How long should coffee rest after roasting?

Freshly roasted coffee is not immediately at its best. It needs to degas.

Why resting is needed

Roasting fills the bean with carbon dioxide. In the first days it escapes rapidly, and that gas interferes with brewing — pushing water away from the grounds and preventing even wetting.

Filter

4 to 10 days is the usual sweet spot. Under three days, the bloom is enormous and extraction is uneven.

Filter is more tolerant than espresso, because the longer, gentler brew gives the gas time to leave.

Espresso

7 to 21 days for most coffees. Espresso is where fresh coffee misbehaves most visibly.

Too fresh and you get a gassy, unstable shot: huge pale crema, early blonding, erratic timing, and a thin taste despite the volume.

Darker roasts degas faster and are often ready sooner — sometimes 5 days. Very light roasts can want three weeks or more.

The end of the window

Sealed bag: good for 4 to 6 weeks, declining after. Opened: two to three weeks. Ground: hours.

How to tell

Bloom size. Enormous and violent means too fresh. Steady and modest means ready.

Espresso timing. If shot times settle down and stop wandering after a few days, it was gas.

The practical approach

Buy two bags, stagger them, and always be drinking one that is a week or two old.