Does coffee go off?

Over the years it never ceases to amaze me the number of people who are completely unaware of the fact that fresh coffee goes off. I put this down to the instant coffee obsession where it is so processed that you don't notice too much change in quality over a short period of time.

Coffee is a crop and as such should be treated as food...fresh coffee is best enjoyed as current harvest, but when roasted the coffee is transformed in many different ways that leads it to be vulnerable to oxidization. Not to put too fine a point on it, once roasted coffee starts to go off (stale)...

Whilst every care is taken to keep the product fresh by roasting little and often, using packaging to prolong the life and seal in as much freshness as possible the simple fact is that the fresher the coffee the better the end drink.

It frustrates me to see operators opening vacuum sealed packs of coffee and placing them in a filter paper stack ready for the next brew (which can often be the next day) - they don't seem to realise that they are actually affecting the drink they are making by using coffe that they are allowing to go stale.

There are many ways of managing your coffee stock to ensure you are not leaving it out in the open air allowing it to go stale - judicious use of these methods will never lead to a worse drink!! So why not look into ways of making your drinks better by taking care of the coffee you are using...