I noticed an interesting potential trend. I’ve lately been keeping my decaf beans frozen in mini mason jars with flip up lids. The ones that clamp down to create a seal. These beans had been earlier (and quickly) transferred from a somewhat larger (say 100 ml) vacuum sealed and frozen bag to the mini mason jars.
However the jars hold about 40g of beans, which means that when I open the jar to remove a single dose of beans, air enters and moisture forms. So I was/am concerned about impacts of this air and moisture on taste. This was/is the topic of this post.
I’ve recently noticed that the body, strength and flavor of my shots has been declining over the past few days. And I’ve had to grind finer and finer, to keep the same flow/time. Sure sounds like staling to me. But apparently freezing is supposed to dramatically slow the staling process.
While this decline could be to other causes, such as the settling in of my new NZ, my spider sense tells me its staling. I’ve kept the sale recipe. Yet the shot taste and cappuccino taste declined. I had pretty good tasting shots a few days ago (fuller body and mouthfeel, decent strength, some interesting and tasty flavours and good length); this lasted for 4 shots. Then the decline started. Grinding finer isn’t helping.
Does this sound like staling? Its not supposed to be happening….:
Btw, I do like the workflow of single dose bottles or bags. So I’ve just bought a box of 20 mini jars that are square and hold 17 grams. They are sealed by a cork. On Amazon for only $25 CDN. We’ll see how they work out. Otherwise I’m back to vacuum sealing 20 or so minibags per pound and freezing these.