I am a rather heavy user when it comes to coffee. I would say that of the four variables one can control when extracting coffee (age of roasted bean, extraction method, water temperature, grind coarseness), age of the roasted bean is the most critical. The flavorful chemical compounds which give coffee its more subtle flavors decay quickly, leaving the user with only the "pine-tar" and "charcoal" flavors in as little as 3 weeks after roasting.
If anyone's interested in my thoughts at length, I actually have a blog entry on the subject on my MySpace page: www.myspace.com/nickjeswald
I am a rather heavy user when it comes to coffee. I would say that of the four variables one can control when extracting coffee (age of roasted bean, extraction method, water temperature, grind coarseness), age of the roasted bean is the most critical. The flavorful chemical compounds which give coffee its more subtle flavors decay quickly, leaving the user with only the "pine-tar" and "charcoal" flavors in as little as 3 weeks after roasting. If anyone's interested in my thoughts at length, I actually have a blog entry on the subject on my MySpace page: www.myspace.com/nickjeswald