Bean age and taste profile question

Dan Streight

I'm not a roaster and know very little about the craft. However a question to the roasters in the group. Generally the beans I get from a small group of roasters need approximately 5-days to start coming in to their own (best taste profile). My stalwart go to beans typically give me about 5-days of predictable and easy to manage top taste results (after a 5-day post roast rest/air out). Been this way over the several years of using these beans.

However I recently tried another roaster from the SF Bay area and got super taste results at 5 and 6-days post roast and it was a super fast downhill ride after that. After the magic of 5-6 days post roast I can't find "home" no matter what change I make; but the bean and espresso has definitely suffered.

Question: What determines a given bean's peak taste profile and duration of same? Is it the bean itself or is it the roasting style or a combination of both? Or yet some other unknown?

Thanks in advance!

Kfir

from my experience from roasting for about 5 years and owning different roasters it really comes down to this:

1. Type of the roaster - beans roasted in an air roaster usually go stale more quickly than drum roasted beans.

2. Style of roasting - lighter roasts usually needs more rest time for the taste to fully develop.

3. Storage - Proper storing in a sealed bag in a cool and dry place will keep the beans fresh longer, I suggest to use the roaster's original foil bag and just to remove most of the air by folding the top a few times and to hold it with a strong clip.
Vacuum cans are not good for storing roasted coffee and I don't recommend them at all.

4. Environment conditions i.e how much moisture usually exist in your area, which season is it - for example now in winter the moisture is much lower than is summer (40% vs 70-75%) and the coffee stays fresh longer.

Kfir.