Grinding, Packaging and Storage
Freshly roasted beans will release hundreds of chemical substances in the form of vapours. A day or two will generally be required for these gases to dissipate before the beans will reveal their optimal flavour characteristics.
Today, Coffex packs our beans in air tight tri-foil bags with a one way valve, which allows the gases to escape without the beans being exposed to the damaging air. In addition Coffex flushes the packets of coffee with nitrogen before they are sealed, to help reduce the quantity of oxygen that is present. This type of packaging helps to retard flavour deterioration. If beans are not packaged in this way and are exposed to the air, they will begin to deteriorate. Roasts where oils are exposed on the surface of the bean are much more vulnerable to flavour deterioration. Once exposed to the air, and if properly stored, beans will stay reasonably fresh for 7 to 10 days.
We recommend storing beans in a clean, dry, air-tight container, in a cool dark place. We do not recommend storing beans in a refrigerator, because coffee tends to absorb flavours. Freezing coffee beans can also have a damaging effect, and is not recommended. Ideally, you should strive to purchase and use-up your supply of roasted beans on a weekly basis.
Different methods of brewing will require different grind consistencies. Typically, coffee used for drip brewing should be a medium coarse grind. The complete drip cycle should occur within four to six minutes to obtain the optimum flavour. When using a French press, the coffee will also need to be ground medium-coarse. Espresso requires an extremely fine grind...almost powder-like with a slight grittiness; see Extracting the perfect espresso for more information on how grind-size affects the extraction.
Coffex produces a large range of freshly roasted and ground coffees for the retail market (see Retail products). After roasting, the beans are cooled and then immediately ground to the correct grind-size for their application, i.e. fine for espresso. Following grinding the coffee is immediately packaged in vacuum packs to minimise the air exposure time. Coffex uses this method of packaging for ground coffee to ensure that all traces of oxygen are removed during the vacuum packing process, guaranteeing fresh coffee for the customer. Although Coffex goes to considerable lengths to ensure fresh coffee for its customers, the manner in which coffee is stored after opening will seriously affect the quality also.
To maximise storage time, Coffex recommends that consumers store ground coffee in its original packet, within an air tight container, in a cool, dry, dark place. We advise not to transfer the coffee from the packet to a separate container, as this will increase the coffees exposure to moisture and oxygen in the atmosphere. For an after dinner Cafetiere of coffee that is guaranteed fresh every time, why not try our select blend, which comes in a handy 70g, single serve packet that will fill a standard 7-8 cup French press.
