I have not roasted my own coffee in 20 years, I was a kid and gave up fast. But, now I ONLY buy fresh roasted beans. When you make espresso, you notice old beans so damn fast it’s not even funny. To properly drive this point home, I would imagine (don’t know) that it’s like you’re trying to have sex with someone who’s just laying lifeless. The point is that as you can imagine, that doesn’t sound very fun. It can achieve the desired outcome, but doesn’t leave the greatest taste in our mouth.
Anyway, I would say that his 7 day rule is easily more true and magnified on espresso, but coffee can still be good enough for 2-3 weeks. But he’s right, if you could roast more often, a day or 2 would be consistently the best. When you get fresh espresso drinks, the flavors dance on your tongue because they have such a silky creamy vibrant and robust body. When you’re used to that, then get an old-bean espresso drink…it no joke, ends up tasting like soda with all the carbonation gone. You definitely notice it in other methods too, but on espresso, when you’re used to fresh beans, it’s a huge slap on the tongue.
Everyone knows I’m an Espressionado, so family on vacation has brought me beans from all over the world. Paris, Greece, Hawaii and more, just not Italy yet (sigh). Not too sad really because most of it arrives old anyway, so it’s a huge let down usually. Sometimes if you’re lucky, you get it right at the end of it’s life still. So you can get a few good drinks, but it dries so fast after opening at that point (like 1-2 days). I had a $50 half-pound of Kona that was DOA. And that was on top of being dark roast (also very bad for exquisite espresso). I got a fresher non-dark roast from Hana Coffee Company that thoroughly out-performed the Kona in every single category.
Most don’t get it, they’re like “what do you mean the coffee is too old”? I explain that proper espresso machines bring out every single flavor in a bean. That means everything from, Berries to fruits to chocolate and every sweet ester your coffee can secrete. But, if your coffee is even slightly burnt, guess what, that char will be magnified in your cup too. If it’s slightly old, that void of flavor will be magnified too. So being used to quality espresso is a gift, but kinda a curse too because it really limits your coffee sources.
I give everyone in my family my espresso drinks, so they hear me out because the proof is in the pudding. Everyone’s eyebrows go up every time they get one, and I constantly get asked “where is MY coffee” when I come over. But I still get some joking eye rolls from like my brother who recently brought me some Nates from Kentucky beans. I gave it away to my mom when the date passed, like I do with all my month-old coffee’s. But he see’s me doing this even with coffee’s I buy, so he can’t really act like it’s a slight.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is, this guy is right. But it’s pretty common knowledge for enthusiasts in the same way we know not to go looking for flashlights at Target. This guy is just forming the message for the masses. Or maybe, the masses that can take a trip to Bali it seems, but I digress. I would honestly love a damn good roaster and constantly fresh beans, so his message is still spot on about the beans needing to be fresh. When you do pour-over, a fresh coffee literally blooms and rises like a slow atomic bomb explosion. Fresh FRESH coffee beans is just one of those things (especially for espresso) that when you get there, going backwards is basically like you now being forced to buy all your future flashlights from either CVS or Walgreens only.