Freshness & Roasting
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Why do you roast every week?
Because freshness matters - but not in the way most people think.
Coffee doesn't suddenly become "bad" after a couple of weeks. In fact, coffee that's too fresh often hasn't had enough time to settle after roasting.
The reason we roast every week is because we want our customers to enjoy coffee during its peak flavour window, not when it's already halfway through its life.
If we roasted months in advance, by the time it reached your kitchen and you finished the bag, you'd be drinking coffee well past its best.
Weekly roasting simply gives you more of that sweet spot.
How fresh should coffee be?
Every coffee is different.
Some single origins continue improving for several weeks after roasting, while others are at their best much sooner.
For our blends, we've found the sweet spot is generally between 7 and 14 days after roasting. That's when they're beautifully balanced, easy to extract and full of sweetness.
When is coffee at its best after roasting?
For our blends, usually between 7 and 14 days after roasting.
That gives the coffee enough time to degas while still retaining all the complexity, sweetness and body we're aiming for.
Why shouldn't coffee be too fresh?
Freshly roasted coffee contains a surprisingly large amount of trapped carbon dioxide.
In the first few days after roasting, that gas escapes rapidly. If you brew the coffee too early, the escaping gas can interfere with extraction by repelling water from the coffee grounds, making it harder to extract flavours evenly.
The result is often espresso that's difficult to dial in, with excessive crema, inconsistent flow and cups that taste underdeveloped or sharp.
Giving coffee a few days to rest allows those gases to escape naturally, making the coffee much easier to brew and far more balanced in the cup.
Does coffee need to degas?
Yes.
For our coffees, we'd generally recommend waiting at least five days after roasting before brewing espresso.
Filter coffee can often be enjoyed a little earlier, but espresso benefits from allowing the coffee time to settle.
Why is there a roast date instead of a best-before date?
Coffee doesn't suddenly expire like milk.
Instead, it gradually loses aroma, sweetness and complexity over time.
The roast date tells you far more than a best-before date ever could because it lets you decide when the coffee is likely to be at its best.
How long do coffee beans stay fresh?
It depends on the coffee and how it's stored.
Many coffees still taste excellent after four or five weeks, particularly if they're stored well.
As a general guide, we'd recommend enjoying your coffee within two months of the roast date. After that, you'll usually notice less sweetness, less body and a flatter overall flavour.
Can coffee be too old?
Absolutely.
Coffee won't necessarily become unsafe to drink, but eventually it becomes difficult to extract properly.
You'll often find yourself chasing recipes that used to work, with espresso running differently and flavours becoming dull and lifeless.
Fresh coffee simply gives you a much better chance of brewing a great cup.
Does freezing coffee work?
Yes - if you do it properly.
Freezing coffee can be an excellent way to preserve freshness, particularly if you've bought more coffee than you'll use over the next few weeks.
We recommend freezing coffee in airtight packaging and only opening it once it's completely returned to room temperature. Repeatedly taking coffee in and out of the freezer can introduce moisture, which is what you want to avoid.
Should I store coffee in the fridge?
No.
Coffee is surprisingly porous, which means it absorbs moisture and odours from its surroundings.
The best place to store coffee is in its original sealed bag, somewhere cool, dry and away from direct sunlight.
What is your roasting philosophy?
Keep it simple.
We believe coffee should taste like itself.
Our job isn't to roast flavour into the coffee. It's to reveal the work that's already been done by the producer at origin.
That means making careful, consistent roasting decisions rather than chasing trends or trying to make every coffee taste dramatic.
Simple usually wins.
How do you know when a coffee is roasted correctly?
Technology helps, but it never replaces experience.
Every roast is tracked using detailed data including temperature, time and rate of rise, allowing us to reproduce successful profiles with incredible consistency.
But we never rely on graphs alone.
Every coffee is regularly cupped, tasted as espresso and tested in milk. If it doesn't taste the way we expect, we adjust.
At the end of the day, the cup always has the final say.