Hello everyone, I been doing this experiment for 3 months I have over 30 types of coffees that I keep humidified. The surprising part not all coffees act the same way, they all kept their flavors but some changed some stayed the same. I had a coffee 3 months ago that I didn't like but tried it yesterday and it was amazing This will open a new world for coffee I will be interested to see other people results Keeping coffee fresh for that long and aging it without it going stale is an amazing thing Hope all of you have a nice day
I suspected different coffees would age differently. Is there any correlation between the processing method of the beans (washed, natural, etc) and how well they aged humidified?
Before you answer, my own suspicion is that humidifying natural coffees will accentuate their funkiness and complexity up to a point, I am curious if your experiments bear out my hypothesis!
@@manveruppd from the coffees I tested the aroma all over the board stayed the same even after 3 months The thing I could observe really clearly is that the coffee is much easier to taste (identify flavors in the coffee), acidity are more balanced
I used to wonder why my coffee does not bloom as they show in TH-cam videos. At first, I thought it is about the coffee beans I get in my country. But this explains it. I live in Mumbai where the humidity is 75% (60% to 90% humidity range over the year). So, I am always storing my coffee in humid environments.
Btw the boveda bags or humidity bags are rechargeable so after they go dry/hard you can put it in a filter water and leave it for couple of days and its should go back to normal. Just measure its weight to make sure its at 60g and then its fully revived
@@makduckhuntmain2683 weed needs lower humidity than cigars, the Boveda pack in the video was 69. It would need testing to see if lower humidity packs deliver the same effect
You’re gonna wanna get a dehumidifier mate. I’m scared shitless of infestations. High humidity is begging for all sorts of insects, from silverfish to much much worse (look it up if u want nightmare fuel)
@@Abdul-to8ue I moved out haha, a victorian semi-basement flat with what felt like no waterproofing or damp proofing, had a dehumidifier on constantly but all it served to do was run up my electric
This process is similar in a way to the 'monsooned' process that some roasters in the southern parts of India do, wherein they purposefully expose the beans to the humid monsoon winds for sometime which is said to reduce the acidity whilst keeping the rest of the flavours and textures intact
Only differences is, with Bob Ross we can actual judge the results, as we can see them, but with James, we cannot taste the coffee! Technology is still holding us back!
Might I say that this is one of my favorite series on TH-cam right now? I mean it isn't even that crazy, you're just an coffee expert who wants to ask weird questions about coffee and do home experiments to see what happens. Although I won't underestimate the importance of proper scientific research I believe the over-reliance of universities and r&d to reach conclusions made us lose something, this spirit of "I have a question and I need answers, what resources can I muster to do this crazy thing at home so I can understand what's going on." It's thought provoking, it's intriguing and, most importantly, it's a lot of fun. Hope to see even more seasons of this, till you milk this idea dry haha. Anyway as always thank you and keep up the good work!
Thomaz Andrade there’s never been anything stopping people from doing home research like this! It just so happens that the sorts of people that want to do their own research end up going to university where there’s a convenient platform already set up. If you can do research like this with tool available at home, the equipment in a research lab can only improve it, right?
What you said largely describes most researchers though. If there's anything we've lost it's _money_ when grants go to research what kind of music dogs like most and such...
I just like a line that I heard first by Adam Savage on Mythbusters. "The only difference between science and messing around is writing it down." I think that's a really succinct way to sum up this sentiment.
What keeps me coming back is James' scientific approach to all things coffee. He's very evidence based, and is very careful to not make any claim that is not backed up by the evidence. He's not reluctant to say "I don't know", and when he gives an opinion that is based on a probability, he says how confident or not confident he is in it. Because of all this, I trust his work MUCH more than that of most people who evaluate things.
I like the on camera audio for the interview on the preferences of the people who tasted the coffee, it gives that feeling of old science interviews to subjects of experiments, which goes really well with the name of the series. Also, nice video, I'll be testing this humid method of storage.
I keep my other daily use consumer product recently legalized in my state in a hermetically sealed canister with Boveda (62) and have been really impressed with what it does to the product in both long term and regular use.
In my unscientific experience, humidity affects bloom. I used to do the water droplet technique when grinding coffee beans in order to reduce static, but it resulted in less bloom. Tried without the droplet technique and sure enough more bloom.
James, I adore all of the content you put out there. You've really opened my eyes to a world of coffee in an exciting, informative way. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, you are doing a fantastic job. Thanks, My much more pleasantly caffeinated self
I love this series - because you challenge preconceived notions and urban legends with experimentation and thoughtfulness. It’s fun, interesting and sometimes practical. Thank you!
Hey James nice to see you here love your coffee and cigars video, this experiment was inspired from cigars in the first place how humidity keep them fresh I been doing the experiment for over three months and the coffee still taste really good with some changes some coffees had small changes were others had more or bigger changes from lower acidity to a change in the flavour profile we need more experimentation to discover this new world even aging cigars till now is a hazy area thank you James for stopping by and keep making your videos
My favourite format on the channel. It's just so INTERESTING and cool to see you talk about something that only coffee nerds would ask themselves. I feel a deep and wholesome understanding or something xD
If the bloom is the release of co2 after hydration it makes sense that storing the coffee at higher humidity could potentially pre-bloom the coffee. It might explain the lesser bloom in the pour over test. And the taste difference if everything else was the same. Btw. I am a complete novice and have just binge watched all of your videos and spent a few bob on stuff. Eager to enter this particular rabbit hole.
I love this series intro reel. I love this content. Also, if I had your channel to reference back in 2012 when I was writing my senior thesis on the history of coffee & it’s impact on coffee culture In America, I might have come away with better than a B 😭♥️
It's a humidity loving plant! & the seed is inside of a wet fruit. Makes sense to me it would enjoy more moisture. Plants do have preferences. It's interesting!
This is fascinating, and not really something would have ever even thought to have tried. It also seems like a pretty easy experiment to do independently! Perhaps I will try this with a few of the coffees from where I work. Also, I think a video about making coffee blends would be cool. Even though single origins are likely where you're going to get the most unique flavor, a lot of peoples' idea of what a "normal" cup of coffee should taste like comes from blends. So perhaps you could talk a bit about those expectations and creating blends to either meet or contrast with them.
The Boveda packs are also used for Puerh tea storage, mainly to keep them from drying out but also potentially to age them. Folks usually use 69% or 72%. The difference in taste can be quite dramatic: juicier, less astringent, fuller mouthfeel. This can also be used to restore teas that did get dried out (to a degree).
I've been brewing coffee at home, where it is normally 70-80% humidity (in a rain forest environment) and then brewing at my parent's house who live in a desert (5-10% humidity) and always liked the coffee at home better. This is using the same beans and the same grinds, with the same grinder and the same pour over machine. I agree that the humid environment gets much more bloom. Initially I thought this would be due to the water minerals but maybe it is the coffee storage!
I don’t even like coffee, but I do like cigars. I’ve been using the Boveda bags for a few years now with great results. My husband was intrigued and started looking into the bags for use with coffee and spices, so I have a feeling he’ll do the experiment. I’m sure someone else has pointed this out, but the neat thing about the Boveda bags is that they are 2-way humidity control. They will keep your coffee, cigars, tobacco at the percentage you chose. But, if your product becomes too moist, the bags will de-humidify to the desired percentage. That’s why they work so well for cigars.
Very interesting concept, I am looking forward for more. I would be interested in a test with espresso. I can imagine that it is possible to have a more noticeable impact on that
I would love a monthly update for the year, not nesseserly a new video every month, but a video at the end of the year, with some raw cupping fotage from over the year would be amazing
Fascinating. This definitely deserves a deeper dive with a variety of beans. A note on test controls: Is it possible that the coffee tasted different bag to bag before the humidity variable was introduced? Even with the best single origin beans there are taste differences between bags. To eliminate this, at the start of the test the beans could be dumped in a bowl, thoroughly blended, then split back into the two bags.
I've had similar experiences with Philippine Barako (peaberry). It's normally quite heavily roasted and can be a very robust coffee, but letting it rest in the normal humidity here (70-75%) greatly tames the harshness and results in lovely toasted nuts and dark chocolate flavors. But I tried the exact same beans in Europe when I brought some for friends (it was there for about 6 weeks) and was astonished at the acidity and loss of balance. Main difference was humidity it was stored in, water was quite similar.
I’ve heard the same thing about Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee from an expat. They said that the balance was off when drinking Blue Mountain in the States.
Part of the long cure process is also the absorption to light and temperature changes… the Cvault (coffee vault) is pretty cool to test out for this process but is a perfect stabilizer to humidity.
I love seeing the stars of past videos in the background like the glass moka and 70s Melitta pot. Little cameos from the cast of the JHCU (Jim Hoffman Cinematic Universe)
This is so cool. I think a slight dose of confusion is one of the hallmarks of anything that attempts to be close to honest science. Weird (but very honest) coffee science. This video makes me think of how important it is to doubt what we "know for sure" sometimes. Or as the quote that is usually attributed to Mark Twain goes, "It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so." Thanks for the food for thought James and Hamad :)
Love this! Def gonna try next time I buy few bags of different coffee. I always want to use them simultaneously but avoid, so I don’t lose some of the taste. Possible game changer for me 🤔
Thank you for sharing this cool idea. But I still want to know what is "relatively normal environment" in this video. Because what I know is relative moisture always changes during one day in natural environment ,and the humidifier actually kept the moisture at the same level. So can I also regard that stable humidity play a bigger role than high humidity in coffee storage ?
Even if I hated coffee, I would still love your channel. There is something about your channel that just draws me in. PS: I bought a French Press last week, because I hate crappy coffee. Life's simple pleasures is something everyone should partake in. Thank you for your channel.
Interesting. I live and have a coffee shop in the Philippines, Cebu City to be precise and since being here for nearly 2 years I have been noticing that age doesn't affect coffee as much as in colder climates as in my hometown (London). Never did a study but almost 3 months is the limit when you can feel a big difference. 2 months for my palette isn't noticeably bad, still positive. Since living here the time I give coffee has extended almost a month from 6 weeks to 10. It's humid all the time so the usual rules apply, cool, dry, out of sunlight but gald to see its not just me.
Very interesting ideas James. Makes me think of my own experiences with coffee and trying to convince people to soak the filter first. I feel like people get stuck in their own rutt of coffee process and don't want to bother coming up with ways of making it better.
soaking the coffee filter probably won't make much of a difference, not in the same way this works anyway. It's not exposed to the moisture for very long before you brew it. Prewetting / washing your filter might help warm it up and wash away any paper /bleach taste. So there are benefits.
Hi James , great experiment that ultimately confirm what I have believed all along...sometimes people overthink coffee making and it totally comes down to personal preference...there is no right and not wrong.
69% isn’t especially humid if you live in a temperate environment. I’d be curious if significant humidity like 90% vs 69% is perceptible. Thanks for the interesting video!
i work for a foodservice warehouse in the US. we serve a lot of resturaunts and all the whole bean is in stored in a humid room for up to 45 days if not sold by then, they go back to the roasters they then make instant coffee and brand it with that resturaunts name and sell it in grocery stores
I have watched over a dozen of your videos. I should have certainly subbed earlier. Great production value. It would be great to see your setup how you shoot, over coffee of course. I like the people's reactions to the humid and non humid coffees. People interactions are always interesting.
Hmm, interesting method with promising outcome. I like the concept of aging coffee as long as it adds value. It is said that light roasts aren't great for espressos due to their high acidity. This aging process under moisture sounds like dulling acidity. Maybe this could be a good method that could result good espresso from light roasts.
Hello! Just wanted to let you know that I bought my wife your book for Christmas and she loves it! We are attempting to make each of the coffee styles that you talk about and we're having a blast!
It it is from curing than keep the humidity below 65 and above 60 for the sweet spot. Other pant products also improve over curing and some taste better from not curing and just drying. The longer chain terpenes that often taste a bit like garlic or hay/grassy will break down and make smaller aromatic ones too that bring out more fruity flavor. This improves some complex taste but sometimes you want earthen, garlicy, or bitters favors stabilized by drying outright instead.
It's well known that cigars evolve with time. This evolution is mainly a very slow fermentation that keeps happening on the tobacco leaves and the cigars lose strength (releasing some aggressive components product of the fermentation) while gaining complexity over time, if the correct conditions are set one of them of course being the right humidity (plus temperature, light, air (or lack of) circulation, etc). A somewhat comparable process happens with good wines and even some derivatives like vermouth. They lose some properties while gaining others. People may or may not like them, is not good persé. I know very knowledgeable people about Habanos that don't fancy vintage cigars (10-50+ years since rolled). They just prefer the power and taste of a younger cigar (not overly young, but between 1 and 5 years). I have always thought that good speciality coffee shares a lot with Habanos: single origin, very detailed and cared process on the farm and in the process, they both pass thru a fermentation process and a drying process. A cigar, if you leave it 1 month outside the humidor subject to low humidity and cold, it will become very unpleasant to be smoked.. oils dry up, aromas die as humidity goes away (sounds familiar?) just like stale coffee to be brewed. So... what if we can have coffee beans maturing on the "ideal conditions" (WHATEVER THEY MIGHT BE)? I bet the 1 month aging James just did is nothing compared to the evolution of 1 year. I would also suggest you add temperature to the equation, trying to keep the coffee below room temperature, but not so cold so it doesn't have the chance to evolve and change it's chemical composition (freezing=keep the beans like new). As with cigars and wine, which tend to have a very subjective "PEAK TIME", Coffee surely has one also. I would bet the process is faster: peak time for a strong brand for cigars, Partagas for example, could be 5-10 years according to some authors, while others suggest they could become sublime after 20. Same with wines, I had a Pol Roger 1996 last month that the owner suggested that it was on its peak, according to a consensus among Hong Kong champaign connoisseurs (33 years old champaign!). I would suggest that like cigars and wine in order to become better with age you have to have something to work on. In cigars, you don't usually take a very weak brand to age, just the same as you don't pick a low tannin/acidity wine to age: you pick a strong one!. So, I would bet a speciality coffee from Ethiopia with some kind of special prolonged fermentation would age better than a Natural Brazil or Colombia, without going into variety details. In the coming month I will pick a good coffee that have this characteristics, and will put a 69% Boveda Bag inside them and age them for a year (one bag 3 months, 1 bag 6 months, 1 bag a year), and will keep them inside one of my cigar cabinets when they will be hold at 65F / 18C and 66% Humidity. I will report back on Home Barista if any of you follow there.
yes yes yes exactly my thoughts. I had a coffee three months old now stored in perfect condition air tight 69% humidity at 18c, hated it when I tried it fresh but after three months it taste amazing its a world that need to be explored and coffee have a sick period after roasting and I think 10 to 15 days make it taste much better already thank you for this amazing post BOTL I will be interested to hear your results thank you for your time to write this post and email me if you have any questions or with your results hrh@artislife.net
Hey James! So, I have been keeping a coffee in the Fellow Atmos 0.4L size 120g. One with a 69% humidity packet and one without. We're two months in and I brewed them side by side today and did a comparative tasting with a couple of folks on my team. The differences are subtle, but the one without the flavor packet has an overall more intense flavor. The flavor packet coffee is smoother and softer. The actual texture of the beans is the wildest thing. The ones in the humidity packet cannister are noticeably softer.
so I done some more testing and depending on the size of the bean of the bean add from %10 to %20 more coffee to substitute for moisture added so you are not using more coffee its just moisture weight that was added I tested them with coffee moisture machine
There are also beads you can re-use and just add water to them to keep the humidity. Hearfelt is the original brand that sold them for cigars, but they originally were created for museums to maintain humidity. Less waste than the boveda packs.
I keep my beans outside, and in Singapore humidity ranges from high 60s to 90s. I generally notice that my coffee blooms very little after a few days, but can't quite comment if the notes change.
is this what it feels like for others to see me when I tell them I bought special canisters to store coffee just to lengthen the freshness a tiny bit or special coffee cups? the great lengths we coffee lovers go to just to get that tiny bit of improvement must baffle so many people haha, love it James, keep up the good work. Also, how did you store the coffee with the humidity pack? I saw the thumbnail but wasn't sure if that was how you did it. or did you just plop it in the bag?
I recently began roasting coffee...buying high quality beans, roasting the coffee fresh, and then brewing my espresso two to three days later has been amazing. Even the best grinders and best machines cannot make up for the difference of using fresh roasted gourmet beans. Storage pre and post roast also makes a difference
The split visual comparison of the dry and humid blooms looks a lot like my V60 blooms of coffee brewed in Melbourne and Sydney. Melbourne is much drier than Sydney.
I live in the tropics and the ambiant humidity is typically above 50%; at times 80%. This might explain I can keep coffee grains so long. I have no issues with mould either.
Humidity is something I dread due to living in tropical environment with average humidity 70 to 80 % . This definitely is making me question this fear.... tks
Very interesting that most people prefer the humid cup. In my opinion it might be related to palate development or underdevelopment. Most people don't like acidity from the get go, and it takes an acquirement to enjoy the cup more. Perhaps this would help cafés deliver a more well rounded and consistent cup?
the idea of this experiment is more of keeping the coffee fresh for longer without it going stale, lower acidity or more balanced I would say is one of the effects it had on the coffee, from what I saw is it kept the flavours after 3 months which usually by that time the coffee goes stale some of the coffees I kept had bigger differences than other its a world that need more exploring
@@ArtIsLife3 Of course that too! I should have mentioned in my comment that cafés can keep a wider range of blends with this method, as they will keep longer after roasting.
@@JayzTwoCentzIG this experiment started because I bought ton of coffee and by my drinking rate they would've gone stale and I smoke cigars and cigars are stored in humidity controlled environment aka humidor, and the rest is history 😁
I manage a coffee shop with a manual dial espresso machine in Southern New England, there is no doubt the beans in the hopper are affected ... there are days we're dailing in every hour if not more.
Question.... I live in a very dry environment, Phoenix Az, summers can range up to 113 and very low humidity.... winters are low humidity and not as hot... my question is would using a humidifier pack help maintain my coffee taste and flavor in the summer? Wondering how much the environmental influence the coffee. Thanks in advance and you are great at explaining and engaging curiosity.
A video about your opinions would be awesome. E.g. favourite flavour notes, favourite beans, favourite brewing method etc. Also your least preferred in all these categories
I used to be on a horticulture crew for landscape conservation in a park. The manager, Ed Toth, went on to do seed conservation for our region's habitat. I wonder about the preservation of humidity for those seeds. Coffee is a seed/pit. Is cellulose some of the material holding the volatile oils? Intuitive analogies: guitars need some humidity; tobacco cigars need humidors - both have plant cell walls? Dried herbs and spices dessicated compared to fresh cut or ground. Wood needs a seal, or to be oiled, except for maybe oily teak types.So many types of archives, museums, and preservation projects regulate humidity. The goal is neither to dry things out, nor to saturate?
Interestingly, I wondered why my pour over coffee wasn't blooming very much for the last few months - Then I checked my AirThings Wave device (that I purchased to measure Radon radiation) and my average humidity in the house is around 60% which is fairly humid. The house is more humid in the winter time ...
I experience the same bloom as the humid at 9:05 - even for newly purchased fresh roast coffee... Wonder if I've been unfortunate with the batches I've gotten (I just started with coffee stuff, on my 3rd bag now).
I would assume (probably incorrectly) that the higher humidity would keep some of the volatile oils and components from escaping out of the beans as quickly...🤷♂️
Thanks for another interesting video, @jimseven. I do believe in humidity storage for GREEN COFFEE and do my best to achieve these conditions for my home coffee roasting “library.” Another conjecture is that humidity FLUCTUATIONS, not only temperature fluctuations, may effect out gassing rates for roasted coffee. Ever left a bag of roasted coffee in a hot car? The car smells terrific but the coffee will have spent its aroma.
Have you tried espresso poured over a frozen ball of metal like stainless steel? Saw a video that said it made a better shot as the flavors were better due to the instant cooling.
Hello everyone, I been doing this experiment for 3 months I have over 30 types of coffees that I keep humidified. The surprising part not all coffees act the same way, they all kept their flavors but some changed some stayed the same. I had a coffee 3 months ago that I didn't like but tried it yesterday and it was amazing
This will open a new world for coffee I will be interested to see other people results
Keeping coffee fresh for that long and aging it without it going stale is an amazing thing
Hope all of you have a nice day
I suspected different coffees would age differently. Is there any correlation between the processing method of the beans (washed, natural, etc) and how well they aged humidified?
Before you answer, my own suspicion is that humidifying natural coffees will accentuate their funkiness and complexity up to a point, I am curious if your experiments bear out my hypothesis!
@@manveruppd all of that need more testing to see the effect
Hamad Rahsid thanks Hamad for inspiring this video- super interesting.
@@manveruppd from the coffees I tested the aroma all over the board stayed the same even after 3 months
The thing I could observe really clearly is that the coffee is much easier to taste (identify flavors in the coffee), acidity are more balanced
I used to wonder why my coffee does not bloom as they show in TH-cam videos. At first, I thought it is about the coffee beans I get in my country. But this explains it. I live in Mumbai where the humidity is 75% (60% to 90% humidity range over the year). So, I am always storing my coffee in humid environments.
A moist surprising result?
I am reasonably ashamed at how much that made me laugh.
@@jameshoffmann reasonably ashamed😭😂 hahahahah that made me laugh more
LOL that was my first thought too
Go to prison. Just your nearest one. Tell them what you did. Theyll understand immediately and show you straight to your room.
@@dadefrost2059 he'd be headed straight for the chair
Btw the boveda bags or humidity bags are rechargeable so after they go dry/hard you can put it in a filter water and leave it for couple of days and its should go back to normal.
Just measure its weight to make sure its at 60g and then its fully revived
Sealed environment + a dish of water. You don't want to get the packs wet.
@@nAlvaradoProductions its fine to submerge them in water to recharge them
I always use these packs with Cvaults to keep my weed fresh, Now you're telling me I can use them for my coffee!?
@@makduckhuntmain2683 yeah, they keep cigars fresh also
@@makduckhuntmain2683 weed needs lower humidity than cigars, the Boveda pack in the video was 69. It would need testing to see if lower humidity packs deliver the same effect
This is good news for my damp student flat that is consistently hovering at 65% humidity!
FYI that could possibly lead to mold in your flat, indoor humidity should preferably be between 30-55 RH(relative humidity)
You’re gonna wanna get a dehumidifier mate. I’m scared shitless of infestations. High humidity is begging for all sorts of insects, from silverfish to much much worse (look it up if u want nightmare fuel)
@@Abdul-to8ue I moved out haha, a victorian semi-basement flat with what felt like no waterproofing or damp proofing, had a dehumidifier on constantly but all it served to do was run up my electric
@@NiftyKnot good for you mate! Hope you new place is nice
Really love the intro roll out with the music and 80's coffee scenes
It was awesome
Definitely. Very Giorgio Moroder.
Agree with you. Love the intros of almost all the videos
This process is similar in a way to the 'monsooned' process that some roasters in the southern parts of India do, wherein they purposefully expose the beans to the humid monsoon winds for sometime which is said to reduce the acidity whilst keeping the rest of the flavours and textures intact
James Hoffmann is the Bob Ross of Coffee. It's so relaxing to hear him talk! :D
Only differences is, with Bob Ross we can actual judge the results, as we can see them, but with James, we cannot taste the coffee! Technology is still holding us back!
@@tristanwegner The day you will be able to taste things through the internet onlyfans will burst
but also the opposite in some ways too because Bob liked accidents but James loves precision!
Might I say that this is one of my favorite series on TH-cam right now? I mean it isn't even that crazy, you're just an coffee expert who wants to ask weird questions about coffee and do home experiments to see what happens. Although I won't underestimate the importance of proper scientific research I believe the over-reliance of universities and r&d to reach conclusions made us lose something, this spirit of "I have a question and I need answers, what resources can I muster to do this crazy thing at home so I can understand what's going on." It's thought provoking, it's intriguing and, most importantly, it's a lot of fun.
Hope to see even more seasons of this, till you milk this idea dry haha. Anyway as always thank you and keep up the good work!
And the fact that a worldwide audience (?) came chime in their experiences- creates a global feedback loop of learning ☕️
you know what, that changed my world view a bit , thank you
Thomaz Andrade there’s never been anything stopping people from doing home research like this! It just so happens that the sorts of people that want to do their own research end up going to university where there’s a convenient platform already set up.
If you can do research like this with tool available at home, the equipment in a research lab can only improve it, right?
What you said largely describes most researchers though. If there's anything we've lost it's _money_ when grants go to research what kind of music dogs like most and such...
I just like a line that I heard first by Adam Savage on Mythbusters.
"The only difference between science and messing around is writing it down."
I think that's a really succinct way to sum up this sentiment.
What keeps me coming back is James' scientific approach to all things coffee. He's very evidence based, and is very careful to not make any claim that is not backed up by the evidence. He's not reluctant to say "I don't know", and when he gives an opinion that is based on a probability, he says how confident or not confident he is in it. Because of all this, I trust his work MUCH more than that of most people who evaluate things.
I first read the thumbnail as High humidity coffee storage - a moist surprising result.
"it will keep them at a 69% moisture level"
nice
Noice
Nice!
Nice
how on a WBC's channel? lol
noice!
Nice
I like the on camera audio for the interview on the preferences of the people who tasted the coffee, it gives that feeling of old science interviews to subjects of experiments, which goes really well with the name of the series.
Also, nice video, I'll be testing this humid method of storage.
I keep my other daily use consumer product recently legalized in my state in a hermetically sealed canister with Boveda (62) and have been really impressed with what it does to the product in both long term and regular use.
i have kept mine in a wooden box with a loose fitting lid and its fine after months when it dries to crisp.
You don't wanna add moisture to cannabis, dry / dehydrated stays better longer, too moist and you get mold.
The 59% work great too, if you haven’t tried em I recommend observing the difference
@@BensCoffeeRantsI mean, you absolutely do not want bone dry flowers. These humidity packs work incredibly well. You're talking out of your ass.
@@mamaharumi I'm talking from my experience and common sense. Too High humidity mold grows.
In my unscientific experience, humidity affects bloom. I used to do the water droplet technique when grinding coffee beans in order to reduce static, but it resulted in less bloom. Tried without the droplet technique and sure enough more bloom.
That's really interesting and something I should test!
@@jameshoffmann yes please.And tell us the results :)
@@jameshoffmann I think I've noticed that as well, however I live where there is above 60% air humidity all the time.
This could be why I dont get large blooms .. I always thought is was the coffee but it could be just the humidity.....
@@chrishamillis it could also be because of the water and minerals in it, that you are using to brew the coffee
James, I adore all of the content you put out there. You've really opened my eyes to a world of coffee in an exciting, informative way. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, you are doing a fantastic job.
Thanks,
My much more pleasantly caffeinated self
I love this series - because you challenge preconceived notions and urban legends with experimentation and thoughtfulness. It’s fun, interesting and sometimes practical. Thank you!
Thank you for braving another triangle test. You've convinced me they're the best.
I have been watching for over a month, first time I catch a fresh weird coffee science. I am excited, I will look into coffee papers for fun ideas.
Video about future trends of coffee in the space travel era would be nice. Maybe a topic freeze dried coffee or coffee candy
darkim1777 you had me at astronaut coffee.
Of course the Italians would put an espresso maker in space.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISSpresso
@@Unsound_advice actually theres also a specifically designed cup for coffee/hot liquid drinking so astronauts can smell their brew
@@darkim1777 They brew coffee on station. Its a big part of their day for some crew members. th-cam.com/video/vyX368l--BU/w-d-xo.html
Freeze dried coffee? That's instant coffee. It's not really something new.
Read this on reddit. Didn’t expect for you to do it. I live in a country with high humidity, really interested with how this turns out.🤔🤔🤔🤔
I have the boveda packs for cigars so I will try it on my channel!
Hey James nice to see you here love your coffee and cigars video, this experiment was inspired from cigars in the first place how humidity keep them fresh
I been doing the experiment for over three months and the coffee still taste really good with some changes some coffees had small changes were others had more or bigger changes from lower acidity to a change in the flavour profile
we need more experimentation to discover this new world
even aging cigars till now is a hazy area
thank you James for stopping by and keep making your videos
As simple as coffee may seem - water and beans - there's still a lot of mystery. And there's an infinite amount of things to explore. Love coffee.
My favourite format on the channel. It's just so INTERESTING and cool to see you talk about something that only coffee nerds would ask themselves. I feel a deep and wholesome understanding or something xD
If the bloom is the release of co2 after hydration it makes sense that storing the coffee at higher humidity could potentially pre-bloom the coffee. It might explain the lesser bloom in the pour over test. And the taste difference if everything else was the same.
Btw. I am a complete novice and have just binge watched all of your videos and spent a few bob on stuff. Eager to enter this particular rabbit hole.
I love this series intro reel. I love this content. Also, if I had your channel to reference back in 2012 when I was writing my senior thesis on the history of coffee & it’s impact on coffee culture In America, I might have come away with better than a B 😭♥️
It's a humidity loving plant! & the seed is inside of a wet fruit. Makes sense to me it would enjoy more moisture. Plants do have preferences. It's interesting!
This is fascinating, and not really something would have ever even thought to have tried. It also seems like a pretty easy experiment to do independently! Perhaps I will try this with a few of the coffees from where I work.
Also, I think a video about making coffee blends would be cool. Even though single origins are likely where you're going to get the most unique flavor, a lot of peoples' idea of what a "normal" cup of coffee should taste like comes from blends. So perhaps you could talk a bit about those expectations and creating blends to either meet or contrast with them.
The Boveda packs are also used for Puerh tea storage, mainly to keep them from drying out but also potentially to age them. Folks usually use 69% or 72%. The difference in taste can be quite dramatic: juicier, less astringent, fuller mouthfeel. This can also be used to restore teas that did get dried out (to a degree).
I've been brewing coffee at home, where it is normally 70-80% humidity (in a rain forest environment) and then brewing at my parent's house who live in a desert (5-10% humidity) and always liked the coffee at home better. This is using the same beans and the same grinds, with the same grinder and the same pour over machine. I agree that the humid environment gets much more bloom. Initially I thought this would be due to the water minerals but maybe it is the coffee storage!
I don’t even like coffee, but I do like cigars. I’ve been using the Boveda bags for a few years now with great results. My husband was intrigued and started looking into the bags for use with coffee and spices, so I have a feeling he’ll do the experiment. I’m sure someone else has pointed this out, but the neat thing about the Boveda bags is that they are 2-way humidity control. They will keep your coffee, cigars, tobacco at the percentage you chose. But, if your product becomes too moist, the bags will de-humidify to the desired percentage. That’s why they work so well for cigars.
Your scientific method in the world of coffee is crazy. We need this curiosity in everything
I live for this series.
Thanks again for the good work both James and Hamad !
Very interesting concept, I am looking forward for more. I would be interested in a test with espresso. I can imagine that it is possible to have a more noticeable impact on that
Without even watching whole video. Thanks Mr. James!
I really appreciate the amount of effort you put into making these tests unbiased. It's real science!
I would love a monthly update for the year, not nesseserly a new video every month, but a video at the end of the year, with some raw cupping fotage from over the year would be amazing
Fascinating. This definitely deserves a deeper dive with a variety of beans.
A note on test controls: Is it possible that the coffee tasted different bag to bag before the humidity variable was introduced?
Even with the best single origin beans there are taste differences between bags. To eliminate this, at the start of the test the beans could be dumped in a bowl, thoroughly blended, then split back into the two bags.
I've had similar experiences with Philippine Barako (peaberry). It's normally quite heavily roasted and can be a very robust coffee, but letting it rest in the normal humidity here (70-75%) greatly tames the harshness and results in lovely toasted nuts and dark chocolate flavors. But I tried the exact same beans in Europe when I brought some for friends (it was there for about 6 weeks) and was astonished at the acidity and loss of balance. Main difference was humidity it was stored in, water was quite similar.
I’ve heard the same thing about Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee from an expat. They said that the balance was off when drinking Blue Mountain in the States.
I think this topic deserve a deeper scientific experiment and need to be published... it can change person perception about a myth in coffee world
Thank you James, great video.
The intro is still amazing!
Part of the long cure process is also the absorption to light and temperature changes… the Cvault (coffee vault) is pretty cool to test out for this process but is a perfect stabilizer to humidity.
I love seeing the stars of past videos in the background like the glass moka and 70s Melitta pot. Little cameos from the cast of the JHCU (Jim Hoffman Cinematic Universe)
I just love the vintage feel of these "science documentary montage" intros, big Boards of Canada vibes (for obvious reasons)
This is so cool. I think a slight dose of confusion is one of the hallmarks of anything that attempts to be close to honest science. Weird (but very honest) coffee science. This video makes me think of how important it is to doubt what we "know for sure" sometimes. Or as the quote that is usually attributed to Mark Twain goes, "It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so."
Thanks for the food for thought James and Hamad :)
I always keep an open mind and think outside the box
Very interesting! Dig the weird coffee science videos
I LOVE the vsauce vibes I get from this series. I love coffee and I love weird experiments!
I've never tried keeping coffee at 69% humidity, James, but I keep my Clarinet reeds that way in a zip-lock bag!
Love this! Def gonna try next time I buy few bags of different coffee. I always want to use them simultaneously but avoid, so I don’t lose some of the taste. Possible game changer for me 🤔
I have 30 different types some are now three months old and they are still taste really good
Hamad Rahsid I agree but nothing compares to the fresh stuff, at least for me, I can always tell :)
Thank you for sharing this cool idea. But I still want to know what is "relatively normal environment" in this video. Because what I know is relative moisture always changes during one day in natural environment ,and the humidifier actually kept the moisture at the same level. So can I also regard that stable humidity play a bigger role than high humidity in coffee storage ?
A moist, surprising result
Wonderful cupping spoon.
Even if I hated coffee, I would still love your channel. There is something about your channel that just draws me in.
PS: I bought a French Press last week, because I hate crappy coffee. Life's simple pleasures is something everyone should partake in.
Thank you for your channel.
Interesting. I live and have a coffee shop in the Philippines, Cebu City to be precise and since being here for nearly 2 years I have been noticing that age doesn't affect coffee as much as in colder climates as in my hometown (London). Never did a study but almost 3 months is the limit when you can feel a big difference. 2 months for my palette isn't noticeably bad, still positive. Since living here the time I give coffee has extended almost a month from 6 weeks to 10. It's humid all the time so the usual rules apply, cool, dry, out of sunlight but gald to see its not just me.
This is just insane!)
Thank you James for sharing those weird ideas!)
Very interesting ideas James.
Makes me think of my own experiences with coffee and trying to convince people to soak the filter first. I feel like people get stuck in their own rutt of coffee process and don't want to bother coming up with ways of making it better.
soaking the coffee filter probably won't make much of a difference, not in the same way this works anyway. It's not exposed to the moisture for very long before you brew it. Prewetting / washing your filter might help warm it up and wash away any paper /bleach taste. So there are benefits.
Hi James , great experiment that ultimately confirm what I have believed all along...sometimes people overthink coffee making and it totally comes down to personal preference...there is no right and not wrong.
In my opinion we should always have an open mind and think outside the box that is how we discover new things
69% isn’t especially humid if you live in a temperate environment. I’d be curious if significant humidity like 90% vs 69% is perceptible. Thanks for the interesting video!
Anything above 70% will produce the perfect growing area for mold
My complements on your methods- as a dark roast person I am going to try thus
i work for a foodservice warehouse in the US. we serve a lot of resturaunts and all the whole bean is in stored in a humid room for up to 45 days if not sold by then, they go back to the roasters they then make instant coffee and brand it with that resturaunts name and sell it in grocery stores
A moist surprising result indeed
Living in a tropical climate with high humidity certainly made this much easier. But interesting finding, never crossed my mind but now I know.
I have watched over a dozen of your videos. I should have certainly subbed earlier.
Great production value.
It would be great to see your setup how you shoot, over coffee of course.
I like the people's reactions to the humid and non humid coffees. People interactions are always interesting.
Hmm, interesting method with promising outcome. I like the concept of aging coffee as long as it adds value. It is said that light roasts aren't great for espressos due to their high acidity. This aging process under moisture sounds like dulling acidity. Maybe this could be a good method that could result good espresso from light roasts.
this intro is my favourite thing on yt right now.. and i watch a lot of youtube
Interesting video. I don't usually like intros but this one for 'weird coffee science was perfect".
Hello! Just wanted to let you know that I bought my wife your book for Christmas and she loves it! We are attempting to make each of the coffee styles that you talk about and we're having a blast!
Fascinating as this video was, I'm sure a lot of us would also love to hear where Michael's owl knight tshirt comes from!
🙌 www.robbievergarascreenprinting.com
It it is from curing than keep the humidity below 65 and above 60 for the sweet spot. Other pant products also improve over curing and some taste better from not curing and just drying. The longer chain terpenes that often taste a bit like garlic or hay/grassy will break down and make smaller aromatic ones too that bring out more fruity flavor. This improves some complex taste but sometimes you want earthen, garlicy, or bitters favors stabilized by drying outright instead.
It's well known that cigars evolve with time. This evolution is mainly a very slow fermentation that keeps happening on the tobacco leaves and the cigars lose strength (releasing some aggressive components product of the fermentation) while gaining complexity over time, if the correct conditions are set one of them of course being the right humidity (plus temperature, light, air (or lack of) circulation, etc). A somewhat comparable process happens with good wines and even some derivatives like vermouth. They lose some properties while gaining others. People may or may not like them, is not good persé. I know very knowledgeable people about Habanos that don't fancy vintage cigars (10-50+ years since rolled). They just prefer the power and taste of a younger cigar (not overly young, but between 1 and 5 years).
I have always thought that good speciality coffee shares a lot with Habanos: single origin, very detailed and cared process on the farm and in the process, they both pass thru a fermentation process and a drying process. A cigar, if you leave it 1 month outside the humidor subject to low humidity and cold, it will become very unpleasant to be smoked.. oils dry up, aromas die as humidity goes away (sounds familiar?) just like stale coffee to be brewed. So... what if we can have coffee beans maturing on the "ideal conditions" (WHATEVER THEY MIGHT BE)? I bet the 1 month aging James just did is nothing compared to the evolution of 1 year. I would also suggest you add temperature to the equation, trying to keep the coffee below room temperature, but not so cold so it doesn't have the chance to evolve and change it's chemical composition (freezing=keep the beans like new).
As with cigars and wine, which tend to have a very subjective "PEAK TIME", Coffee surely has one also. I would bet the process is faster: peak time for a strong brand for cigars, Partagas for example, could be 5-10 years according to some authors, while others suggest they could become sublime after 20. Same with wines, I had a Pol Roger 1996 last month that the owner suggested that it was on its peak, according to a consensus among Hong Kong champaign connoisseurs (33 years old champaign!).
I would suggest that like cigars and wine in order to become better with age you have to have something to work on. In cigars, you don't usually take a very weak brand to age, just the same as you don't pick a low tannin/acidity wine to age: you pick a strong one!. So, I would bet a speciality coffee from Ethiopia with some kind of special prolonged fermentation would age better than a Natural Brazil or Colombia, without going into variety details.
In the coming month I will pick a good coffee that have this characteristics, and will put a 69% Boveda Bag inside them and age them for a year (one bag 3 months, 1 bag 6 months, 1 bag a year), and will keep them inside one of my cigar cabinets when they will be hold at 65F / 18C and 66% Humidity. I will report back on Home Barista if any of you follow there.
yes yes yes exactly my thoughts. I had a coffee three months old now stored in perfect condition air tight 69% humidity at 18c, hated it when I tried it fresh but after three months it taste amazing
its a world that need to be explored
and coffee have a sick period after roasting and I think 10 to 15 days make it taste much better already
thank you for this amazing post BOTL I will be interested to hear your results
thank you for your time to write this post
and email me if you have any questions or with your results
hrh@artislife.net
@@ArtIsLife3 Extremely interesting!
What a time to be alive, so glad to have found this channel
Hey James! So, I have been keeping a coffee in the Fellow Atmos 0.4L size 120g. One with a 69% humidity packet and one without. We're two months in and I brewed them side by side today and did a comparative tasting with a couple of folks on my team. The differences are subtle, but the one without the flavor packet has an overall more intense flavor. The flavor packet coffee is smoother and softer. The actual texture of the beans is the wildest thing. The ones in the humidity packet cannister are noticeably softer.
I would recommend after two months to add %10 more coffee to substitute for the moisture add to the coffee
so I done some more testing and depending on the size of the bean of the bean add from %10 to %20 more coffee to substitute for moisture added
so you are not using more coffee its just moisture weight that was added I tested them with coffee moisture machine
This video is so incredibly fascinating I felt the need to join patreon...looking forward to many more mind boggling experiments!
You just blew my mind James, gotta try it!
I'll send you my conclusion.
Let me know!
yes yes yes let us know please that is what we want all of you guys to try it, its a new world and a big one it will be hard to explore alone.. enjoy
There are also beads you can re-use and just add water to them to keep the humidity. Hearfelt is the original brand that sold them for cigars, but they originally were created for museums to maintain humidity. Less waste than the boveda packs.
Boveda bags can be recharged
Ok, I love the retro science and synth intros for this series inspired à la Explained by Vox and Netflix
I use those Boveda packs (62 humidity) to keep my cannabis fresh. Works pretty good for that.
I keep my beans outside, and in Singapore humidity ranges from high 60s to 90s. I generally notice that my coffee blooms very little after a few days, but can't quite comment if the notes change.
The fact that you put out links with and without affiliate makes me wanting to use the affiliate link
is this what it feels like for others to see me when I tell them I bought special canisters to store coffee just to lengthen the freshness a tiny bit or special coffee cups? the great lengths we coffee lovers go to just to get that tiny bit of improvement must baffle so many people haha, love it James, keep up the good work.
Also, how did you store the coffee with the humidity pack? I saw the thumbnail but wasn't sure if that was how you did it. or did you just plop it in the bag?
Just throw one with the coffee beans
I recently began roasting coffee...buying high quality beans, roasting the coffee fresh, and then brewing my espresso two to three days later has been amazing. Even the best grinders and best machines cannot make up for the difference of using fresh roasted gourmet beans. Storage pre and post roast also makes a difference
Loved the new intro! Great episode. Great idea Hamad
The split visual comparison of the dry and humid blooms looks a lot like my V60 blooms of coffee brewed in Melbourne and Sydney. Melbourne is much drier than Sydney.
For anyone who enjoys cannabis, 69% is too wet but the 58% and 62% packs do amazing things for the quality of your cannabis.
I live in the tropics and the ambiant humidity is typically above 50%; at times 80%. This might explain I can keep coffee grains so long. I have no issues with mould either.
Humidity is something I dread due to living in tropical environment with average humidity 70 to 80 % . This definitely is making me question this fear.... tks
Very interesting that most people prefer the humid cup. In my opinion it might be related to palate development or underdevelopment. Most people don't like acidity from the get go, and it takes an acquirement to enjoy the cup more. Perhaps this would help cafés deliver a more well rounded and consistent cup?
the idea of this experiment is more of keeping the coffee fresh for longer without it going stale, lower acidity or more balanced I would say is one of the effects it had on the coffee, from what I saw is it kept the flavours after 3 months which usually by that time the coffee goes stale
some of the coffees I kept had bigger differences than other its a world that need more exploring
@@ArtIsLife3 Of course that too! I should have mentioned in my comment that cafés can keep a wider range of blends with this method, as they will keep longer after roasting.
@@JayzTwoCentzIG this experiment started because I bought ton of coffee and by my drinking rate they would've gone stale and I smoke cigars and cigars are stored in humidity controlled environment aka humidor, and the rest is history 😁
@@ArtIsLife3 Perfect start to any discovery!
Another test? How does humidity affect espresso extraction / dialling in? I sometimes wonder how summer and winter vary.
I manage a coffee shop with a manual dial espresso machine in Southern New England, there is no doubt the beans in the hopper are affected ... there are days we're dailing in every hour if not more.
Evieb o it would be interesting to see the effects of humidity on espresso if you think that is a test you can conduct
Question.... I live in a very dry environment, Phoenix Az, summers can range up to 113 and very low humidity.... winters are low humidity and not as hot... my question is would using a humidifier pack help maintain my coffee taste and flavor in the summer? Wondering how much the environmental influence the coffee. Thanks in advance and you are great at explaining and engaging curiosity.
A video about your opinions would be awesome. E.g. favourite flavour notes, favourite beans, favourite brewing method etc. Also your least preferred in all these categories
This test HAS to be done again after further months, very interesting indeed!
I used to be on a horticulture crew for landscape conservation in a park. The manager, Ed Toth, went on to do seed conservation for our region's habitat. I wonder about the preservation of humidity for those seeds. Coffee is a seed/pit. Is cellulose some of the material holding the volatile oils? Intuitive analogies: guitars need some humidity; tobacco cigars need humidors - both have plant cell walls? Dried herbs and spices dessicated compared to fresh cut or ground. Wood needs a seal, or to be oiled, except for maybe oily teak types.So many types of archives, museums, and preservation projects regulate humidity. The goal is neither to dry things out, nor to saturate?
yeah the goal is to keep them at a perfect condition so they last longer
Interestingly, I wondered why my pour over coffee wasn't blooming very much for the last few months - Then I checked my AirThings Wave device (that I purchased to measure Radon radiation) and my average humidity in the house is around 60% which is fairly humid. The house is more humid in the winter time ...
I experience the same bloom as the humid at 9:05 - even for newly purchased fresh roast coffee... Wonder if I've been unfortunate with the batches I've gotten (I just started with coffee stuff, on my 3rd bag now).
I would assume (probably incorrectly) that the higher humidity would keep some of the volatile oils and components from escaping out of the beans as quickly...🤷♂️
Thanks for another interesting video, @jimseven.
I do believe in humidity storage for GREEN COFFEE and do my best to achieve these conditions for my home coffee roasting “library.”
Another conjecture is that humidity FLUCTUATIONS, not only temperature fluctuations, may effect out gassing rates for roasted coffee. Ever left a bag of roasted coffee in a hot car? The car smells terrific but the coffee will have spent its aroma.
A moist surprising result
High humidity storage...
A moist surprising result!
This man is a genius regarding coffee. I love all his videos but can I just say how cool his hair is?! I'm envious...
Have you tried espresso poured over a frozen ball of metal like stainless steel? Saw a video that said it made a better shot as the flavors were better due to the instant cooling.