Ah, you take a sip.

At times, however, you discover that the realization of what you get is much less than the anticipation.

At those moments, you, perhaps, have experienced a stale, bitter, or flavorless taste. 

Reasons exist for staleness, flavorlessness, bitterness, and bite.

Little things make a big difference. 

A few insider secrets follow:

1.   Coffee beans begin going stale at two weeks after being roasted.

Buy only enough whole beans to last you no longer than 2 weeks.

2.   Once brewed, coffee begins to start scorching after 5 minutes on the burner.

To retain fresh aroma and flavor, take brewed coffee off the burner immediately and pour into a good airpot. Coffee should last all day.

3.   Coffee stored in the freezer or refrigerator loses freshness and oils.

Always store beans room temperature.

4.   Coffee packaged or stored improperly in the wrong bag or in the light loses its potency and oils, and becomes stale even sooner.

When you buy, look to see if the bag the whole beans are stored in has a vacuum seal and an air valve in the back. For longest lasting freshness, store beans in their bag with the vacuum seal and air valve in a dark cabinet.

5.   Beans ground and stored ground in advance go stale quickly.

Coffee must be ground just before brewing to be its freshest best.

6.   Unfortunately, even in the finest organic and gourmet stores, coffees sold may have been sitting on the shelves for days, perhaps weeks, and have many times, though they claim to be "fresh roasted," ceased to be fresh--and are not fresh when you purchase them. Even the best fresh-roasted whole beans must be fresh when purchased, or will taste bitter or flavorless when brewed.

Ask the shop or coffee store manager how often they change out their unpurchased beans. Also ask once the bag is opened behind the counter for making coffees, how often they throw away old beans? I have asked and found that the bags on the shelves in well-known shops are allowed to stay on there for two months at least, before removed: and that the old beans behind the counter are thrown away only after at least a month open.

Check freshness date on beans purchased in stores, coffee shops, and cafes. (You may find that many will not put the roasting date on the bag.)

If beans are sold in bulk, ask when the bulk container was changed out with fresh beans.

Even better, take the taste test: ask to taste one of the beans of each coffee you are considering: the staleness will be obvious if it exists.

7.   A poor roaster can burn the beans and, with blends, may not combine the flavors of beans well, producing a bitter, biting flavor.

Again, when you can, take the taste test. If the beans taste bitter, they may be fresh, but may have been scorched when being roasted.

8.   Coffees grown at the lower levels of mountain regions can be advertised as "mountain grown." But at what altitude? Grown in lower regions climates with more sun, however, beans are transported out of the country more cheaply, are advertised as "mountain grown whole beans," are sold at a lower cost to the consumer, and are many times passed off as fine gourmet coffees. A retailer may even be ignorant of these facts and may buy the cheaper whole beans from wholesalers who purchase their beans from the lower geographical regions where coffee farmers sell more cheaply may produce more bitter beans, due to the heat and poor nutrients associated with its growing process at lower levels.

Ask in what regions and at what altitudes the beans you are purchasing were produced: if they were shade grown on sustainable lands, if they are from Estates, or Cooperatives? Again, nothing beats your own personal taste test.

Take a Taste Test

Pop a bean into your mouth and bite down. 

1.   If the bean is bitter or stale, the bean will dissolve, like bitter sand within your mouth.

2.   The finest beans, purchased at the highest altitudes, will offer an aroma that waffs through the room when you open the bag, presenting with an appearance as oily, fresh, and tasting well-roasted.

3.   With the finest, freshest beans, when you open the bag and pop one bean into your mouth, of course it will taste like unsweetened coffee. A distinct difference, however, that you will notice immediately is that when you bite down, the bean will actually EXPLODE with flavor and freshness. No bitter, flavorless, or sandy texture.

At San Francisco Coffee Connection, we offer only the top 3% world's finest whole beans from the top 3% highest mountain altitudes.

We welcome you to take the fresh taste taste.

Immediately you will notice the distinct difference.