Always start with freshly roasted coffee!
Now that your whole coffee is fresh, don’t make the mistake of grinding those beans weeks, days, or even hours before you are ready to brew. To ensure the most flavourful tasting beverage, grind your coffee just prior to brewing. It is a quick and easy process and the fresh aromas will enhance your coffee making experience.
Like most foods, oxygen will have a deteriorating effect on the quality and flavour of coffee. Grinding coffee too early will expedite the staling process. In fact, we have been able to perceive stale notes in coffee in as little as three minutes after grinding!
To further illustrate this point, consider the following two images of a cut apple:
Freshly Cut Apple. Yummy!
Cut Apple After 5 Minutes. Yuk!
You will notice that the cut apple becomes partially rot after just 5 minutes of oxidization! The same occurs to your coffee (can you image purchasing a bag of pre-ground coffee and keeping it in your cupboard for a few weeks?). Keeping your coffee whole for as long as possible will limit the oxygen surrounding it from penetrating its strong cell structure, resulting in a longer shelf life.
On a side note, if you don’t already have one, investing in a quality burr grinder will allow you to maximize the potential of your ground coffee. It also has the added benefit of allowing you to quickly fine tune the size of your grinds so that you can adjust the taste of your coffee beverage as needed (more on this in a future post).
Make sure you only use fresh whole coffee and grind the coffee when you are ready to brew a cup. Doing this will place you on the path of great tasting coffee for the rest of your life.
If you have any questions regarding this post or would like additional information on how you can improve your coffee, email us at info@morningroast.ca.