Cryogenic freezing improves coffee extraction

[doctorow]

[Read the post]

[Ratel]

Do you need to freeze the civet as well, or does it get to poop the beans out first?

[Modusoperandi]

What if we just want that sweet coffee buzz because it’s the only thing that keeps us going in this damn place and what imbecile pushed the Wednesday morning meeting to Friday afternoon and why does Suzan have to talk so loud in her cubicle that I can hear her all the way over here and I think I’ve had too much coffee and hold on I have to take this call and who the hell spells “Susan” with a zed anyway and I think I just realized I’m probably Canadian and…

[anon29631895]

@doctorow

A new study in Nature by University of Bath chemist Christopher Hendon and colleagues from various universities and coffee shops finds that cryogenic freezing of coffee beans prior to grinding them produces a more uniform grind that allows for optimal extraction.

However, it does make them highly carcinogenic.

[jimp]

I don’t think I care to trust a report that has an illustration where a “chute” is labelled “shoot”.

Makes it look like a third grade “science fair” poster.

[Boundegar]

I do not think I will be investing in a kitchen dry ice machine.

[peemlives]

I’m glad they aren’t engaging in non-cryogenic freezing.

[d_r]

@doctorow

The second caveat is that keeping your beans in the freezer is a bad idea: freezers are very arid, and the sweet, volatile oils in the beans will quickly sublimate out of the solids, making for a more bitter cup.

This is nonsense. Coffee hobbyists have been experimenting carefully with freezing beans since the early days of alt.coffee, and the experiments almost universally confirm that freezing roasted beans as soon as possible (after the initial outgassing) in full containers (so as little air as possible) is a great way to preserve bean freshness, second only to replacing the air with inert gas (as Illy does).

Of course, it is easy enough to confirm or disconfirm for oneself whether this works, rather than just immediately believe old wive’s tales (or the internet). Like all cooking, coffee is a great opportunity to do home chemistry experiments.

We consume lots of espresso (always-on commercial espresso machine in the kitchen), so buy beans in sacks of 5-10 pounds to save money and freeze it, thawing in batches of around 3/4 pound. Coffee drawn from the last batch is almost indistinguishable from the first, though once thawed it does seem to deteriorate more quickly.

[swag]

Read one study with zero plans for reproducing it for verification.

Call it dogma.

Science wins.

[anon55609254]

I think you’ve had your day’s maximum already, Sir.