Whether you ’ ve considered making your own roasted coffee beans or you simply want to be able to buy truly fresh beans , some simple facts about coffee can help you choose the best beans and end up with the best coffee you ’ ve ever had . Coffee beans start out green . These raw beans are then roasted and ground into the coffee that most of us are familiar with . In fact , most everyone who has ever drunk coffee has experienced both an excellent and a horrible cup of coffee . Considering that you can do everything from growing your own coffee to purchasing instant coffee that only requires hot water , it ’ s no wonder that the quality of coffee can vary from one extreme to another .
ROASTED COFFEE BEANS GIVE YOU TRUE FLAVOR
Whether you ’ ve considered making your own roasted coffee beans or you simply want to be able to buy truly fresh beans , some simple facts about coffee can help you choose the best beans and end up with the best coffee you ’ ve ever had . Coffee beans start out green . These raw beans are then roasted and ground into the coffee that most of us are familiar with . In fact , most everyone who has ever drunk coffee has experienced both an excellent and a horrible cup of coffee . Considering that you can do everything from growing your own coffee to purchasing instant coffee that only requires hot water , it ’ s no wonder that the quality of coffee can vary from one extreme to another .
And price really has no bearing on quality . You can pay a lot of money for brand name instant coffee that tastes worse than the cheaper ground coffee that sits next to it on the shelf . Expensive Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee might cost more than the store-brand , but if the Jamaican coffee is old and stale , the cheaper coffee will taste better . The problem with coffee you buy in a store is that you never really know how old the roasted coffee beans were when the coffee was ground , and how long ago the beans were ground — both factors that make or break the quality and flavor of coffee .
Roasted coffee beans are considered fresh for about a month , so the coffee you buy in a store should have been ground from those beans during that time . And the moment bean are
ground , the coffee is fresh , but should be used immediately . Vacuum packing does retain much of the freshness , but coffee lovers know that freshly ground from bean to brew makes a better cup of coffee than freshly ground and instantly packaged , to sit on shelf for who knows how long .
If you ’ re purchasing whole roasted coffee beans , then the way they ’ re packaged will tell you something about their age . If there ’ s no way for CO2 to escape the package , then the beans had to sit for several days before they were packaged . If the packaging does allow for this release , then they were probably packaged immediately and will be fresher , providing you ’ re able to purchase them right away .
While they ’ re considered fresh for 30 days , true coffee fans will tell you that 3 days is the window for the best tasting coffee . After 3 days , the fresh roasted coffee beans will start to lose their aromatic oils . So for the best coffee possible , you can buy green coffee beans and roast them yourself at home .
The whole process of roasting your own beans takes less than a half an hour . Home roasting equipment lets you roast only small batches — batches than can be easily used within 3 days — so you ’ re always guaranteed a fresh cup of coffee . If you choose to purchase roasted coffee beans , choose a shop that revolves around coffee so you know you ’ ll get quality every time .
Victoria Napolitano 45 OpulentoCaffe . com