Brewing Frozen Coffee - Part 1 Featuring Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood | Coffee with April

This week, we’re exploring the topic of freezing coffee. Specifically looking at the difference in quality when grinding and brewing from room temperature or from frozen.
In this video, we brewed a Bio-Innovation processed Gesha from La Palma y El Tucan in Colombia. The recipe was our standard 12g-200g 2 pour recipe, for more information make sure to check out one of our many April Brewer videos.
Thank you to Maxwell for taking the time to contribute to this video, be sure to check out his own KZbin channel here: / @coffeewithmaxwell1835
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We're always interested in hearing what topics you're most curious to hear us discuss, and Patreon is a great way of reaching out to us if you would like to make a request.
We welcome your thoughts and feelings on the topics raised in this week's video, as well as other ideas you would like to see us discuss in the future. We really appreciate your feedback and support.
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Produced by April Media - 2023

[@crispypappadums]

I have a vaccumed-sealed predosed coffee cellar since almost two years now. It gives you so much flexibility in what you feel like brewing. Amazingly, to my experience, the coffee quality is as good as fresh more than a year after vaccuuming it. So each time I buy a few bags of coffee, I rest them to peak, seal a few doses and freeze them up. The only downside is that it gives me a reason to buy more coffees and my cellar is getting a bit larger with time!

[@Acontinouslean]

I ran a cafe with one of the first frozen coffee menus in the USA. What made it special , is being able to offer 10-20 coffees at any given time , sometimes two years worth of one farm. It reallly opens up the possibilities what a cafe can offer

[@irhamghani4140]

2 of my favorite coffee pros in one video, how exciting.

[@loreo1235]

We were at your shop last week! And i just wanted to say that the Guatemala Gesha i picked up absolutely blew my mind. Great, great stuff! Keep it up man, im a big fan! Cheers from Berlin! :)

[@coffeewithapril]

Thank you for visiting.

[@yoshireincarnate1649]

i happened to be gifted too much coffee the other month so, unusually for me, i froze quite a lot. and upon brewing it did strike me that the fact the beans were now more brittle due to being colder that that could have a positive affect on grind uniformity. its nice to listen to people actually talking about this because i was immediately surprised at how little i'd heard it being spoken about.

[@BenMargolius]

Super interesting topic! So you find the different partial distribution even if you let the beans temper back to room temp from the freezer?

[@mtbgo7860]

Great videos🎉🎉🎉

[@Hames8]

What concerns me is the waste. If one were to sell frozen coffee, they need to vacuum pack individual doses? If a coffee shop sells 200 cups of coffee, that would mean 200 additional plastic waste? Is it even possible to reuse vacuum packs?

[@loreo1235]

Yes reusable vacuum packs are a thing and imo are perfectly fine for home use

[@lukesp5721]

I've been freezing for over 12 years to extended the longevity of flavour and no turning back. In cryogenics you can freeze viruses or embryos without hesitation so why not coffee? I started with vacuum sealing back in the day but have gradually switched to tubes. Why? They are reusable for one but also in many blind taste tests I preferred a good tube with a tight seal and no headspace. Why? There were slightly more aromatics and had better mouth feel to me. So I also tried vacuum-sealing without completely removing all oxygen and the experience also was more like tubes. Something to do with removing all the oxygen possible might also removes some aroma volatiles. I'm working on a line of tubes for freezing with a tight closure, no poptops, valves! Or gimmicky glass tubes. Plus some beautiful tools to go with it.

[@coffeenerdaaron]

I wait till 14 days off roast then vacuum seal and freeze. I typically have a lot of coffees on hand from people sending me stuff to sample or coffees I don't want to miss out on but might have a lot of other coffees on hand at the moment. I am usually freezing whole bags 250-300gm. I've never tried to grind and brew from frozen though. I'm going to try this soon. I wonder if burr size/style makes a difference with the frozen coffee vs the same non frozen coffee? Like if a conical has a better outcome vs a flat with the frozen vs non frozen or vise versa. Or if flat burr size would make a difference frozen vs non frozen. Like a 54mm vs a 98mm. This has all got me thinking now! I have several different flat burr grinders in 54mm, 64mm, and 98mm. Another thought is that if the frozen coffee is more brittle would it then be easier to grind much finer on a hand grinder?

[@slipperydippery]

Is there a way to sustainably vacuum-pack coffee to individual doses? I love the idea of freezing, but I haven't yet found a sustainable solution. I am really curious as to other peoples ideas and experiences!

[@loreo1235]

There are reusable Vacuum Packs! AEG has some for example :) Works really good I paid 20€ for 20pcs. each fit - I’d say 150gr max, but you obviously can go lower. I usually freeze it in 30g doses, so I can brew it 2 times (my usual recipe is 15g/250g). Hope that helps

[@slipperydippery]

@@loreo1235 Thanks for the info!

[@Hemshemsems]

I'm freezing my 500-1000g bags, but don't have a vacuum sealer yet - ziplock and depress as much air out as possible. I don't usually grind frozen and did not take into account that the roast is dormant either. But up until now i have been saving my speciality coffee and the resting has been taken care of while drinking cheaper coffee. Guess i need to buy another airscape, if i want to use and take into account the resting it needs. Viles and small doses is not gonna happen here - i'm freezing newly roasted beans and transfer 200g at a time and keeping it at roomtemp - but i need another airscape to rest the dormant roast and one rested for daily use. My wrists are hurting and been using 3 day rested coffee just now - it's hard to be a novice and even forgetting the basics sometimes..

[@mtbgo7860]

Would the grind size match the unfrozen batch if you waited for it to thaw?

[@coffeewithapril]

That's an interesting questions. We haven't tried that yet.

[@varieedeventualii]

Since we, at home, can hardly afford to dial in frozen coffee, I would love for you to go deeper, in the next video, into how to change grinder settings to match unfronzen and frozen dial in (i.e. unfrozen 25 clicks, fronzen 23 clicks) It would help us a lot since we cannot afford to make experiments at home, thank you!

[@loreo1235]

Just freeze the coffee when you get it, in individual doses and dial these in - instead of using the coffee out of the bag

[@310iker]

how do you brew the frozen coffee? directly frozen or should i wait until the coffee is room temperature? thank you

[@coffeewithapril]

You can take it out, grind it and brew it directly. Let us know the result when you have tried it.

[@christofinb]

You don’t address frozen ground coffee ?

[@coffeewithapril]

Thank you for watching. Regarding the trials we have done with frozen, ground coffee we haven't found anything supports quality over time. Which is why we only recommend freezing whole beans. And even then coffee would taste better fresh.

[@persianwingman]

I tried brewing frozen coffee straight from the freezer and it had this really weird peppery taste in the cup. Never did it again after that experience.