What is fresh crop coffee?

Fresh crop in coffee can be hard to quantify. That is to say, “freshness” in coffee is more qualitative, not quantitative. There is no set number of days, weeks, or months that suddenly makes green coffee no longer fresh. First, it helps to mention that coffee as a crop is seasonal. Just like you would not go to the local farmers market or grocery store looking for a perfectly ripe, flavorful tomato in the winter, you would not expect green coffees to be fresh from certain growing regions in certain seasons of the year.

So, how long is coffee fresh post-harvest? Generally speaking, green coffee is considered “fresh” as long as a new harvest season hasn’t started in the region that coffee came from. The freshness of a coffee can be identified by its taste after the green coffee is roasted. Like the ripe summer tomato you went to buy at your local farmers market, coffee that is fresh off of harvest will be vibrant, flavorful, and expressive. Coffee that is aged, or “past crop,” will taste papery, flat, monotone, and lack acidity or vibrance. Like our winter tomato, past crop coffee will simply lack a lot of complexity and depth of flavor.