The Importance of Fresh Coffee Beans...

Coffee beans contain a balance of over 800 complex and diverse aromatic compounds. Studies reveal that noticeable changes in coffee bean aroma occur within two or three days, more obvious changes occur within 8-10 days and 70% of the total aromatics can be gone within three weeks.

Stale flavour is significant after 2 weeks of storage in the presence of oxygen. The process is one of acceleration: once it begins, products of oxidation increase until all possible paths are exhausted and the coffee is stale. It is therefore vital to purchase coffee beans as fresh as possible.

Often imported coffees and coffees purchased through re-sellers are stale mainly because they do not have the logistical ability to deliver fresh coffee quickly.  It is therefore important to check the roasting dates and not be miss guided by long sell by dates.

Packaging, Why Its Important...

There are many ways of packing coffee to help slow down the deterioration of the coffee beans, gas flushing, vacuum packing, even sealed tins!  However to be able to pack coffee beans quickly after roasting is the secret . Garraways coffee beans are packed in bags which incorporate a one-way valve called a “valve lock” which will permit the gasses emitted by the freshly roasted beans to escape without allowing air to re-enter the bag. Valve locks are helpful in keeping the potentially damaging air away from the beans.

Each bag from Garraways has a "roasted on" date stamp indicating exactly when the coffee was roasted 'guaranteeing its freshness and quality'.