咖啡豆也有“赏味期”，30天鲜豆成为新卖点Coffee beans also have a "taste appreciation period", with 30 day fresh beans becoming a new selling point
据古茗咖啡研发人员介绍，该品牌已将咖啡豆从烘焙后到门店使用的完全链路控制在30天内。古茗提出的“30天鲜豆”标准，指的是咖啡豆从烘焙完成到门店使用完毕控制在30天内，其中含10天养豆期。
Beijing, July 6th (Reporter Chen Yue) When consumers receive a freshly ground coffee from the counter, few people pay attention to when the coffee beans used in this cup are roasted? How long did you stay in the warehouse and logistics? Every day from roasting to final extraction of coffee beans affects their taste. This is a production chain that most consumers cannot see but actually exists.
30 day "flavor appreciation period" for coffee beans
Green coffee beans can maintain their optimal flavor for about 12 months when stored properly, but it is completely different after roasting. According to the consensus of SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) and multiple specialty roasters, the optimal flavor period for coffee beans is 7 to 30 days after roasting, with the 7th to 21st day being the peak flavor window. A study has shown that under appropriate storage conditions, the flavor score of coffee beans can reach 95 points (on a percentage scale) on the 10th day after roasting, and can still maintain above 85 points on the 30th day, but the flavor decay rate significantly accelerates after 30 days. After more than 30 days, a large amount of volatile substances such as floral and fruity aromas are lost, and even deep baked beans cannot conceal their woody flavor and hollow bitterness.
However, most brands in the industry set the coffee bean usage cycle to 2 to 3 months. Behind it are the real pressures of raw bean trade, baking, warehousing, logistics, and stores, each of which increases time costs. For most chain brands with thousands of stores, transporting beans from the bakery to each store and ensuring they are in the best condition is not an easy task.
Gu Ming deeply cultivates the supply chain to support the new standard of "30 day fresh beans"
According to the R&D personnel of Guming Coffee, the brand has controlled the entire chain of coffee beans from roasting to store use within 30 days. The "30 day fresh bean" standard proposed by Gu Ming refers to the control of coffee beans from roasting to store use within 30 days, including a 10 day bean cultivation period.
The flavor changes of coffee beans after roasting have their own patterns. According to the research and development personnel of Guming, after 7 to 10 days of deep baking, the release of carbon dioxide tends to stabilize and the flavor begins to enter a better state; 10 to 30 days is the most stable and balanced stage for overall flavor expression. From the perspective of consumer experience, the first thing perceived is changes in aroma, followed by changes in flavor levels and aftertaste.
The 30 day standard imposes higher requirements on the supply chain. According to the person in charge of Guming Coffee, the core of this standard is that the supply chain needs to make stocking plans according to the logic of short-term guarantee products, warehouse inventory needs to be compressed, and planners need to pay attention to real-time inventory every day, judge sales expectations, and avoid stockouts or unsold goods. Coffee beans are different from other ingredients - if they are out of stock and restocked, they cannot be used directly, and a bean cultivation period needs to be reserved. Therefore, sales estimates need to be made 7 to 8 days in advance.
The delivery logic of coffee beans is different from that of fresh fruits and milk. According to Gu Ming, milk has a large production capacity and can be directly transported to the warehouse for use after production; If coffee beans are out of stock and restocking cannot be used immediately, a bean cultivation period must be reserved, and supply chain management requires more precise rhythm control.
The reason why Guming can achieve the 30 day standard is related to its accumulated supply chain capabilities in the tea beverage industry. At present, the cold chain warehouse distribution system created by Guming has covered the entire chain from raw material procurement to store distribution. By the end of 2025, Guming will operate a total of 24 warehouses with a total construction area of approximately 258000 square meters, including a cold storage capacity of over 70000 cubic meters, which can support storage needs in various temperature ranges. These warehouses can provide cold chain distribution services to about 98% of stores every two days as needed. This system, which has been accumulated in managing short-term raw materials such as fresh fruits and milk, has now been extended to the coffee business.
Tea beverage brands flock to the coffee track
Since 2021, Guming has officially launched coffee testing and launched its first coffee product, "Iced Coffee Little Yellow Lemon"; Starting from 2022, small-scale installation of freshly ground coffee machines will begin; Large scale installation will begin in the second half of 2024. By the end of 2025, over 12000 stores have been equipped with freshly ground coffee machines, and 27 coffee drinks have been launched throughout the year.
In fact, the cross-border coffee of tea beverage brands is not an exception. According to the "2025 China Coffee Industry Development Report", the coffee market size in China will reach 218.1 billion yuan by 2025, with the freshly ground coffee market size exceeding 188 billion yuan. The compound annual growth rate of coffee consumption in China over the past decade is 10%. By 2025, the net number of coffee shops in China will increase by over 40000, reaching 215000, an increase of 25%; The chain rate has increased from 46% to 53%. The report also pointed out that the coffee industry in China is experiencing an "atypical outbreak", where non professional players are leveraging their existing channel advantages to achieve cross-border dimensionality reduction in scenes.
At present, tea beverage brands such as Shanghai Auntie, Honey Snow Ice City, Nayuki Tea, and Tea Baidao have all added coffee categories to their product matrices. In Gu Ming's view, the logic behind making coffee is consistent with making tea drinks - sourcing ingredients from their place of origin and producing fresh, delicious, high-quality, and affordable products. Choosing "freshness" as a breakthrough point, according to the relevant person in charge of Guming Coffee, is because freshness directly affects the core flavor experience of coffee. This is not simply a concept of time, but a systematic ability that runs through the supply chain and store production, including raw material quality, baking technology, packaging preservation, logistics turnover, and standardized production in stores.
Gu Ming believes that for chain coffee, the true competitiveness lies not in the peak flavor on a certain day, but in the ability to consistently and stably deliver a good cup of coffee to consumers. Behind this is a precision operating system: dynamically adjusting blending plans based on seasonal differences in global coffee bean production areas; Customize the baking curve for each set of equipment to produce a unified flavor; Continuously optimizing packaging to solve air tightness issues; Refine the control of extraction parameters. The number of days it takes for a cup of coffee to be served from the beans will ultimately be reflected in the consumer's taste buds. As more and more brands begin to focus on this invisible timeline, the quality standards of the entire industry may be being redefined.