In Defense of Whole Bean Coffee

If you know why you want to buy whole bean coffee, just click the picture to the right for our coffee selection.

If you queston why you should buy whole bean...read on.

Ground coffee is easy to work with because it's ready for measuring, pouring into a filter and brewing, but grinding before coffee is packaged only holds the aromas in the bag (or container) as long as it is sealed.

Whole bean coffee holds those aromatic compounds in the bean until time to brew. If the best beans (fresh roasted, of course) are ground just prior to brewing and are ground to match your preferred brewing method, the result is the most flavorful taste you can find!

Once the bean is ground, most of the aroma escapes ~15 minutes. That gives plenty of time to brew great coffee when grinding just prior to brewing.

As for bagged...or vacuum packed...ground coffee, once the container is opened, the fragrance (which was released from the bean when it was ground) is fully released from the container within a minute or two. The first brew may have a slight lingering aroma, but the balance dissipates shortly after opening.

The pictures to the left are a perfect example of aroma loss. I would like to say I set out to perform an experiment, but this is one of those AH HA! moments when a picture perfect example of a topic we talk about consistently was staring me in the face.

The bag on the left is freshly ground.

We had finished a roast that had multiple orders for the same bean, but one was for drip grind. We always bag and heat seal orders a few hours after roasting to give the beans minimal contact time with air and light. (For ground orders we also heat seal immediately after grinding).

Note: The bags have a one way valve so that gases inside the bag can escape without letting air in to spoil the beans.

About 10 minutes after heat sealing both bags, there was a noticeable lack in the amount of gas building in the whole bean bag compared with the ground. By the time I found the camera and set it up, these pictures were taken ~15-20 minutes after sealing.

Whole bean coffee does lose aroma slowly over time, but it holds it much longer than ground. When opening a package of ground coffee, be sure to have your nose ready to take a big whiff as soon as the seal is broken so you can enjoy the aroma it has to offer because after that, it's gone for good.

Grinding to match the brewing method and grinding just prior to brewing yields the freshest and most flavorful coffee you can experience. Yes, it adds an extra step and a minute or two to preparation for grinding, but if you spend a little extra for fresh roasted premium arabica coffee beans...isn't it worth the time to insure that freshness makes it all the way to the cup?

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