Coffee Freshness
Whole Bean vs. Ground
How should I store my coffee?
Should I freeze my coffee?
Grinder Style
Burr vs Blade Grinder
Whole bean coffee that is freshly ground just prior to use will always be far superior to pre-ground coffee, but not all grinders are good options for great coffee. Burr grinders are the best option for your coffee brewing because they provide consistent particle size that allows the water traveling through the grounds to extract all the oils and flavors at the same rate. The particle size adjustment is structured in intervals which can be easily controlled to make the grounds consistently larger or smaller. Blade grinders, while creating a ground substance, tend to pulverize the beans by smashing into them instead of cutting particles at specified sizes. While a blade grinder aids in fresh-ground coffee, the varying particle sizes created often yield inconsistent cup quality from one brewing to another. We are proud to sell wonderful top-of-the-line home-use burr grinders in the Baratza line offered on this website. While more expensive than the grinders available nationwide in many corporate stores, they are all built to last a lifetime, and they are proven to be able to grind from drip consistency all the way down to espresso with absolute control of particle size. You can check them out here.
Whole Bean vs. Ground
Coffee Freshness
Whole Bean vs. Ground
Whole bean coffee is always the preferred way of ordering freshly-roasted coffee as the beans retain freshness longer than grounds will. Detracting factors to the flavor of coffee include oxygen, sunlight and even other strong smells that might be absorbed by coffee. By keeping the surface area of the bean intact (as whole bean) just until the point of grinding, less environmental impact (mainly oxygen) will occur before brewing.
How should I store my coffee?
Your coffee is arriving to you freshly-roasted and will hit it’s prime flavor at roughly 4 days after its roasted-on date. Storing your coffee in either our PLA-lined biodegradable or poly bags at room temperature will be fine if your purchased amount of coffee will easily be consumed within 21 days. Pushing all air out of the bag and closing it after each use will help preserve coffee bean quality a bit longer. The poly bag offers more resistance to oxygen and will hold freshness better, especially if we are grinding your coffee before shipping. The PLA-lined biodegradable bag offers effective storage for those using coffee more quickly, and the bag is then compostable with the removal of the metal tin-tie.
Should I freeze my coffee?
There are definitely different theories on this. We prefer that our customers try to buy in small quantities and consume those orders without freezing. However, we understand the desire to take advantage of sales and to order more than a small amount of coffee sometimes. Ultimately, the choice is yours. Coffee should only be stored in poly bags and NOT the PLA-lined bags as the biodegradable bags will disintegrate in freezing temps. Coffee absorbs any odors near it, so if frozen, it must be in an air-tight container. We suggest not taking frozen coffee beans out of the freezer, letting them thaw, and then placing back in freezer as it degrades the oils. Simply measure each brewed pot’s worth of coffee out for each use if you choose to freeze your beans and replace quickly to freezer. Again, LRC does NOT promote freezing, but rather we prefer using fresh coffee stored at room temperature
Grinder Style
Burr vs Blade Grinder
Whole bean coffee that is freshly ground just prior to use will always be far superior to pre-ground coffee, but not all grinders are good options for great coffee. Burr grinders are the best option for your coffee brewing because they provide consistent particle size that allows the water traveling through the grounds to extract all the oils and flavors at the same rate. The particle size adjustment is structured in intervals which can be easily controlled to make the grounds consistently larger or smaller. Blade grinders, while creating a ground substance, tend to pulverize the beans by smashing into them instead of cutting particles at specified sizes. While a blade grinder aids in fresh-ground coffee, the varying particle sizes created often yield inconsistent cup quality from one brewing to another.
We are proud to sell wonderful top-of-the-line home-use burr grinders in the Baratza line offered on this website. While more expensive than the grinders available nationwide in many corporate stores, they are all built to last a lifetime, and they are proven to be able to grind from drip consistency all the way down to espresso with absolute control of particle size. You can check them out here.
Degree of Roast
Light Roast
Lightly roasted coffee, otherwise known as Cinnamon Roast, is the level at which coffee is typically considered roasted enough to consume properly as coffee. At this very light degree of roast many flavors exhibit themselves in the bean’s characteristic “profile”. Often, this can be a roast level where many strong fruit notes present themselves, and the acidity of lightly roasted coffee is higher. Caffeine content is also highest at this low level of roast. Sometimes, some of the strong fruitiness comes though as “sour” at this roast level, and there won’t be any oil on the surface of the beans.
Medium
Medium roasted coffee, or City Roast, is taken just a bit darker and does many things to the flavor of the coffee. Some of the sharper flavors of the Cinnamon Roast begin to get a bit sweeter as the internal sugars of the coffee bean begin to caramelize. The inherent varietal flavors from the coffee’s origin are still very pronounced, and it is at this level that the majority of flavor a coffee can offer does get offered. Acidity is still quite pronounced, but a bit more subdued than at Cinnamon. That said, acidity is probably most complex at this roast level. Some of the notes that may have been sour at Cinnamon begin to sweeten at this level. This level offers the most in-depth tasting of what the coffee is truly capable of offering. Caffeine content is still high.
Dark
As the roast level progresses into the dark realm, or Full City, it will begin to lose some of the pronounced flavor attributes of the varietal, and those subtle flavors often merge into an overall sweetness as the internal sugars caramelize more. At this level, the acidity begins to diminish a bit and the cup balances out. Most of the sharp notes become muted as the coffee begins to offer a bit more “roast” notes, and the flavors begin to darken. Depending on the origin, some beans will begin to offer spots of oil on their surface after resting, while others will simply remain a dry, dark brown. This is the level to which the majority of our varietals and blends are roasted as this is the level that we believe offers the greatest depth to the final flavor in the cup.
Very Dark
Coffee roasted to levels beyond Full City include French, Vienna and Italian, and each begins to taste more specifically like the roast more than the beans of origin. Italian Roast is the very darkest that we take any of our coffees, and at that level of roast, many flavor attributes change drastically. The body of the coffee at this level becomes thinner and the prominent overtones of smoke take over the majority of subtle flavor characteristics inherent in the bean. Those sensitive to acidity in coffee will enjoy the darker roast more as it is the least acidic of all the roasts. The darker the roast, the less caffeine the coffee will also have. While much subtlety is lost at this level, each origin still contributes much to the final flavor and body but in a very subdued manner.