Let’s talk about roasting coffee.

So, how long does a coffee bean need to roast?  Can it be too roasted? Not roasted enough?

How does one know when a coffee bean is “done”? 

Coffee roast masters use a variety of names such as City Roast or French Roast to identify the various degrees of roast.   Roast masters often use a recipe to highlight certain flavor characteristics.  A coffee bean’s origin, variety, processing method or desired flavor influence the recipe a roast master chooses.

The degree of roast can be determined by eye although this is not the most accurate method. As beans absorb heat, this color shifts – from yellow to increasingly darker shades of brown.  Beans also darken as they age, however, so color alone may not be the best way to determine level of roast.  Most roasters use color, bean mass temperature, smell, and sound as they monitor the roasting process.

Beans make sounds during the roasting process, as these sounds indicate their internal temperature. Roast masters listen for two temperature thresholds, called “cracks.”  At approximately 401-405 degrees F beans make a cracking sound, similar to that of a piece of popcorn popping.  This is referred to as the “first crack,” the beginning of light roasts.  At 435-441 degrees F, coffee beans give a “second crack, the dividing line between medium and dark roasts.

How fresh IS fresh?

Whole bean coffee maintains peak flavor for two to three weeks after roasting.  During that time, the coffee beans release carbon dioxide that drives away oxygen and keeps the beans fresh.  During the roasting process the volatile and the non-volatile aromas merge, creating new aromas…… and lots of carbon dioxide. Once the coffee stops releasing CO2, the beans start to oxidize and stale. Oxidation is part of the staling process, and once oxidation begins, the quality of the coffee starts to degrade.

Moisture, heat, and light accelerate the oxidation process.

And, yes, you can taste the difference between coffee that has been roasted recently and coffee that hasn’t.

How about grinding?  How does grinding affect taste?

About 25 minutes after grinding, coffee begins to stale.

Why?   The increased surface area caused by the grinding simply provides more opportunity to release the CO2.

So….  How can you find the freshest coffee?

Obviously the freshest coffee is what you roast yourself, so purchase unroasted beans such as those we offer.

Roasting coffee is an exact art, though, so we can roast the coffee for you, ready for you to grind.

If you don’t have a grinder, we can take care of that for you as well.

Every bag of My Perfect Coffee carries a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and each bag is custom roasted and custom ground to your specifications, then shipped to you immediately.

Try it and see!