Bean maturation - I recently found out about this!

Last month I picked up a bag of fresh roasted beans from a local food market which were roasted only a week prior. I thought hey awesome, how fresh! So I go home and work on dialing the grind in. No matter what I tried - grind finer, pull longer shots, dose higher, dose lower, all I got was a tart mess. Bleah. The beans are like a lighter medium. So instead of tossing the bag, I just kinda shelved them and thought perhaps they’d be ok with a French press.

Recently I went to that coffee shop/roaster to see what other roasts they had, and I started speaking with one of the owners. He asked me when the beans were roasted. I told him a week prior to me buying them. He told me they’re “too fresh”, and that’s why I was getting so much tartness, especially since they’re a lighter roast. He said let them sit for a couple-few more weeks, and try them again. And that some of those oils would get re-absorbed and the the taste would mature.

It’s now about a 3 weeks since roast. I pulled a double/lungo today, and it was sooo good. Much of the tartness has gone away, and I could actually taste the bean.

Always learning something new about this hobby!