Fresh is Best!

Freshness is crucial to the experience of high quality coffee. "Fresh is Best!" is truly 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. (!!!) Until you have tasted truly freshly-roasted coffee, you would not know the difference! Many people who drink their coffee with lots of cream and sugar are trying to "dress up" a poor quality cup.

Why does so much coffee on the market not taste very good? Exposure to oxygen over time causes deterioration of aroma, flavor, body, and complexity - 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...unless you let it fully de-gas for several days or weeks before packaging...in which case it cannot be truly fresh! This problem was solved more than 30 years ago, when the one-way valve was invented. This valve can 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 extends the life of roasted coffee beans and allows for immediate shipping. 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 this type of packaging immediately after roasting to minimize contact with oxygen. Ask your favorite coffee shop or mail-order supplier about how they preserve the freshness of their product! You may be surprised by the answers...