Does oily coffee = fresh coffee?

COFFEE MYTH DEBUNKED

Does oily coffee beans = fresh coffee beans?

In general, NO. Unless you have selected a very dark roast or Fresh Roast, oily coffee beans actually indicate old coffee beans.

Oily light or medium roasts can be an indicator that the beans have sat on the shelf for too long.

Koffee Kult roasts to order. Coffee does not sit on the shelf here!

Today we will be discussing oily coffee. There's a common misconception that oily coffee means the coffee is fresh. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Fresh coffee should not contain excess oil on the coffee beans unless it is a French Roast or a very Dark Roast.

Oil on beans is generally a telling sign of the age of coffee. The longer they have sat in a bag the more oil seeps out of the bean on the surface. If you prefer to have oil on your beans place them in your cabinet for a few months and they will become oily. The less oil, the fresher the coffee.


How to keep coffee fresh / store coffee!

When you purchase your Koffee Kult coffee beans, you will want to keep them fresh for as long as you can. After all, there is nothing like grinding up fresh beans and brewing that perfect cup of coffee. The key objective here is to make that first cup as fresh tasting as the last.

We recommend storing your beans in the bag it arrived in. If you'd like an alternative, storing beans in an airtight container is a great option. A good quality canister, kept in a dark space, is a great way to keep your whole beans fresh. Storing whole coffee beans is better than ground coffee because ground coffee’s oils begin to evaporate and you risk loss of flavor because of it.



Roast Profile: From Light to Dark



Know your roast profile!

  • Light roasts are light brown in color, and more mild. There should be no oil on the surface of light roast beans.
  • Medium roasts are medium in color and have a stronger flavor than light roasts. The medium roast is the most popular in America when it comes to roasting coffee beans.
  • Medium-dark roasts are rich and dark in color. These beans have some oil on their surface with a lightly bittersweet aftertaste.
  • Dark roasts are shiny, dark brown, almost black beans with an oily surface. The taste of this roast is profoundly bitter. Because the roast is dark, there is less acidity in the coffee.

Roasting coffee beans: how do we do it?

Roasting coffee beans is both an art and a science. Coffee can be either perfected or ruined within just a matter of seconds. It is important, as a premium coffee roaster, that you are aware of the different types of roasts and how to handle your beans. Here at Koffee Kult, we are deemed the gurus of roasting coffee beans, but how do we do it?


Know your beans: roasting stages

Koffee Kult uses different names to describe the different roasts which we produce. For example, you have your light, medium, and dark roasts. Professional roasters that have specific recipes like to follow a roasting profile to achieve the flavor they are searching for. Of course, roasting is not the only factor that plays into the art of roasting premium coffee.