Old Coffee Isn't Ruined Coffee

Hey,

I had a couple of bags of coffee sitting around that I roasted about nine months ago. They were store bags that never sold through, so I held onto them, mostly out of curiosity. Nine months is old. Old enough that I figured they were a write-off. But I wanted to actually taste what happens instead of assuming.

Coffee doesn't spoil like milk. It fades. The aromatics that make a fresh cup pop are the first to leave, and what stays behind gets flatter and shorter the longer it sits. That's the theory, anyway. I wanted to see it in the cup.

So I brewed both bags, one pre-ground and one whole bean, both kept in those one-way valve bags. First surprise was the smell. A little tired, maybe, but it still smelled like coffee. None of the harsh, cardboard staleness I was bracing for.

Then I brewed at my usual ratio, around one to fifteen. Flat. Drinkable and presentable, fine with a little cream, but thin. It tasted more like a weak one to eighteen or one to twenty than what I know that coffee can do. The whole bean was a hair more alive than the pre-ground, but only a hair.

Here's the part I keep coming back to. I made it stronger. Took the ratio way up, closer to eight or ten to one, and it came back to life. Actually drinkable. The flavors showed up and got more pronounced, closer to the coffee I remembered. Not perfect. There was no real body, and whatever flavor arrived died quickly, one or two notes and then gone. But it went from "eh" to "yeah, I'd drink this."

That's the lesson for me. Old coffee isn't ruined coffee. It fades and it loses complexity, but it isn't garbage you have to throw out. If a bag gets away from you, brew it stronger than you normally would and meet it where it is.

A few things clearly helped. Those one-way valve bags did more work than I gave them credit for. If I'd planned ahead I would have frozen the coffee and pulled out only what I needed. And grinding fresh helps when you can.

I wouldn't go buy old coffee on purpose. If your coffee is fresh and you love it, none of this is something you need to chase. But if a bag shows up old, or you find one in the back of the cabinet, don't dump it before you try this.

I went through the whole tasting, both bags, the weak version and the strong one, in the video. Watch on YouTube.

Talk soon,
Oaks, the Coffee Guy