Does (brewed) coffee improve with age?

UNM

I'm curious what others think.
I had a coffee this morning that was incredibly nice (full bodied, chocklatey, hints of berry). I found some cold processed coffee at the back of the fridge, nearly two weeks old and made a long black. Since it was a grinder blend of several bag ends, it can't be repeated, but has anyone else kept brewed coffee for extended periods? If so, what did you think?

Koffee_Kosmo

UNM wrote:

I'm curious what others think. I had a coffee this morning that was incredibly nice (full bodied, chocklatey, hints of berry). I found some cold processed coffee at the back of the fridge, nearly two weeks old and made a long black. Since it was a grinder blend of several bag ends, it can't be repeated, but has anyone else kept brewed coffee for extended periods? If so, what did you think?

Interesting question Putting on my thinking hat - It works with other foods so I would say that it would also work with coffee Age may in fact increase the flavour intensity Now I will put on my mad scientist hat on If the liquid volume was to reduce during storage then that will also have a concentrating effect KK

Brett_H

I have found that cold brewed coffee keeps well in the refrigerator for about a week and hot brewed methods don't keep well at all. I have no scientific basis as for why but the ex-cook in me tends to think that the variation in temperature between hot and cold exacerbates the acidity and potential rancidity of the oily compounds associated with a hot brew method.

UNM

I'm thinking that some drinks/foodstuffs improve up to a point then degrade, others go downhill pretty much immediately and others age well for extended periods. Whisky only ages until transferred from cask to bottle (which is why a 12yo malt doesn't become a 25yo malt even if you keep it). Beer improves in cask and bottle in relatively short timeframes Wine generally improves over the space of years, then degrades. Oils are best fresh. I'm not up on food chemistry, but the closest parallel seems to be beer brewing. Alcohol performs a key role as a preservative though, so coffee might well go off sooner. Since I seem to have quite a bit of harrar at the moment (thanks jeff), I might try a few basic experiments and do a bit more reading.

beanflying

The last big batch of Cold Press I brewed I drank over 10-12 days I guess before I got my drip brewers. Flavours mellowed out even more generally, still a nice drop but beyond it's best. I was drinking this as both topped off with hot water and straight cold over ice. With drip brewed however there seems to be some benefit in keeping it 12-24 hours after brewing but I need to do some more batches to confirm. Never had a hot brewed coffee reheated that was really any good 😛

borat123

I did a cold brew with some super floral / limey Yirg Harfusa a while back. Drank most of it then left a little bit in the bottle, in the fridge, and promptly forgot about it for a month. Found it again and drank as an iced coffee with milk. It was far far better after aging for a little bit. I would say it was even richer, the aroma was deeper and it was still so smooth. So my vote is yes, it does improve - I guess dependant upon the bean type as to how long before it peaks.