Your blog looks good Stuart. Lots of interesting stuff. Good luck with your traing for the UKBC!

Just changed my blog again. What do you think? Does it make more sense now.

As far as the predictability is concerned I know similar experiments have been done before and that greens store better, but this is not why we did it. It’s purely done to experience these things for ourselves to have a firsthand knowedge of excactly how the degradation happens (or rather what the effects of it are) and if there is any difference between the storage methods. There were differences between but they were greater last week, and I expect them to become greater again next week. The freezing and then thawing puts a strain on the coffee, but the actual storage in the freezer is perhaps slightly better than when stored at room temperature. So over time it might just be a little bit less detrimental. I guess we will see next week.

Thanks for your comments. I belive that there is no absolute truth to be found, and I welcome a discussion on the subject.

I think your results are quite predictable in that after so long a time all roasted coffee is going to basically start to taste the same regardless of how you store it. Your control sample seems to confirm this.

That’s why I believe your experiment helps confirm that some more relevant conversations to freshness are happening on the greens side of the equation. Once the sugars have been broken down via Maillard and Strecker, I don’t believe there is much of anything that can be done to help save them. It’s like trying to hold sand or water in your hands while running. But storing intact sugar/amino chains (storing greens) means you have stronger chemical bonds with which to work when you do thaw, and can effectively do so for a much longer period.