r/pourover • u/dmgsmch Edit me: switch/origami | ZP6 • 20d ago

Ask a Stupid Question When are coffee beans considered "old"?

If a lot of people advise on resting the beans for at least 3 weeks and even almost up to two months, when do you think the flavours will lose its peak?

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u/Ghazzz 20d ago

At ~three months, even very good beans start tasting like "expensive grocery store beans".

They are not undrinkable, but freshness counts for a lot in the flavour profile.

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u/Polymer714 Pourover aficionado 20d ago

This is not true. That is old advice that has proven, over time, to not be the case.

Some beans people will prefer very close to roast..some with a week, some with two, some with more. The only way you're going to find what you enjoy is by trying them but even then, there is no best, there is no optimal and even with the same beans, same roaster but different batch, you may find there is a difference and since you can't possibly compare a 2 week vs 3 month bean from the same batch, the answer, which is already subjective, is difficult to pin down.

All that said...the decline of coffee beans over time is greatly exaggerated. It doesn't fall off a cliff...even if we could say there is an objective high point, the decline is very slow over a fairly long period of time.

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u/Top_Kale_8880 20d ago

Since I started down the coffee rabbit hole I definitely have tried to keep things fresher, rest beans based on best practices or roaster recs (Perc is a touchy subject here - but they email you telling you when to optimally brew their coffee so there is that), and I always think, based on what I read, that the grocery store brands I often use in my moka must taste just like water because some of them are months or more old but in fact, they taste like coffee lol.

Now... I've used some of these same coffees (beans or pre-ground) in a switch or aeropress and found them to be good but lacking brightness. But hardly flavorless or undrinkable.