FREEZING COFFEE – WHY AND HOW IT WORKS

For several years, the idea of freezing coffee under vacuum-sealed conditions has revolutionized the storage and preservation of coffee beans in the specialty coffee industry. Why is freezing a good idea and how should you freeze coffee?

This is a question that you hear again and again or end up in Google searches. YES - there are a number of reasons why coffee beans should be frozen after roasting. However, a few points must be observed so that the freezing also achieves the desired effect.

FREEZING PRESERVES THE TASTE OF THE COFFEE

We know it from our kitchen at home, when we freeze food, we keep it from spoiling and the flavors stay fresh. So we have something of it for longer and it is more sustainable than throwing it in the organic waste.

Why does the principle also work with coffee?
After roasting your coffee begins to age and after a certain time it reaches an ideal degree of maturity. After this point, your coffee continuously loses flavour until it tastes completely bland and is actually no longer enjoyable.

Knowing the perfect age is very valuable - because this gives you the opportunity to freeze your coffee at peak of flavour. We explain more about ageing in our blog post coffee ageing – when coffee tastes best.

By freezing, the aromas are bound to the coffee beans and cannot escape. So it is the best way to store coffee for a longer period of time.

GRIND CONSISTENCY WILL BE INCREASED

Anyone like us who deals a lot with coffee quality will already know that three particle units with different sizes are released when the coffee is ground. There are very fine particles (particularly small, fine particles), there are particles that are too large and there are particles with an optimal size. The better the grinder, the better should be the consistency of the ground coffee. Particles that are too fine can quickly over-extract and particles that are too coarse can under-extract, both would have a negative effect on the brewing result.

So let's get to the benefits of freezing the coffee beans. Surprisingly, frozen coffee beans lead to a more even grind. This means that more good particles with an optimal size are output than bad particles that are ground too fine or too coarse. This is a very positive effect, because a more consistent grinding result leads to a more even extraction and thus a better taste.

Maxwell Colonna Dashwood is a three-time UK Barista Champion and WBC finalist and describes the benefits of freezing coffee in this short film "Benefits of Freezing Coffee. Research and tips".

HOW TO FREEZE COFFEE

This part is very important and fortunately totally uncomplicated. There are two ways to freeze coffee beans. Either vacuum bags (you may heard of them) or reusable tubes made of glass or plastic are used. We recommend using the reusable options, firstly it is cheaper because no vacuum device is required and secondly it causes significantly less waste because the tubes can be used again and again.

OBSERVE THE CORRECT DOSAGE

The coffee needs to be frozen in portions so that it all makes sense. Exactly 20g of beans fit into such tubes. All of our brewing recipes are therefore based on a basic recipe of 20g. If you were to freeze a large container or even the entire packaging of the coffee, you would always have to take the entire packaging out of the freezer. The freeze cycle would be disturbed by the supplied air and moisture.

Frozen Coffee Box

We talked about freezing coffee, what to consider and the easiest way to do it. We have all the necessary tools for this, including coffee, in the new Frozen Coffee box. This includes 5 high-quality glass tubes for freezing, a comprehensive How To Guide and of course a very special coffee of your choice.

Freezing coffee has many advantages, it is sustainable and maybe most importantly it makes fun! Building up your own collection of coffee rarities that can still be drunk years later is a great solution for every coffee lover! So let's try it together. #HappyFreezing

written by

Dominic Ottlinger

I'm writing about our projects, events and innovations from the world of coffee. If you have any suggestions or questions, I'm looking forward to hear from you.

Photos: Constantin Gerlach, Laura Droße

website

www.roeststaette.com/frozencoffee