Importance of Coffee freshness in low volume sites

I was talking to a customer of mine today who runs a tourist centre. They appear to get through a lot of coffee, so you would think that coffee freshness wasn't an issue, yet appearances can be deceptive.

When we looked at the numbers it transpires that of all the coffees he sells only 25 cups a day are espresso based drinks. Now this has huge implications for the freshness of the coffee he serves.

In the first instance a kilo of coffee beans once opened should be used up within 4 days, clearly not the case here.

Next is the problem of filling the grinder hopper with beans and then grinding down enough coffee for two days trade, because the grinder has an automatic on / off switch and it's also more convenient for the staff if they don't have to keep fresh grinding the coffee.

All of the above though leads to a significant deterioration in flavour as the oxygen reacts with the coffee to destroy flavour leaving a stale flat taste in the cup.

So what to do?

If they are to stay with beans, then the grinder hopper should only be filled with sufficient coffee to last for a day. The rest of the coffee beans should be kept in the special barrier bag in which it came and kept in a fridge to slow down its deterioration.

The grinder should only be switched on when the first customer appears in the morning, so that the coffee is as fresh as it can be. It also might mean throwing away the first coffee whilst everything gets up to operating temperature.

All this will help to improve the standard of the coffee delivered.

At the end of the day no coffee should be left in the grinder. Any ground coffee should be disposed of. You'll soon get used to not leaving any ground coffee in the grinder if the boss notices you throwing out the company profits!

The other alternative is to use coffee pods rather than whole beans.These are pre-dosed amounts of fresh ground coffee that are individually foil wrapped. You pay more for the packaging, and the freshness isn't quite as good as for truly fresh coffee beans, but at least the standard will be consistent.

The main thing is to be aware of the issues that affect the flavour of your coffee, after all when you're charging someone £2.00 for a Cappuccino they want to feel that they have had value for money, and you will want them to come back for more.