We should be resting our coffee

We have mentioned before that our coffee performs best when thoroughly rested. We find many of our coffees peak beyond 30 days post roast. 

Our coffee performs best when thoroughly rested. For both espresso and filter coffees, they peak beyond 30 days post roast. This results in better flavour clarity and more integrated acidity. The resting allows for the flavours to open up, tasting more transparent and structured to your cup. 

During roasting, a coffee bean undergoes major changes in its chemical composition, and gases are formed through Maillard and caramelization reactions and pyrolytic decomposition. Degassing is the term used to describe the release of carbon dioxide and other gases from roasted coffee. After roasting, gases (mostly CO2) start seeping out. When coffee is a few days old and very fresh, a bulk of the carbon dioxide formed leaves your beans. During this time, CO2 escapes so quickly it negatively affects the flavor of your coffee by creating an uneven extraction. 

According to the research article ‘Time-Resolved Gravimetric Method To Assess Degassing of Roasted Coffee’, data demonstrate that roast degree as well as roast speed both have a strong impact on the absolute amount and dynamics of degassing. The lighter the roast and the shorter the roast time (for fixed roast degree), the smaller the amount of gas which is released and at a lower rate.

In short, our coffees are best rested beyond 30 days post roast, after rest what you extract is the flavour from the coffee beans rather than the trapped C02 often perceived as high acidity and sourness in fresh roasts.