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Bags of green coffee in storage
Photo: DeaPeaJay in Flickr under a Creative Commons license
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In the coffee industry, the term “aged” refers to green coffee stored in a warehouse for a specific length of time to develop a desired flavor. Unlike aged wine, which is stored after the bottling process, aged coffee is stored for three to five years prior to roasting. Aged coffee is known for its bold, full-bodied, spicy flavor.
Not all green coffees benefit from ageing. The process can reduce the brightness and acidity for which washed Latin American coffees are famous. However, Indonesian coffees such as Sumatra and Sulawesi often develop a spicy complexity as they age. How well coffee ages can be dependent on whether it was washed, semi-washed or naturally processed.
Starbucks buys green coffee specifically for ageing and stores it in a special warehouse located in Singapore. The Starbucks Green Coffee Quality team conducts a tasting twice a year to monitor the taste profiles and quality.
The tastings allow Starbucks to select the appropriate coffee beans at the right time for single-origin offerings or for their signature whole bean coffees such as Christmas Blend and Anniversary Blend.
As the saying goes, “some things only get better with age.”
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Comments
In other words: stale.
Not at all, Greg. Find and taaste a properly aged Sumatra Golden Mandheling, or Indian Monsooned Malabar. (don't go looking for the real article at the Bux, though... find a specialty roaster for the real article). Then come back and try and convince me it's just "stale". These coffees definitly present a rich and complex boldness, heavy and smooth body, and an unique flavour no current cop coffee can match. Most often, though, they are lost in presentation, as they are blended away with other origins. I have yet to see a café offering French Press single origin coffees, well roasted, with any aged coffee on offer. Someone should do that....... having experienced well over a hundred single origin coffees, well roasted and press-brewed, I will never go back to house or generic blends, or large franchise single origins bulk roasted and old on the shelf. Monsooned Malabar and Golden Mandheling are two of the more astounding coffees I've had. If these are "stale", then I am mad about stale
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