Issue #01 February 2007

Greetings,

This is the very first issue of the Coffee Detective Newsletter.

As you’ll see, there is a short article, followed by some Buying Tips.

I’ll follow the same format in each issue. If you have ideas for articles, please let me know. In other words, if there is some aspect of coffee or coffee making you would like to know more about, I would be happy to write about it.

You can reach me at any time at nick@coffeedetective.com

Best wishes,

Nick

Nick Usborne

CoffeeDetective.com

Millions of coffee lovers go to their local supermarkets, buy a bag of whole coffee beans from one of the bins and then place the bag on the kitchen counter or in a cupboard.

There’s a problem here. Not a big one. But if you love the taste of fresh brewed coffee, you need to consider what happens after a coffee bean is roasted.

When you roast coffee, the oils inside the bean come to the surface. In fact, if you buy dark roasted coffee, you can actually see the oil on the surface.

The trouble is, these oils are volatile and start to oxidize when exposed to the air. And that’s a problem, because the subtleties of the taste of the coffee are found in those oils.

Put simply, oxygen is the enemy of fresh coffee.

That’s why roasters package their roasted beans as soon as possible. And quality roasters package the beans in an airtight bag which includes a one-way valve. The valve allows the beans to “gas off”, which happens after roasting, but it prevents air from entering the bag.

In this way, bags with valves keep oxygen away from the beans and so preserve their taste.

So that’s the first tip. Buy sealed bags. Don’t buy from those bins. The beans in the bins have been exposed to the air for days, or even weeks. Not good.

The next tip concerns how you keep your coffee when you get home. Remember, as soon as you open the sealed bag, air will get to the coffee. So once the bag is opened, be sure to store the beans in an air-tight container. There are plenty of glass jars and tins available with rubber seals.

Also, if you buy a few bags at a time, put the beans from one bag in a container and then place the other bags, still sealed, in the freezer. Not in the fridge, but the freezer. A sealed bag of beans can stay fresh in the freezer for several months.

There’s a lot of marketing going on out there. Coffee is a big business, and everyone wants your money.

Hence the growing popularity of single serve coffee makers.

Yes, they make brewing a cup of coffee incredibly easy and convenient. We have one ourselves, and use it more than we should. They make great coffee, but each cup costs a lot more than if you were to buy whole beans, grind them and use a drip brewer or French Press.

If you want a single cup brewer, here are a couple of links to decide which of them is best for you.

A coffee pod brewer or a K-Cup brewer?.

Which of the Keurig K-Cup brewers should you choose?.

That’s it for now.

Watch for the next issue in a few weeks.