Why You Don't Want Your Coffee To Be Too Fresh - Chowhound

Off-gassing, also known as de-gassing, occurs during the coffee bean roasting process. When raw beans are subjected to high heat in a roaster, the complex carbohydrates they contain break down. This transformation not only alters the beans' flavor — from raw and grassy, to the rich and aromatic qualities we associate with roasted coffee — but it also produces a lot of carbon dioxide gas, or CO2. Immediately after…