Interesting Facts About Coffee

Coffee as a green bean is a stable product and can be stored for several years with negligible deterioration. However, the roasting process initiates a chemical reaction which causes the coffee to deteriorate very rapidly. Don’t be alarmed, there are methods to extend the life of our favorite brew. So, let’s start from the top.

As I said, roasting starts a chemical reaction. After roasting and as the beans cool, carbon dioxide is released as a bi-product of roasting. This “Out-gassing” as it is called happens relatively slowly as a whole bean. After grinding however, the tremendous increase in surface area exposed to the atmosphere accelerates the out-gassing phase. The accelerated out-gassing will last from 8 - 20 hours, depending upon the granulation. When coffee stops out-gassing it starts absorbing oxygen. This is what deteriorates coffee making it stale.

Timing is obviously very important in the coffee process. Second only to roast duration is when to package. The majority of foodservice coffee is packaged in hermetically sealed pouches. If coffee is packed into an air tight bag while still out-gassing, the bag will burst its seams. Pack too late, the coffee goes stale. The ideal conditions would be to pack the coffee at the trailing end of out-gassing, then, just as the pouch is about to be closed blow a measured amount of nitrogen into the bag. Replacing the oxygen that would have been trapped in the bag, nitrogen helps inhibit the staling process. Our beloved coffee is now freshly ground, packed in an air tight bag, in an oxygen free atmosphere and in a metalized bag that prevents oxygen from entering. If everything was done correctly the coffee should remain fresh for six months.

What Makes a Good Cup of Coffee

A good cup of coffee is taken for granted by most people. Little do people know how much effort it takes, and how many events that must happen just right to make that single cup of good coffee. There are five major factors which effect the quality of coffee; quality of beans, roast, grind, packaging and water.

No-no’s in Coffee Production

The pursuit of an advantage has unfortunately caused some of our competitors to push the limits of the fundamental principals, roast and granulation. Roasting coffee darker does allow more volatile oils to develop, however, these oils have a high likelihood of having bitter characteristics. It sounds logical that if coffee is ground finer than normal the increased surface area allows for greater extraction of oils. This is correct, but the famous “Catch 22” rule applies here. Finely ground coffee also extracts bitterness. The traditional method to counteract all this bitterness is to reduce the amount of coffee per serving, call it “High Yield” and pocket the savings on the reduced amount of coffee used.

A direct comparison to olive oil can be made to demonstrate why this practice is not proper. Olives undergo a series of squeezes in a press in order to extract their oil. Each successive squeeze produces a different quality of oil and is marketed as such. The first squeeze produces the best olive oil, Extra Virgin. The second produces the standard Virgin. Subsequent squeezes produces lesser and lesser quality oil.

Why would any coffee drinker allow their brew to be called Extra Virgin when in reality it is the third or forth squeezing…or High Yield?

FILTER PACK

By now everyone should have a good understanding of how the roast, grind and oxygen effect coffee. Now lets find out how flow through filter paper works.

A few years ago a customer asked us if we could package filter pack coffee. We said that we had never done so, however, our machinery had the capability. While researching this project we first analyzed products currently on the market. We found it to be dark roast and finely ground. Having already violated two of the fundamentals of coffee the likelihood of producing a quality product was not good.

After reproducing the roast and grind of other products we continued to have difficulty producing a dark enough cup. A suggestion was made that perhaps the freshness of our samples somehow affected the brewing. We set our sample pouches aside for forty-eight hours and tried again. A much darker cup was achieved.

We concluded that the out-gassing of our fresh samples created a pocket of gas inside the bag. A dome was made resulting in the water deflecting around the bag. After setting forty-eight hour, the coffee thoroughly out-gassed did not create a dome, allowing the paper to be in direct contact with the grounds. The direct contact causes a capillary effect which draws the water through the paper and grounds.

BRICK PACK AND LARGE CANS

Brick packs and large cans people get at discount membership clubs are both packaged under a vacuum. The question is “How long does the coffee sit around out-gassing before it is packaged?” To ensure the package does not expand the coffee would have to sit quite a while, absorbing oxygen and getting about as fresh as last year’s half eaten bag of chips. Ever hear someone say how good that new two pound can of coffee smells when they opened it. That’s because eight hours after they opened the last can it was stale.