Coffee 101

Roasted coffee beans give off a considerable amount of carbon dioxide, which can adversely affect the flavor. Coffee needs to degas or “rest” for several days after roasting to achieve optimal flavor. By leaving the coffee to rest between 5 to 14 days after roasting, the trapped gas escapes, leaving the true flavors and aromas.

 

Shortly after roasting, we package our coffees into sealed bags with one-way valves that let the beans degas. These bags are ideal short-term storage for freshly roasted coffee. They protect the coffee during the resting period by releasing CO2 through the valve, while preventing contact with oxygen, which causes aromatic compounds to dissipate quickly and reduce flavor.

​

Many factors affect the necessary degassing time, including the origin of the beans, temperature, humidity, etc… One of these factors is the degree of roast. Below are some basic guidelines for resting coffee, based on the degree of roast.

 

We ship and deliver all of our coffees at the peak of freshness, so no additional degassing is necessary. We recommend only grinding the amount of coffee you need, and using your coffee within four weeks of the roast date. In order to ensure freshness after you receive your coffee, please see the section on how to properly store your coffee beans.

​

Dark Roast: As fresh as possible. At 1-3 days old it is already beyond the degassing levels of medium and light roasts.

​

Medium Roasts: Minimally 5-7 days for filter brewing and 7-10 days for espresso.

Light Roasts: 10 - 14 days for filter and 14 days+ for espresso.

Our mission at fennario coffee roasters is to help you consistently brew the most delicious cup of coffee possible, every single time. The key to this is using a high quality burr grinder. Blade grinders do the job, but do it poorly, producing an inconsistent grind, which results in suboptimal coffee.  

 

Your grind size affects both the flavor of your coffee and the performance of your brewer. 

If your coffee grounds are too fine, your coffee may become over-extracted. Over-extraction will result in an overly bitter cup. If your grind is too coarse, the flavor compounds in the coffee won’t have the chance to be fully released during the brew cycle. The result will be under-extracted coffee, which will taste weak, flavorless, and sometimes sour. Under-extraction can also occur if your grind is inconsistent in size.

Not only does incorrect grind size result in an underwhelming brew, it can also be the culprit of some brewing frustrations. Coffee that is ground too fine can cause your brew basket to overflow, because the water is moving too slowly through the dense grounds. With overly coarse grounds, the water may run through too quickly and not saturate the entire basket.

It’s easy to mistake both over- and under-extraction for a poor coffee roast. If you consistently have difficulty getting satisfying results, we suggest adjusting the coarseness of your grind. 

Coffee beans do not like air, moisture, heat, and light.

 

To preserve your beans’ fresh roasted flavor as long as possible, store them in an opaque, air-tight container at room temperature. 

​

Coffee's retail packaging is generally not ideal for long-term storage. If possible, invest in storage canisters with an airtight seal.

​

It is best not to buy more coffee at one time than you can drink in a week or two. Try to buy smaller batches more frequently, instead of stocking up on larger amounts. At fennario coffee roasters, we treat coffee like fresh bread or milk, and try to buy and consume it in the same time frame.

​

Also, ground coffee will go stale much more quickly than whole beans, so we always advise customers to invest in a good grinder, and grind only the amount of whole bean coffee that you will drink at one time. A good grinder is more important than the brew method to get a consistently delicious cup of coffee.