Yes. Roasting coffee causes complex chemical reactions to take place within the coffee seed. One byproduct of these chemical reactions is the formation of CO2, or carbon dioxide, within the roasted coffee seed. Simply put, high levels of CO2 make extracting coffee well much more difficult and will cause the results to vary daily until the coffee has sufficiently degassed.

How long should you wait? The answer depends on the roast level, how you intend to brew the coffee, whether it is in whole bean form or ground, and whether you enjoy experiencing the subtle changes of the aroma and flavor of a coffee over time or if you want a coffee with a more stable flavor profile. Generally speaking, lighter roasted coffees take longer to degas than darker roasted coffees. If you are brewing the coffee as espresso, best advice is to wait seven days for whole bean darker roasts and around fourteen days for who bean lighter roasts. If you are brewing filter coffee or using an immersion brewer, best advice is to wait at least three days for whole bean darker roasts and at least five days for whole bean lighter roasts. Ketch Coffee Roasters extensively tests every coffee we sell and can provide you with our recommendations for how long you should allow the coffee to degas before brewing, but at the end of the day part of the joy of specialty coffee is learning to discover your own preferences through experimentation. Ground coffee degasses at a much faster rate than whole bean coffee, which is a double edged sword. While it will be ready to drink much sooner, it will also stale more rapidly than whole bean coffee.

If you are interested in learning more, we would recommend this resource from Seven Miles.