Green Storage and Transportation

The best thing that can happen between bagging and roasting is for the coffee to rest quietly for several weeks in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. This process is almost always interrupted by several transports, by sea, land, and sometimes air. The coffee must move from exporter to roaster, often with several other middlemen in between.

Transit and storage conditions are often less than ideal. Too much or little humidity, high temperature and fluctuation in temperature can all drastically affect the quality of the green coffee, but a good importer ensures that their coffee is cared for properly. Coffee should arrive at an importers holding warehouse within a month or two months of processing, and should make its way to the roaster shortly thereafter.

Green coffee should be roasted within one year of harvest; Most coffees are at their best within six months. As a coffee gets older, acidity and positive flavors decrease, and it can take on a hay-like, cardboardish flavor profile coined "bagginess." This defect is caused by degradation and oxidation of flavor compounds, fats in the beans absorbing aromas from the burlap sack, and changes in moisture content. "Baggy" flavors are a hallmark of coffees past their prime, and can completely ruin an otherwise good cup.