You can use a top of the line machine, upgrade all your tools, and pull technically perfect shots – but your espresso game will never reach its full potential if you’re using stale beans. No matter how you brew it, standard grocery store coffee leaves much to be desired. And once you discover the difference between generic supermarket coffee and high quality fresh roasted beans, we promise you’ll never want to go back.

Why does freshness matter?

Even if you don’t consider yourself a coffee aficionado, you can tell the difference between fresh roasted and stale beans right away.

Aroma.
Roasting coaxes out coffee’s distinctive characteristics, and doesn’t take long before these fleeting aromas fade. If your coffee’s been sitting around awhile, your espresso experience may fall flat.

Taste.
Fresh roasted coffee is bursting with nuanced flavor notes like blueberry, caramel, cocoa, or orange blossom. You won’t get flavors anywhere near that complex with grocery store beans.

Crema.

Crema is the mark of excellent espresso, and we’d be truly impressed if you were able to get a decent crema out of stale beans. Simply put, you’ll extract more of the good stuff if you use fresh coffee.

Channeling.
Fresh beans still retain natural moisture and oils, which gives you a better grind. Dried out old coffee beans will be sandy, allowing gaps for uneven water flow, leaving you with over- and under-extracted channels.

How long will coffee beans stay fresh?

Coffee beans will stay delicious for up to six weeks, but you can expect peak freshness for about two weeks after roasting. Always brew your coffee as close to the roast date as possible.

Just for reference, it can take several months for generic grocery store coffee to make it from the roaster to your cup. You’ll definitely need plenty of milk or creamer to cover up that level of staleness.

Why are supermarket beans so stale?

When you buy mass-produced coffee beans at the grocery store, you probably won’t be able to find a roast date on the package. The reason is simple: they don’t want you to know you’re buying old beans. To be fair, the manufacturers don’t want their beans to be stale – it’s just that the supply chain moves far too slowly to keep them fresh. The “best by” date stamped on the bag is usually months in the future, but in reality, the freshness period has already come and gone.

Also, coffee readily absorbs odors, so if your bag of beans has been sitting on the shelf for weeks, it’ll taste like the grocery store.

What makes coffee go stale?

Roasting is a complex process that creates a unique flavor profile, releases natural oils, caramelizes sugars, and introduces carbon dioxide (CO2) to the beans. After roasting, CO2 slowly leaves the beans and oxygen rushes in to take its place. This kicks off a chemical reaction called oxidation. Oxidation is the same process that turns metal into rust and makes avocados turn brown. In coffee, it destroys the natural oils, leaving you with lifeless, flat-tasting coffee.

What about pre-ground coffee?

Coffee begins losing its oomph within minutes of grinding, so pre-ground coffee will never be as fresh as whole bean. With more surface area in the grounds, there’s more opportunity for oxidation and staleness. Pre-ground is meant to be used in drip coffee machines and is far too coarse for espresso, anyway.

How do you find fresh roasted coffee beans?

On your quest for the perfect brew, start close to home. You may be surprised how many roasters there are in your area, and it’s always best to support local businesses whenever you can.

If you can’t find a local roaster and don’t have easy access to fresh roasted beans, there are some excellent online companies that will ship the same day the coffee is roasted. Specialty roasters like Onyx Coffee Lab or Good Brothers Coffee will roast, bag, and ship your beans at their peak, so you can enjoy fresh coffee no matter where you live.

If you’d rather stick to store brand beans, that’s your business. We want you to #LoveEveryShot however you like it. But if you’re ready to elevate your morning brew, switch to local fresh roasted coffee beans. You won’t regret it.