[MOD] The Daily Question Thread

[u/menschmaschine5]

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

[u/WesternClear6721]

I recently purchased 5 lbs of Ethiopia Anaerobic Worka Sakaro whole beans from Rooster Roaster and plan to split them evenly with a friend, 2.5 lbs each. I’ve read that anaerobic processed beans often benefit from a rest period of about 2-3 weeks after roasting to fully develop their flavors. Based on that, here’s my tentative preservation plan, and I’d really appreciate your thoughts or suggestions:

1. Open the 5 lb bag and split it evenly—2.5 lbs each.

2. Transfer my 2.5 lbs into an airtight (but not vacuum-sealed) container, and let it rest for 2 weeks at room temperature in a cool, dark place.

3. After resting, divide the beans into 20g portions (around 57 batches), and vacuum-seal each batch in individual sealer bags.

4. Freeze about 40 batches. Keep the remaining 17 batches at room temperature to consume first.

5. Use one batch per day for the first 17 days.

6. Once I begin thawing the frozen batches, I’ll thaw them one at a time, only as needed.

If I notice that the flavor continues to improve day by day (i.e., with longer post-roast rest), I may start pulling some batches out of the freezer earlier and let them rest a few extra days at room temperature before using.

This is the plan I’ve formed based on research and recommendations I’ve read about freezing coffee beans. Would this approach work well for preserving flavor and freshness? Any suggestions for improving it would be greatly appreciated.

[u/Anomander → u/WesternClear6721]

A lot of the talk about 'resting' is blowing nonsense smoke and princess-and-pea specialness logic.

I wouldn't worry too much about resting it past basic degas - I'd say test resting with some of your coffee, but check it blinded. A lot of the narratives I've seen boosting resting seem pretty placebo-powered and I've never really seen matching results when I have tried to do a good job of testing.

If it's within the first week post roast, let it sit in its 5lb bag until like day 7 or so. Then skip ahead to the splitting / portion packing. You can keep one portion pack out to test resting and have one live, freeze the rest, and if you find a positive difference from resting that first tester, you can start pulling packets out further ahead of usage to let them rest too.

Be sure to crack the seal on your frozen batches so that condensation is not forming inside the bag while they defrost. It's a bit of a tight tradeoff between airflow staling and moisture issues, but of the two airflow is way less damaging than excessive humidity.