content, density, and weight, depending on origin, screen-size, and whether it is a special bean such as the Peaberry, which is a round mutation producing a denser bean.  When you hear the terms "artisan," micro-roaster," and "small-batch," all of the above are reasons why Ashley & Cooper Coffee Roasters embodies all three.