Coffee beans shelf life is based on various things that affect them. To begin with, coffee beans are picked at certain times. Their color and moisture content is used to determine the ripeness of the bean. Normal moisture levels for most coffee beans when picked is about 30-35%. At this point the seeds will then be hulled. Drying of the coffee will proceed at this time. Once dried, bagged and collected, the coffee will be sent from its location from the mountains to the shipping locations. Usually located in large warehouses where a collection of all the regional coffee is collected and stored till shipped. This period of time will be determined by the length of time the beans are harvested sorted, dried and bagged.
Once purchased through Importers and assigned a shipping location and date, the beans will rest. When the certain date arrives, the coffee will be moved to its shipping location and be loaded into shipping containers for its new location. The moisture will continue to drop as required, and at the end of the process the normal moisture level will be roughly 10-12% at shipping.
Our coffee beans come through Balzac Brothers Importers in Charleston SC. They are a fourth generation company owned today by the great and grand daughters of the original Balzac Brothers. They're a well known quality coffee supplier that works directly with the farmers for their sustainable coffees. We have worked with them since our inception in August 2019. We really were impressed with the quality of their products and customer service.They are providing High quality coffee beans acceptable around the world while helping maintain a healthy production of fresh coffee for people to enjoy in their homes and businesses.
Once our coffee beans are shipped from Balzac Brothers Importers to our local shop located in Canton Ohio, we provide them a bed to rest on till we are ready to roast them. With about up to 2 years availability from picked to roast time, at Cherry Blend Coffee Roasters, we fall in a very short span of that time. Roasting small batches, helps us control the proper time needed for fresh roasted coffee while maintaining the proper time guideline for freshness. Our turnaround time for roasting once we accept the coffee beans is usually about a month. The next step for roasting our coffee beans will drop the moisture off the beans even more.
We roast our coffee beans at roughly 11% moisture. With time, temperature and heat controlling the final roast, the moisture drops about 14% more. Having less weight than starting means the bean has lost weight. Many coffee bean roasters will sell their coffee at the normal 16oz weight price yet bagged 12oz. For sale to their customer. At Cherry Blend, Coffee Roasters, we sell you 16oz. Of coffee final roasted for a 16oz. Price. We accept the small weight loss as part of our business and treating our client to a full bag of coffee every time.
Now that we have your fresh coffee roasted, the next weight loss and fresh mark, is the degassing of the beans. This is where the coffee bean has roasted internally and is degassing Carbon Dioxide externally. We bag our beans using a degassing valve for every bag we sell. Allowing the Carbon Dioxide to expel will rest the bean and bring it to its very best taste and flavor. The coffee bean will again lose very little moisture from this point unless not used in a period of time. The best time for drinking coffee freshly roasted for freshness and taste is usually within two weeks of roasting.