By freezing coffee beans, her advantages are also very obvious;
1. Extend the shelf life: The oil and aroma in coffee beans are easily affected by oxygen and moisture. Freezing can slow down the oxidation rate of coffee beans, keeping the coffee beans fresh for a longer period of time and reducing the possibility of deterioration 57.
2. Maintain flavor: It can better retain the original flavor, aroma and taste of coffee beans, allowing coffee lovers to still taste coffee brewed from fresh coffee beans for a long time.
However, it is worth noting that not all coffee beans are suitable for frozen storage. Generally speaking, specialty coffee beans with higher freshness, deeper roasting and higher oil content, such as Brazil's Sul de Minas or India's Monsoon Malabar, can maintain their original taste and aroma after being frozen. Before freezing, the coffee beans should be stored in an oxygen-free, sealed container, such as a bag sealed by a vacuum packaging machine or a sealed can, to prevent the coffee beans from absorbing odors and moisture in the refrigerator. The temperature for frozen storage is usually recommended to be within the range of 0°F to 5°F (-18℃ to -15℃) to ensure the best quality. After taking out the sealed bag, do not use it directly on the bag. The bag should be slowly thawed at room temperature to avoid condensation and moisture that will make the coffee beans damp and affect the flavor.
So how do we judge whether the frozen coffee beans have gone bad?
To judge whether the frozen coffee beans have gone bad, we can start from the following aspects:
1. Appearance changes
Color changes: Normal coffee beans have their own specific colors, such as light roasting is light brown, and deep roasting is close to black. If the color becomes obviously darker or white after freezing, it may have gone bad. Whitening may be due to condensation and evaporation of water, causing the surface substance to precipitate; abnormal color deepening may be excessive oxidation.
Spots appear: If black, green or other color spots appear on the surface of coffee beans, it may be mold growth, indicating that it has gone bad and can no longer be used.
2. Aroma difference
The aroma becomes lighter: Fresh frozen coffee beans should have a strong coffee aroma after thawing. If you get close to the coffee beans, you can only smell a faint aroma, or even almost no aroma, which means that the aroma of the coffee beans has been lost in large quantities and the quality has declined.
Odors: In addition to the aroma becoming lighter, if you smell pungent, rancid, similar to oil consumption or other strange smells, rather than the aroma of the coffee itself, it is very likely that it has gone bad. The source of the odor may be the absorption of other odors in the refrigerator, or the oxidation and mildew of the coffee beans themselves.
3. Different touch
Softening of texture: Normal coffee beans have a hard texture. If the coffee beans become soft after freezing, it may be due to improper storage and absorption of too much water, resulting in changes in the internal structure, which is easy to breed bacteria and mold, which means that they have deteriorated.
Too fragile: In contrast to softening, if the coffee beans become abnormally fragile and break into powder with a light pinch, it may be due to excessive drying, which destroys the cell structure and affects the flavor, indicating that the coffee beans have deteriorated.
4. Brewing performance
Taste change: After brewing, if the coffee tastes sour, bitter, or has other strange tastes, which is very different from the normal flavor, the coffee beans may have deteriorated.
Reduced oil: After brewing, there will be a layer of oil on the surface of deep roasted coffee beans. If the oil is significantly reduced or even absent, it may be due to the deterioration of the coffee beans, and the internal oil decomposition or oxidation.
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