How Do I Know If My Coffee Beans Are Fresh?

How Do I Know If My Coffee Beans Are Fresh?

A Simple Guide from Simone, The Coffee Girl

If you've ever bought a bag of coffee from the supermarket, taken it home, made yourself a cup and thought...

"Is this really what good coffee is supposed to taste like?"

...you're definitely not alone.

One of the questions we're asked all the time at Kimberley Coffee Company is:

"How do I know if coffee beans are fresh?"

The answer is actually much simpler than most people think.

Don't look at the expiry date.

Look at the roast date.

That one little date tells you almost everything you need to know.

Roast Date Is Everything

Whenever someone picks up one of our bags of coffee, the first thing I hope they notice isn't the logo.

It's the roast date.

Freshly roasted coffee changes every single day after it's roasted. That's completely normal. Coffee naturally releases carbon dioxide after roasting, while its beautiful aromas and flavours gradually begin to change over time.

That's why specialty coffee roasters proudly tell you when the coffee was roasted.

The roast date is the beginning of the coffee's story.

The expiry date is simply the end of its shelf life.

They're two very different things.

Roast Date vs Best Before Date

This is probably the biggest mistake I see people make.

They pick up two bags of coffee and immediately look for the best before date.

I'd encourage you to do the exact opposite.

Look for the roast date first.

Some supermarket coffees have expiry dates six months, twelve months or even longer into the future.

That doesn't tell you when the coffee was roasted.

It simply tells you how long the manufacturer believes the product can sit on a shelf.

Coffee isn't like canned tomatoes.

Freshness matters.

What Does Fresh Coffee Smell Like?

Honestly?

Absolutely incredible.

One of my favourite moments is opening a freshly roasted bag and grinding the beans for the first time.

The aroma fills the room.

It's rich.

Sweet.

Chocolatey.

Nutty.

Sometimes fruity.

Sometimes caramel-like.

It makes you smile before you've even made the coffee.

As coffee gets older, those beautiful aromas gradually fade.

The coffee often starts smelling flatter, duller and less exciting.

If you've ever opened a fresh bag from a local roaster and thought, "Wow!", you've already experienced the difference.

Can You Taste The Difference?

Without a doubt.

In fact, one of our customers, who even roasts coffee at home and considers himself a bit of a coffee enthusiast, sent me a message after trying our coffee.

He said,

"I never knew coffee could actually be this good."

That made my day.

Fresh coffee has brightness.

Sweetness.

Balance.

Life.

As coffee becomes older, those vibrant flavours slowly disappear. What's left is often bitterness and a much flatter cup.

I actually proved this to myself by accident.

A while ago I found a bag of our own coffee that I'd forgotten about while travelling. I'd kept it for around eight months.

I thought, "Surely it won't be that bad."

It was.

Even though I ground it fresh, I could barely drink it.

I was brushing my teeth before the cup was empty.

Lesson learnt.

Freshly roasted coffee really is a completely different experience.

Buy Whole Beans Whenever You Can

If you take only one practical tip away from this article, let it be this.

Buy whole beans and grind them just before you brew.

The moment coffee is ground, it has far more surface area exposed to oxygen.

That's when those wonderful aromas begin disappearing much more quickly.

Whole beans hold onto their freshness much longer than pre-ground coffee.

If you buy ground coffee that's already spent months on a supermarket shelf, you're starting well behind before you've even boiled the kettle.

Should Coffee Have Lots of Crema?

Crema is that lovely golden layer sitting on top of a well-made espresso.

Fresh beans generally produce a richer, more stable crema because they still contain plenty of the natural carbon dioxide released after roasting.

Having said that, crema isn't a perfect freshness test.

Your grinder, espresso machine, extraction, water quality and even the roast profile all play a part.

But when everything comes together, fresh coffee certainly gives you the best chance of pouring a beautiful espresso.

Don't Put Your Coffee In The Fridge

This surprises people.

Coffee likes consistency.

Not refrigerators.

Coffee naturally absorbs moisture and odours from the environment around it. Every time you take it in and out of the fridge, temperature changes can also create condensation.

None of that helps your coffee taste better.

Instead, keep your beans:

• In their original bag.
• Somewhere cool and dark.
• Away from direct sunlight.
• Away from moisture.

It's simple.

Your coffee will thank you.

Buy Enough Coffee. Not Too Much.

One thing we've learnt after years of roasting coffee is that most people don't need enormous amounts sitting in the cupboard.

That's one of the reasons our subscription customers love receiving fresh coffee every month.

They know another freshly roasted bag is on its way before they run out.

If they're hosting Christmas lunch or the whole family's visiting, they'll simply place an extra order.

Fresh coffee little and often beats stale coffee sitting around for months.

Every single time.

Why We Care So Much About Freshness

Mark, our Coffee Man, has always insisted on putting the roast date on every bag.

There's a very good reason.

He's an Australian Champion Roaster and multiple award-winning coffee roaster.

He understands exactly what happens during roasting and exactly how freshness affects flavour.

After roasting, we pack our beans into one-way valve bags.

You may have noticed the little valve on the front.

It's there because freshly roasted coffee naturally releases gas for days after roasting.

The valve lets that gas escape without letting oxygen back into the bag, helping preserve freshness while the beans travel to your home.

It's a tiny little piece of engineering that makes a big difference.

Freshness Has Always Been Our Thing

Kimberley Coffee Company was built in Broome.

Every dry season thousands of visitors discover us while they're on holiday.

They try a coffee.

They fall in love with it.

Then they go home and ask us to send it to them.

That only works because we're absolutely obsessed with freshness.

If we served stale coffee, people wouldn't remember us.

Fresh coffee prepared by a great barista simply tastes extraordinary.

That's what we want every customer to experience.

One Last Thought

Imagine you're standing in front of two bags of coffee.

One has a roast date from last week.

The other has a best before date eighteen months away.

I'd choose the roast date every single time.

In fact, if a coffee company isn't prepared to tell you when the beans were roasted, I'd be asking why.

Think about buying fresh bread from your local bakery.

You don't ask when it expires.

You ask when it was baked.

Coffee deserves exactly the same respect.

Fresh coffee isn't a marketing gimmick.

It's the difference between drinking coffee because you need caffeine...

...and drinking coffee because it tastes absolutely amazing.

Happy brewing.

Simone
The Coffee Girl
Kimberley Coffee Company