How to buy coffee beans
Let’s discuss the beans. Once we have fresh, pure tasting water we need a quality bean. Needless to say preground beans are only for convenience and not for taste as they start losing flavour after they are ground. It is important to grind the bean just before brewing. So where do we get the best beans, the freshest beans so we can make that perfect cup. To buy coffee beans the best way is to find a local coffee shop that roasts it’s own beans…ask the owner which beans he or she recommends and buy small quantities. You might want to ask when they were roasted.
You can test your beans for freshness. Coffee beans that are freshly roasted will foam up when you pour hot water on them in the brewer. Just grind them and then put them in drip filter or French press and see what happens when you pour on the water. If they don’t foam they aren’t fresh and you should find another coffee roaster. Fresh beans will not have a bitter flavor and will not need cream to make them taste good. Try it and see. If you're like me you get hooked and compare excellent coffee to fine wine. Once you’ve found a shop that has consistently fresh beans buy small quantities of what the owner recommends. Branch out and try new roasts. Walk on the wild side a bit. You’ll be glad you did. If you cannot find a local shop to buy fresh beans, you can find them on the Internet and had them shipped via courier to your home. This can be a little expensive as the shipping costs can be exorbitant. However I found single origin fair trade organic beans on Amazon.com in 5 pound lots for about $30 including shipping from coffee Bean direct. If you want to check them out Click Here Other tips If you buy beans anywhere else than a shop that roasts its own beans, you have to look at the packaging. Look for a roast date of less than two weeks. If there is no date then asked when it was roasted. Don't accept vague answers. Sometimes, the packages will have a best before date of up to a year for two from the roast date. I would try to find a company that is less ambitious in its estimates. Look for bags that have one-way valves that allow gases to escape but no outside air to enter. Some companies add nitrogen to the bags which can further delay the beans becoming stale. Don't Buy coffee beans in quantities than you can use it about 7 to 14 days. Store them in an airtight container in a dark dry place at room temperature. Freezing coffee beans is a controversial issue. Some experts claim this is not a good way to store beans while others including myself who have experimented with freezing beans have found this to be a viable way of preserving freshness. |
The best answer is yesterday although beans can be considered very fresh up to two weeks after roasting. Some experts say five days but they are usually selling beans. However, the fresher the better!
