The words 'a fresh cup of coffee' summon up images of a warm, delicious and reviving brew… But how fresh is fresh?
We believe that the biggest single factor that is going to affect the enjoyment of your coffee is when the beans were roasted and when they were ground. You can have the best beans in the world, but if they're not fresh, that brew you are about to drink will be dull, lifeless and bland.
This is why here at Black Mountain Roast we gently roast our beans in small batches, which ensures the freshest coffee: full of life, flavour and the sweet aromas that are inherent in the great beans we source.
In short, fresh is best!
Beans require a short period of resting after being roasted. This allows the natural gases from the heating and roasting process to escape. A coffee brewed immediately after roasting will foam up when hot water hits the grounds in the brewer, due to excessive carbon dioxide escaping from the beans and impeding the extraction process.
There are many opinions on the timing and period it takes for beans to reach their peak flavour.
Our opinion is that our roasting method will mean that our fresh roasted coffee will reach its fullest and best flavour over a one to four week period from roasting. After four weeks, the flavour will slowly degrade from its ‘peak’ but remain of a very high quality for up to eight weeks from roasting.
This why small-batch roasting gives such a superior experience over cheaper, commodity coffee sold en mass in supermarkets or even in popular cafe chains: some may have been roasted months or even a year ago!
All of this of course applies to beans; pre-ground coffee will lose its flavour much more quickly. Investing in a burr grinder so you can grind your beans fresh for every brew is an essential (and relatively cheap) investment. It will add a whole new level of joy to your brew… the subject of grinding and its art will be covered in its very own chapter!
Once you've experienced fresh coffee, we believe you won't want to drink anything else!