Coffee Stories 21 February 2026

Why Your Coffee Needs Time: Patience Makes Better Coffee

We know the feeling. A fresh bag of Kiss the Hippo arrives at your door and you want to brew it immediately. You check the roast date and see it was roasted just 48 hours ago. We know the feeling. A fresh bag of coffee arrives at your door and you want to brew it straight away. You check the roast date and see it was roasted just 48 hours ago. You open the bag, brew a V60, and the cup is good, but not quite what you expected. It might taste a little sharp, perhaps slightly bitter, and it lacks the clarity or sweetness you were hoping for.

If that happens, don’t worry. You haven’t lost your brewing touch.

Your coffee is simply too fresh.

In speciality coffee, especially with the light and ultralight roasting style we champion, the idea that fresher is always better isn’t always true. Giving coffee time to rest allows the flavours to settle and develop, resulting in a sweeter and more balanced cup.

Loring Roasters and Light Roasting

We roast all of our coffee on Loring Smart Roasters, which use highly efficient convection heat rather than a traditional hot rotating drum. This approach is intentional and influences how the coffee behaves once it reaches your kitchen.

Dense Beans

This roasting method helps preserve the structure of the bean, keeping it dense and compact.

Ultralight Roasting Style

Roasting light allows the delicate floral and fruit-forward characteristics of each origin to shine. Because of this, the beans hold onto carbon dioxide for longer than darker roasts would.

If coffee is brewed too soon after roasting, you are not yet tasting the full character of the origin. Instead, the remaining roasting gases can interfere with extraction and mute some of the clarity and sweetness in the cup.

The Sweet Spot: When to Brew

To experience your coffee at its best, we recommend allowing it to rest in a cool, dark cupboard after roasting.

Our Resting Guide

Filter Coffee (V60, Kalita, Chemex, AeroPress)

Wait at least 14 days after the roast date. Clarity and sweetness tend to peak between day 21 and day 50.

Espresso

Wait at least 14 days for blends and 21 days for single origins. Because espresso is brewed under pressure, excess gas can make extraction more difficult. A bag that is three weeks old will often produce a richer and sweeter shot than a bag that is only a few days old.

What About Freshness and Shelf Life?

All coffees are nitrogen flushed before sealing. This process removes oxygen from the bag and helps prevent early staling.

As a result, coffee will not only taste great during the resting window. It will also stay fresh and vibrant for much longer.

We confidently set our best-before date up to one year from the roast date. As long as the bag remains sealed and stored somewhere cool and dark, the coffee will maintain quality well beyond the resting period.

Too Excited to Wait?

If you can’t resist brewing your coffee before the two to three week mark, there are a couple of simple ways to help manage the excess gas.

Pre-grind your coffee

Grinding your dose around 30 minutes before brewing allows much of the carbon dioxide to escape before the coffee meets the water.

Use a more active bloom

For filter brewing, gently stir during the bloom stage. For espresso, allow a short pre-infusion if your machine supports it. Both techniques help release trapped gas and allow the water to extract flavour more evenly.

The Bottom Line

Great coffee rewards patience.

Every bag represents careful work, from producers at origin to the precision of the roasting team. Giving your beans time to rest allows those flavours to fully develop.

Wait a couple of weeks, brew again, and you may find the best cup is still ahead of you.