Postby msm » Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:35 pm
That's something to ponder. I think it can be somewhat sensitive too, as none of us really want to serve "old" coffee. I would add that I do not believe it would ever be our intention as proud craftsmen and women to serve any coffees that we would not be completely happy to drink ourselves, and truly believe in.
That being said, I have tasted some incredible coffees that would be considered by many to be outside the age range of acceptability. I'm reminded of a Natural Processed Java Type Nicaragua from a local roaster. It did not even really begin to open up until it had a year on it. I would dare say it tasted better with some age. Even a couple years out, it was juicy and fruity, definitely very strong in the cup and aromatic performance.
In one place I worked we had purchased 8 bags of a fresh crop giling basah Lintong Sumatra. It had been off the boat for about 2 months when we received it. 5 bags were in Grainpro and 3 were standard breathable burlap. I opened the grainpro first and over the course of a couple months had used 3 bags. Then I realized I probably should have used the burlap first, as it would age differently. So I switched and found that with the same profile, the coffee in burlap was more flat and less pungent grapefruit/ripe mango. Because it had dried a little more, I wound up decreasing the overall roasting time, and dropping it 10 degrees cooler. I also found more of the sweet, tangy acidity that we liked so much about this coffee with a post 1st crack development of about 3 minutes (5 minutes for the coffee in grainpro). Ultimately, I found that these coffees were able to maintain a pretty solid uniformity in cup qualities over the course of aging a few months.
Currently, I work with a Diedrich IR-3. We have a coffee that was harvested in 2009. However, it was vacuum sealed in foil pouches, and has been stored in a relatively stable environment. Is it fermented? Big time. Is it good? It's incredible! But in these situations, it comes down to subjective personal tastes. I have experimented a bit, first taking it a fairly slow 17 minutes with a post first crack development of close to 3 minutes, and significantly shy of 2nd crack. It is so soft and dry that I can't apply too much heat too rapidly. This delivered a mellow baked apple/pear quality, overall pretty flat though. Messing around a bit more, I found it opened up beautifully by arriving at first crack a little sooner, and essentially cutting heat, allowing the conductivity to carry it to finish, with a post 1st crack development of 1min. 30-45 seconds. It delivers raspberry/strawberry jam, a thick syrupy body, ripe pear and sweet malt. I don't know if it can yield anything more, but I'm probably going to continue messing around with it.
I would certainly say that some coffees by nature and process age more gracefully than others. I think that finding sweetness in an older Indian or Indonesian would be far easier than a fully washed, dense Latin American Typica no matter how you treated it. I would also think that your roasting gear would play a significant role. (When I was using an Ambex YM 15, I found it incredibly challenging to keep the drum from getting too hot, thereby really eliminating the possibility of roasting any larger batches quickly.) Along with that goes the intended goal or purpose for the particular coffee - blending, espresso, straight, etc. These factors would help me personally determine how I would treat a coffee over the course of its lifespan, and perhaps subsequently beyond.
Hope that can help a little.
Michael