One of my goals is to have Rube's Good-Brain Coffee available in grocery stores. The more places one can find our coffee, the more people would be able to enjoy it. This, however, is going to take a while. Still, even if we were to find our way into grocery stores, I would still recommend buying directly from us through mail-order. Why? Because buying direct is the best way to get the freshest coffee possible. Although it's natural to think that once roasted coffee gets sealed in a valve bag the Staling Clock stops -- not to resume until you've bought it and opened it at home -- in reality, that's only partially true. What really happens is that when you open up that bag it begins to stale at an accelerated rate. Within a day of being opened, it's as though that bag was never sealed to begin with. In short: It crashes pretty quickly.
Scott Rao, who has essentially revolutionized the roasting world through his 'Rao Method' of roasting, explained why this happens in his book The Coffee Roaster's Companion. He says:
'Valve bagging limits coffee's oxidation but has minimal effect on the loss of internal, pressurized gases. Upon opening a valve bag after several days or weeks of storage, the beans stale much faster than fresh, just-roasted coffee would, because they lack gas pressure to repel oxygen. For example, coffee stored in a valve bag for one week will taste fresh upon opening the bag but within a day will degrade almost as much as it would have had it spent the week in an unsealed bag.' (p.71)
That is to say that the CO2 contained in each bean which naturally degases over time, whether sealed in a valve bag or not, will not be contained within each bean by the time that bag has been opened. Once the seal is broken and oxygen has been introduced into the bag, the CO2 which would otherwise have been inside the beans is no longer there to prevent oxygen from permeating them. Therefore, the oxidation process happens much quicker than it would if the beans were still fresh off the roast.
This is actually something which was also explained to me by one of my first bosses in roasting coffee (who was, at the time, president of the Roaster's Guild). I remember him saying how he had to argue with a well-known grocery chain (you've all heard of it) to get them to have use-by dates that were three months out from the roast date. (They wanted it to be six months.) Ideally, he added, he would have them put roasted-on dates rather than used-by dates, but this was a compromise he was willing to make. (Since then, they have started putting use-by dates on their bags.)
When coffee has first been roasted, it's too fresh to drink. It takes about twelve hours for the beans to de-gas to the point where they're 'drinkable.' After then, the beans tend to get better and better until they peak -- generally around two weeks from the roast date. Then, they gradually decline. Lighter coffee tends to last a bit longer than darker roasted coffee.
So what's your best option? Order your coffee directly from the roaster and have your beans shipped right to your home. At Rube's, we don't roast your coffee until we receive your order. Here's another tip: If your household drinks more than one cup of coffee a day at home, it's not a stretch to say that you should order two bags at once. You'll be saving a lot of money in shipping by doing so.
Making anything more than two cups a day means that you will go through about one bag of coffee per week If you order two bag, then, you'll be finishing that second bag right about the time the coffee is reaching its peak in flavor.
So by all means, buy your coffee sealed in one-way valve bags. Get ones that you can reseal. Just remember: You're still going to want your coffee within two weeks of the roast date. The best way to order your coffee, then, is by ordering directly from your roaster and having it shipped straight to your door!
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