Simon Klee / Coffee

The catalog is everything I have considered. This is the part I paid for.

Four bags from two roasters since 10 September 2026. In all, 1.25 kg for DKK 745, delivered. One tasting on record.

For milk, start with sweetness, body and clean flavor, and enough intensity to come through the milk. Chocolate. Caramel. Nuts. Some fruit, in moderation.

Reading the label.

Origin, process and variety are clues. Only clues.

Brazil

Many producers, and many styles.

Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Peru

Diverse origins. Many washed coffees.

Ethiopia

Many varieties and many ways of processing.

Washed

Pulp and mucilage removed before the final drying.

Natural

Dried inside the cherry.

Honey, pulped natural

Some mucilage left on during drying.

Anaerobic, extended fermentation

A condition of the fermentation, or a way of running it.

Co-fermented, infused

May involve added fruit or other ingredients.

Geisha or Gesha, Sidra, rare varieties

Varieties that can carry distinctive flavors.

Nothing rare is needed. A well-chosen Caturra, Catuai, Bourbon or Castillo can make excellent espresso. A well-made blend can beat a costly single origin.

100% Arabica is no promise of quality. Robusta can add body, bitterness, crema and caffeine.

Prodigal’s published account of its quality control is worth reading. Blind tasting. Limits on roast color and weight loss. How the green coffee is stored. Pale, defective beans picked out.

What I weigh lightly.

The bag and the branding. Organic, Fairtrade or B Corp certification. “Direct trade”, offered as proof of quality.

Roasting leaves carbon dioxide in the beans, and they give it up over time. Degassing. Too much gas can make the shot less predictable. Meanwhile the aroma fades, and oxidation goes to work.

Rest is the compromise. The newest bag is not always the one to open today.

Where to start.

What the sources say.

• ZHAW degassing research. Measures how different roasts and preparations release gas. It explains the mechanisms. It does not find one best day for taste that holds for every coffee.
• Samo Smrke’s freshness guide. Separates chemical freshness from physical degassing. Roast, packaging, temperature and brewing method all matter. A strong case against any single rule for age.
• SCA, July 2026. Suggests roughly three weeks as a definition of freshness, based on the loss of carbon dioxide. An indicator of freshness. Not proof that espresso tastes best before day 21.
• Holy Bean espresso guidance. Recommends one to two weeks of rest. Relevant to the first Danish trial.
• CleverCoffee FAQ. Puts the best taste at two to eight weeks, and recommends using the coffee within two weeks of opening. A reason to count sealed age and time since opening separately.
• Prodigal shipping information. Recommends three to four weeks, and sells coffee from past roast dates as rested. Choosing an older roast date shortens the wait before brewing.
• La Cabra resting guide. Recommends at least ten days, and finds some dense coffees excellent after six weeks. A practice for particular roasts. Not a reason to buy La Cabra again.

The sources seem to disagree, partly because they answer different questions. Keeping the original aroma, reducing the gas and getting the espresso flavor you prefer are different goals.

Scott Rao rejects a universal resting period outright. Some of his explanations, such as the differences between roaster designs, are hypotheses. Not settled science.

There is also the SCA Coffee Freshness Handbook. I have not read the paid handbook in full. This page rests on the public research and summaries linked here.

Storage.

A 2022 storage study compared four ways to keep coffee after opening. The package with a built-in screw cap did best in its chemical measurements. Moving the coffee into the canister it tested did worse. An argument for letting in less air. Not a claim that every bag beats every container.

Freezing.

Useful. It lets you buy several kilos without keeping all of it open for weeks.

1. Rest the coffee until it is ready.
2. Seal it in portions and freeze at −18 °C.
3. Thaw each portion still sealed.

You can also freeze before the rest is over. Freezing slows degassing, so the coffee may still need rest after thawing.

To be safe, use it within 1–3 months. Scientific and practical sources support much longer keeping under good conditions, with variable results. See the SCA summary and Smrke’s freezing guidance.

The shots are pulled on a Decent DE1PRO and the beans ground on a Rocket Fausto. A Half Decent Scale keeps the figures honest.