In recent years, Taiwanese people like to drink coffee so much that various coffee shops have popped up. Each one has its own different recipes and roasting and brewing methods of single products. It is really a dazzling array of varieties. In addition to allowing you to drink in the store, In addition, of course, I hope you can buy the coffee beans and brew them yourself. After all, that is the highest source of profit that the store can earn.
There are different brewing methods depending on the characteristics of the beans. As the saying goes, a hundred schools of thought are allowed to bloom. I will not discuss the appropriate brewing method. I will leave that to you to ask the store where you purchase it. After all, I only roast the beans myself and drink them myself. Just for fun, you can’t compare with those self-proclaimed coffee experts.
I remember writing a long time ago that roasted coffee beans, when purchased from outside stores, will be marked with the roasting date, and more sophisticated ones will be marked with the suitable drinking date; this is because the newly roasted coffee beans need to be cultivated. Time is transformed to discharge the excess carbon dioxide produced during roasting and achieve the most stable and fresh drinking day, which is usually five to seven days of bean raising time.
So the coffee beans you buy sometimes have the time in the future written on them, which indicates that the roasters put them into bags for sale right after they were roasted, telling you to store them until that date before opening them and drinking them.
Let’s talk about coffee bean storage methods that are rarely talked about by coffee shops. After all, these are basic things to them; but they forget that most people don’t know the details very clearly, which leads to The coffee beans you buy home soon spoil, which in turn affects the quality and reputation of the coffee shop.
Four major factors that mainly affect the storage of coffee beans:
Air, humidity, sunlight, temperature
The way to avoid it is also very simple:
1. Air
Seal the coffee beans to prevent rapid oxidation from contact with outside air.
2. Humidity
Avoid drastic changes in dryness and wetness, because Taiwan is not that dry to begin with, so coffee beans usually only need to be stored in a place that is too humid.
3. Sunshine
Try not to use transparent cans. It is best to use dark or opaque cans to avoid direct contact of coffee beans with natural light, including ultraviolet rays, which are factors that cause deterioration.
4. Temperature
Just like humidity, you should try to avoid rapid changes in heat and cold. For example, placing it in the kitchen near a fire source is not a good idea.
Let’s talk about the containers for storing coffee beans. It is not recommended to use the following containers for storage:
1. Containers that are too large
Based on the amount of coffee beans you purchase at one time, pour them into the storage jar; try not to be less than 80% full, mainly to avoid too much contact between the coffee beans and the air.
2. Do not use transparent containers
Because of ultraviolet rays, natural light penetrates the container and can easily cause coffee beans to deteriorate.
Usually when you see ordinary coffee shops outside, they often use transparent glass jars, mainly to allow you to see the shape of the coffee beans, which is a relatively fashionable approach; and also because they are consumed very quickly, so there are not many There is a problem with keeping it fresh, so I use it.
If you don’t buy much and drink it very quickly, or if you just use it as a decoration and don’t drink it, you don’t have to use a transparent container.
3. Use containers that cannot be sealed
For example, those are very cheap and look like they can be sealed, but that's just an appearance. You can try pouring water in and see if water flows out after turning it upside down to test whether it can really be sealed.
However, Taiwanese people like to use ziplock bags for storage, but the material is polyethylene. The PE plastic material is made of. In addition to the coffee beans easily releasing odor when breathing, it also absorbs a lot of the plastic into the beans. , thereby affecting the flavor.
Here are some places where it is not recommended to place storage jars:
1. Refrigerator
Various ingredients are stored in the refrigerators at most homes, and few people have a refrigerator specifically designed to store coffee beans. Therefore, if stored together with ingredients, coffee beans can easily absorb the flavors of other ingredients and thus deteriorate.
If you really want to store it at a constant temperature, a wine cabinet is a good place, but the best way is of course to buy a dedicated small wine cabinet for storage, or some other place that can maintain a constant temperature.
2. Store at room temperature for a long time
According to beans with different roasting degrees, most of the coffee flavor of roasted coffee beans has begun to deteriorate and become stale after the third week. Therefore, if you will drink it for more than three weeks, do not drink it. Just store it at room temperature.
Of course, the best way is to purchase an amount of coffee beans each time that you can finish drinking within two weeks.
3. Places exposed to direct sunlight
As mentioned before, allowing natural light to directly illuminate the coffee beans will accelerate the oxidation process and quickly deteriorate the freshness, so it is best to store them in a cool place away from high temperatures and direct sunlight.
Let’s talk about the recommended storage location and container:
1. Drink in a short time
If you finish drinking the beans you bought within three weeks from the roasting day, there is no problem in storing the coffee beans at room temperature. Just put them in a well-ventilated and cool place and avoid placing them in a cool place. The kitchen is just a place close to a fire source and high temperature.
2. Drink for a long time
If you will be drinking for more than three weeks from the roasting date, please seal them together with the bags you bought the coffee beans in and store them in the freezer.
You are not asked to put the whole package of purchased coffee beans directly into the freezer. Instead, you need to use a zipper bag or storage can outside, seal it together with the coffee bean bag, and then put it into the freezer.
Because of the extremely low temperature in the freezer, it is difficult to absorb the smell of other ingredients, but storage for about two months is already the limit. This storage method can still allow you to drink fresh coffee beans!
If you suddenly want to drink coffee after freezing, please do not defrost it. Instead, take out the amount you need while it is frozen, throw it directly into the grinder and grind it, and then brew it normally. Just cook it.
Because if it is thawed, the moisture in the air will run into the beans during the process of returning to normal temperature, which will make the coffee beans damp and affect the flavor, so it is important not to thaw! !
3. Sealed cans
The best storage jar, of course, has a one-way exhaust valve, which means that the gas can only escape but not enter. A sealed jar that is also light-proof is most suitable.
Because coffee beans breathe, that is, when they release excess carbon dioxide during roasting, you can see that there is a round protrusion on the bean bag, which is a small hole used to allow the coffee beans to breathe.
If you buy coffee beans, store them directly in a completely sealed jar, which will prevent them from properly releasing excess carbon dioxide and will also accelerate their deterioration.
Therefore, having a storage tank with a one-way exhaust valve is a crucial part for coffee beans.
You can also roughly judge whether your coffee beans are still fresh by looking at the steaming temperature during brewing.
When brewing coffee, first brew the freshly ground coffee beans with a small amount of hot water for about 30 seconds. During the expansion process of the coffee powder when it comes into contact with the hot water, in addition to soaking all the coffee powder, The main purpose is to discharge excess carbon dioxide so that the carbon dioxide will not affect subsequent brewing. This process is called "steaming".
Because carbon dioxide itself is acidic, if it is not steamed before brewing, carbon dioxide will make the coffee have an unpleasant sour taste.
This is why beer always tastes sour when you drink it. This is because the carbon dioxide produced during the conversion of alcohol is the source of the sour taste.
Nitrogen-infused beer and coffee have become very popular in recent years. They use bubbles generated by nitrogen to replace the traditional carbon dioxide, so there is no acidity in the drink, which makes you feel mellow and sweet.
In addition, carbon dioxide will also block the direct contact between water and coffee, affecting the subsequent release of better coffee flavor.
I accidentally wrote a long article about coffee. I don’t know whether you think drinking coffee makes you look more fashionable, or whether you really just enjoy the aroma of coffee.
But no matter what the starting point is, if you are someone who buys coffee beans and grinds and brews them at home, please memorize this article and save it. You can avoid it. You bought very expensive beans one day and haven’t finished it yet. Start to show off your brewing skills that you have worked hard on for a long time, but accidentally let it go!
Do you like coffee too?
Or is it just a sense of style that you like?
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