Storage leason, 14 days

Picture results after 14 days with three different storage solutions

It has been 14 days since I sealed the three chosen storage solutions, seeking the optimal solution of keeping the freshness of the roasted beans. The three chosen storage solutions was a CO2 valve bag, a basic paper bag and a normal plastic bag, if you want to read more about the set up of this experiment see link.

The surface of the roasted coffee beans were generally the same, maybe a slightly less greasy surface from the beans stored in the CO2 valve bag. I have roasted the coffee beans extremely dark, so it would be easier to test the storage solutions, cause oily beans in general are harder to keep fresh. I would in this case say that the surface is similar to each other and its a minimum that differentiate the coffee beans.

The crema layer was quite equal to each other, likewise the color and visual brewing on the naked portafilter. If you compare the three espresso shots in each picture above, the crema layer has the same thickness unless the shots made from the paper bag which has a thinner layer of crema. By appearance the paper bag solution would have lost the most essential oils of the coffee beans, but the produced crema aren't all.

Regarding to the taste developments of the beans its quite an interesting matter. Actually the beans stored in the plastic bag tasted quite bitter, sour but had some notes of nuts and caramel and was rich cup. The beans stored in the paper bag was more creamy and silky and had flavors of caramel and chocolate. The beans from the last storage solution was a creamy and silky cup like the paper bag, but had fruity and chocolate flavors.

Next comparison will take place the 23/02/2012.

// Hendrup

Storage leason

The first launch of a Coffee Channel experiment about storage of roasted beans. I have always gotten these expensive CO2 bags for my home roasted beans, because I was told that it would keep fresher for a longer period of time, but can we trust these words? I will in the next couple of months put this to the test by using three different storage options and ranking them after crema, taste and smell.

The baseline for the experiment
I have been roasted 300 gr. green coffee beans today, which i will divide by the three options, hereby CO2 valve bag, normal paper bag and a plastic bag. There will be giving 100 gr. for each storage option and will be testing as many times as possible each 14 days. There will at each 14 day be produced an espresso shot from each storage options on the same espresso machine and with the same grind setting. The three different storage solutions well be placed in the same room with the same stabile room temperature next to each other, so this won't by a contributing factor of the dissimilar results. The espresso result will hereby be judged on the extracted crema, the flavors of the espresso and the smell. When the experiment runs out of coffee the best storage solution will be found and shared with you.

First choice of storage
I have always been advised to use a CO2 valve bag, cause it allows the beans to breath and get rid of their produced CO2 and blocks incoming air, which ruins the beans flavor and smell quicker. These are by far the most expensive storage solution and a lot of coffee nerds swear to this solution and only this solution. One CO2 valve bag costs around 5-10 DKK ($1-2), which is quite a lot of many because these bags only is used one time. I will be fair and add that this is the strongest favorite of the chosen storage solutions.

Second storage choice
The alternative solution to the CO2 valve bag are the standard brown bag with a internal grease sucking paper. This solution let the beans breath and hold them dry of caramelized outer suckers. If the advise is true the massive exposure of the coffee beans with air makes the beans mature quicker and therefore has a much quicker expire date. The beans should therefore be very flat tasting and the crema should be non existing after a month.

Third storage choice
 The plastic bag which is a member of every household must-haves. The beans which are storage in here can't breath, because no air gets either in or out. In theory these beans should rotten pretty quick because they can't get rid of the CO2 gasses they produce 24 hour after roasting. This storage solution is bar far the cheapest, but is also set to be the worst of all solutions in theory.

I can't wait to try it out! First espresso shot extraction will take place the 9 of February 2012, then the second try out will be at the 23 of February and perhaps the last attempt on the 8 of March.

// Hendrup