- Hey guys, it's Aleš
from European Coffee Trip
and in this video we'll talk
about coffee freshness again.
In the previous video, Gwilym talked
to the professional baristas,
but now Petra will share how
to keep coffee fresh at home.
So let's get started.
(upbeat music)
- I do a lot of trainings for home users
and the most common question
which I get really often is
about freshness, about the
fact that the coffee at home
they make that a lot of times the espresso
doesn't have crema, that
is it is very watery,
and the filter coffee for
example, that it tastes empty.
So what is the reason
for all those things?
And every time when I
ask them what they do,
at the end it leads to the freshness
and how to store the coffee.
So this is the topic what
we will talk about now.
If you want to have a
really good coffee at home,
it's really easy.
And first what you should do
is where you buy your coffee.
I recommend to buy your
coffee in roastery or online,
but it needs to be fresh, or
in your local coffee shop,
because the beans, this is the core
for the rest of your work.
So buy your coffee fresh,
the roastery is the best.
Each coffee bag has
usually a roast date on it.
And the roasters, they recommend to use
the coffee within six weeks.
What I recommend from my experience is
to use the coffee a little bit earlier.
It depends if you will work with espresso
or with filter coffee.
For espresso is the best to use the coffee
between two to four weeks.
For filter coffee you can
use it a little bit earlier,
and a little bit faster, I
would say one to three weeks.
So this is our Columbian coffee.
It calls Los Mangos and it's been
processed by a wash process.
It is roasted actually two
weeks ago, which is perfect.
So I can already use it for
filter coffee definitely,
and it's just right the time
to try it for espresso as well.
When the coffee is roasted it
has a lot of gasses inside.
So when the roasteries bag the coffee,
they put it in special bags
which have a little valve on it.
This valve is there for the gasses,
that the gasses can actually
escape the packaging.
If the bag doesn't have the valve,
the bag can get swollen
and it can even pop.
So it's really good if
the bag has the valve
so the gasses can leave.
The disadvantage of the
valve is actually the fact
that with the gasses, the
aroma is leaving as well.
So this is the reason why we cannot wait
for half a year or a year
after the coffee is roasted.
Once you open the bag,
the air can go inside.
So it's really important if you use
the beans as fast as possible.
At home if you will use it
between five to seven days,
it's still okay, the coffee
will still taste really good.
But I would say after one week
then it's getting too long.
The beans will lose their freshness.
It will lose the aroma.
The espresso will not have so much crema.
Filter coffee will be really empty.
So use the beans after you open
the bag as soon as possible.
Maximum one week.
When you prepare espresso
you will pour your beans
in the hopper of the grinder.
I recommend to pour a little bit more
so there's a little bit weight
from the top on the blade,
and once you make espresso,
and once you're completely
finished with the preparation,
what is really, really
important is not to leave
any coffee beans in the
hopper or between the blades.
Remove everything, don't
leave any leftovers.
With filter coffee it's much easier
because with filter
coffee you can pre-dose,
pre-weigh your weight and you can put that
in your hand grinder and just use it.
So once you will put it in the grinder,
don't forget any beans because
if you leave it inside,
what will happen that not just
the air can get to the beans,
but also the light, the UV is
not good for the coffee beans.
If you leave it a bit for longer
in the hopper of the grinder,
it can get rancid and
then the coffee of course
doesn't taste well, and
it will lose the aroma.
It will lose all the flavors.
So every time use the coffee
straight from the bag.
Once you grind the coffee,
then you have to use it immediately.
There's no time that you
can leave it for later
because the coffee is the
most sensitive when grinded.
So even when it's for
espresso or filter coffee,
use it straightaway once you grind it.
Store the coffee as easiest as possible.
Leave it in the original bag
because if you would remove
the coffee beans and
pour them in a glass jar
or some other jar, the
beans will lose a little bit
of their aroma which is
in the original packaging.
So leave it in the original
bag, that's the best.
Once you open the packet with the coffee,
remove all the air from
inside with your hands.
Nowadays a lot of the packets,
they have like a special zipper.
So you can close it with the zipper.
If it doesn't have a zipper,
use a simple clip or a pack for example.
I have also a lot of
questions from my customers
if they should use the
special vacuum containers
for storing the coffee.
In general I have to say
that I don't really have
a good experience with them
because together with the air,
you suck out the good stuff
from the beans as well.
So if you want to put the
coffee to a different container
or for to the vacuum one,
take the original packaging,
put it inside, maybe suck a
little bit of the air outside,
but not completely everything.
And the last important thing
where to store your coffee,
Have it at a place which is dry.
That's the most important
and where is not too hot.
Not by your fridge or
other electric equipment,
where it's really warm around it.
Just have it somewhere in your kitchen
in a shelf where it's dry.
I see three most common
mistakes while storing
or by buying the coffee beans.
The first is definitely the one
that a lot of customers,
they buy too big bag.
They buy a bag which is like
one kilo, maybe even bigger.
And then they have it at
home maybe for one month
or maybe even longer,
and it takes them time
to use the coffee, so that's
the problem with the freshness.
And this is the reason why I
recommend to buy small packets,
200, 250 grams and you can
buy like three, four of them,
and then use it within a month.
So, every week you will
open a new coffee bag,
that's the best.
The second most common mistake
is that the people pour all
the coffee beans straight into
the hopper of the grinder.
The whole packet.
So, the coffee beans, they stay there.
And they are exposed to air.
Very often they are exposed to the light,
so they are losing the
freshness very fast.
So, don't leave your coffee beans
in the hopper of the grinder.
The third most common mistake is the fact
that a lot of people put
their coffee in the fridge.
The problem is not the fridge on its own,
but the moment when you remove
the beans out of the fridge
because then the beans get wet
and that is not good for the beans.
All the information I gave you,
it might have sound
really strict and harsh,
but all these little tiny details
will make your coffee at
home much, much better.
So, if you want to have a
really good cup of coffee,
this is the way how to do it.
(upbeat music)
