The first time most people see a bag of our coffee come out of a freezer, they assume something has gone wrong. Old stock. A clearance. A roaster quietly getting rid of something.
Fair enough. Nobody has been asking for frozen coffee.
So here is the honest version of what the "Frozen Reserve" is, why we bothered, and — just as importantly — who it isn't for. We would rather you skip it than buy a bag that was never going to suit the way you drink coffee.
What it actually is
The Frozen Reserve is our frozen coffee program. We take micro lot coffee, roast and pack it as whole bean, seal it with the air pulled out of the bag, and hold it frozen until the lot is released.
A micro lot is a small amount of coffee from one farm, sometimes one washing station, sometimes a single stretch of hillside. It is not a blend. When it is gone, it does not come back — the next harvest is a different coffee, even from the same grower.
That creates a problem we have had for years. A lot like that is too small to roast every week, and too good to let go quiet on a shelf. Roast the whole thing at once and the clock starts on every bag of it — within a few weeks the aromatics that made the lot worth buying have begun to fade, whether or not anyone has opened one.
Freezing is our answer to that.
Why the freezer
Coffee starts changing the moment it leaves the roaster. Oxygen does most of the damage, and time does the rest — the aromatics that make a great lot worth chasing are the first things to go quiet.
Pull the oxygen out, seal the bag, and drop the temperature, and that process slows down considerably. It is not a magic trick and it is not new — it is standard practice at the competition end of specialty coffee, where roasters and baristas do exactly this to hold a coffee in condition. We are simply doing it with lots we think are worth the effort.
Two rules we have set for ourselves, and will not move on:
Whole bean only. We do not offer these ground. Ground coffee gives up its aromatics far too fast for any of this to be worth doing.
Fresh lots only. This program isn't a way to sell old crop coffees. If a coffee has already gone quiet, freezing it will not bring it back — and we would not insult you by trying.
Who this is for
People who already drink filter. If you own a V60, an Aeropress, a Chemex, a Delta or a plunger, this is squarely aimed at you. These lots are chosen and roasted for that style of brewing, and that is where they show their best.
People who want to try something they cannot get elsewhere. Small lots, released in small numbers. Some of what we are working towards will only ever be available this way.
Tea drinkers, genuinely. This is the one that surprises people. These coffees are lighter in body than a standard espresso blend, and brewed as filter they carry more of a tea-like mouthfeel — clean, delicate, aromatic. If you have always found coffee a bit heavy and a bit blunt, start here rather than with a dark roast.
Home baristas who like the process. If you weigh your dose and care about your water temperature, you already know what to do with a coffee like this.
Who this is not for
We would rather say this plainly than have you find out after you have paid for it.
It is not designed to be drunk with milk. These lots are lighter and more acidic by nature. Put them under a flat white and the delicacy disappears — worse, they can read as sour rather than sweet. If milk coffee is your daily, our blends will serve you far better, and we would rather sell you the right bag.
It is not a big, bold, bitter cup. If your idea of a good coffee is strong, dark and unmistakably coffee, this program will not deliver that, and it is not trying to. That is not a criticism of how you drink coffee — it is just a different thing. Our espresso blends are built exactly for that job.
If you read those two paragraphs and thought “that's me” — go and look at [LINK: Hub or Espresso blends] instead. No hard feelings.
A note for cafés
If you run a café and you have been looking for a way to put a rotating micro lot on your menu without committing to a whole roast, this is the mechanism. Small releases, held in condition, available in numbers that actually suit a single-site venue.
If that is of interest, talk to us — it is the kind of thing we would rather work through with you properly than sell off a page.
What's in the freezer
The program runs one micro lot at a time. Whole bean, 150g, in small numbers — and when a lot is gone, it is gone for good.
Beyond the lot in the freezer now, we are working towards coffees that will only ever be available this way. There is a second lot we expect to bring through the frozen coffee program within the next month, and a third we are chasing that we are genuinely excited about — more on that when it is confirmed and in our hands, not before.
So if you brew filter, if you are curious, or if you have always found ordinary coffee a bit heavy — go and see what is in the freezer.
Roasted in Bathurst. Small lots, small numbers, when they're gone, they're gone.
