The Alchemy of Coffee Roasting
Coffee Alchemy
Before we grind and brew our beans to make coffee, it must first be roasted. When we brew the roasted and ground beans we are extracting the very delicate, aromatic flavor essences and oils that we enjoy in the cup. Before the coffee is roasted, these essences are in their natural, rested, stable condition and don’t taste at all like what we think of as coffee. It is the roasting process that gives the beans the look, taste, and aroma we expect from the coffee. And roasting is the magic moment that triggers the freshness stopwatch on the coffee’s shelf life.
Feel the Heat
Coffee is typically roasted for 10 to 20 minutes at temperatures ranging from 425 to 475 degrees. The exposure to such high extremes of heat is a tremendous shock to the structure of the bean, causing it to dramatically metamorphose into the roasted bean. It is from the roasted bean that we then extract the intensely flavorful, aromatic beverage that goes into our cup.
This abrupt transformation also highly destabilizes the delicate flavor essences so that they begin to decompose and go stale from the time they are done being roasted. The staling accelerates so quickly that within two weeks from the day the coffee was roasted, more than half of the original flavor is lost forever.
Freshness is Key
The most technologically sophisticated packaging available today does little to slow the staling of roasted coffee beans. Some advocate refrigerating or freezing to prolong freshness, but both are risky and can often do more harm than good. Grinding is not a remedy for resuscitating stale coffee either. That would be the same as saying that the shelf life of bread begins when you slice it.
If bread is a day old, it is immediately relegated to the half-price shelf. We should be as particular about the freshness of our coffee. To get the most flavor from your brew, you must have fresh roasted coffee. The indisputable truth is that no coffee is fresh if it isn't fresh roasted. SEE ALL OF OUR FRESH ROASTED COFFEES
Kean Coffee owns three Diedrich roasters, manufactured by Martin’s brother Stephan Diedrich in Sandpoint, Idaho.