About Coffee | Coffee Freshness | Storing Coffee | Hot-Air / Fluid Bed Roasting / Organic

Coffee Freshness

Coffee is a live fruit when harvested and has a limited useful lifespan in the specialty coffee arena. Once the ripe coffee cherry is harvested, it’s at its best for about 3 years. After that, coffee will loose much of its inherent characteristics.

Once roasted, coffee loses flavor and brightness after 3 to 4 weeks. Yes, I have brewed 5-week-old coffee but my aim here is to enlighten and educate. So how do we ensure our coffee remains at its best so that we get a great cup every time?

Coffee has 5 enemies: Light, Temperature, Oxygen, Moisture, Time

Light and Temperature: Store your coffee in a container that blocks out light in a cool location away from the stove and dishwasher.

Oxygen: Coffee loses freshness when exposed to oxygen, so it’s best to keep it stored in two separate containers. Use one container to store only the coffee you intend to brew over the next 3 or 4 days. Use a separate container for the remainder of your coffee; keep it sealed and store in a cool dark dry place.

For the best tasting cup, grind your coffee immediately before brewing. This minuses oxygen exposure that causes bitterness and maximize flavorful and aroma.Moisture: Just as popcorn “pops,” when heated coffee will “crack” as it loses moisture in the roasting process. Once this happens, coffee has a tendency to reabsorb moisture. The moisture will cause it to lose its rich flavors and aroma. Its best to store your coffee in a air tight dry dark cool location.

Time: Coffee is best consumed within a few weeks of being roasted. I recommend only purchasing as much coffee as you will drink in a 2 to 3 week period. Signing up for our auto-replenish program is one of the easiest ways to always have fresh roasted coffee.

Brewing: A cup of coffee is 98% water. I highly recommend using natural spring water when you brew your coffee. The minerals will interact positively with the coffee. Chemically or mechanically purified water along with tap water is last resort but hey I understand, “first coffee then the world!”

Use water just off boiling. 190 degree F water with French-press and 201 degree F water with a standard drip machine or pour-over setup. Boiling water causes bitterness.

Each month, Santino Supremo Coffee offers first-year harvested, single origin, 100% Arabica coffees. We then ship it to you within a day of being roasted. This ensures you have the best cup every time!

You were looking for the best and you found it!

Storing Coffee

Coffee beans once roasted are at their peak for 3 ~ 4 weeks.

The 5 enemies of roasted coffee beans: Light, Heat, Moisture, Oxygen and Time.

1st, store your coffee in a cool dry dark location. Not the refrigerator or freezer.

A mission jar is a good start. If the budget allows get a Seascape container from Amazon.

Lastly, buy only the amount you will consume within 4 weeks.

Why Hot Air / Fluid Bed Roasting

Most Coffee is roasted using open-flame fossil fuel.

This process produces Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) that will infuse into the beans.

Officials say if you allow the beans to degas for a week they should be safe!

Is this important?

I believe so but you are the final judge.

We use a method known as Hot Air Fluid Bed roasting.

Electric heaters produce the heat used to roast the beans with no H2S.

Organic

Often I get asked if our coffee is organic? I understand the desire as I also shop and buy organic for certain food items.

Let me share a few facts so you can make your own decisions if or when to buy organic coffee.

Farming practices for the early 1900 family owned farms did not include chemical pesticides or genetically engineered seeds.

For the most part, farming was manual and organic. When the children of these early farmers faced high cost of inheritance

many could not pay the taxes so the farms were sold for the land value or to large corporate farming groups.

Theses new owners did then and still do use all available science to maximize yield and profits. This is not a political

Statement rather an effort to understand that as world population grows higher yields are needed and the fact that

business cannot survive without profits. Today we now are seeking what was once the norm in farming, organic!

Specialty Coffee farming

If we look at the typical coffee farms that produce specialty coffees around the world, they are small family owned

producing scant amounts. Most are in underdeveloped counties and share a similar look of the early America farms.

These farmers are using manual harvesting techniques one bean at a time and basic processing techniques.

When I’m researching for my next green bean purchase, I’m looking for the key indicators that will ensure you end up

with only the highest quality Specialty Coffees from these farms; family owned, high elevation single origin,

shade tree grown, bird friendly and most importantly, we support the initiatives that working to better the

living conditions and standards for the farmers their families and community.

Education