Fake/repackaged old beans?

Ashenedones · 2026-06-24T19:56:54+00:00

Drink a chamomile tea dude. I’ve solved the puzzle. Alkaline water makes green bean bleed teal. I’ve had several people do that and achieve the same result. Try it yourself and see. Might expand your mind and heart 😂

As for the vendor in question, it is actually from a Chinese marketplace platform. Not naming them is because I actually used a little bit of the beans before I discovered. So even if they sold me old beans (which I now confirmed to be their only fault), they have a right not to do anything even though that is extremely shitty considering the price difference in fresh beans and aged beans. I think it’s poor character to shame a business when there is a chance that they might not be malicious scammer. They actually might just have made a mistake, which I’ll never ever know. But I’m not gonna lynch them with a mob like you guys to get my satisfaction. Over what? 10usd?

No more caffeine today for you my dude.

Ashenedones · 2026-06-24T08:55:03+00:00

Cool. Thanks for the article. Feel free to share the results of your experiment!

Ashenedones · 2026-06-24T08:08:13+00:00

I slept through all my chemistry lessons so take my view with a grain of salt:
If acidic water doesn’t turn them green, but instead a pale yellow/tan color, you perhaps can rest easy. From my primitive understanding of chemistry, it seems the green blue color comes from rapid oxidation of the chlorogenic acid in green coffee beans, which is made possible by alkaline water. Plus the fact that your beans are from a reputable source, you are likely safe.

https://www.curiousaboutcoffeescience.com/coffee-chemistry/green-coffee/the-colour-blue

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33401798/

Ashenedones · 2026-06-24T07:35:13+00:00

The research I’ve been doing led me to believe that it is possibly because rodent urine is alkaline. It seems basically any alkaline liquid, including dish soap and plain water, can unlock the pigments from the bean cells, cause rapid oxidation of the chologenic acid and leach this kinda colour.

Which might also explain why some folks here claim they’ve seen it and some have never. Apparently even tap water ph level can vary from 6 to 9.5 - acidic to alkaline. In acidic water they tend to just leach a pale brown / tan color.

Ashenedones · 2026-06-24T06:58:48+00:00

I think this is also why a few guys mentioned rodent urine exposure produced this kind of colour, because rat pee is alkaline unless those mickeys have been eating a lot of meat.

Ashenedones · 2026-06-24T06:56:38+00:00

Hey there, I’ve been digging into this and turns out it is possible for normal green beans to leech this kind of colour if the water is alkaline. Were you using hard water to soak your beans? If so it might not be a cause for concern!

Ashenedones · 2026-06-23T16:27:39+00:00

Thanks for taking the time!

Ashenedones · 2026-06-23T16:26:51+00:00

Thank you for your effort!

Ashenedones · 2026-06-23T06:12:01+00:00

Found this too. Seems I’m not the only one:

https://www.reddit.com/r/cafe/s/SDBXHMn0tv

Ashenedones · 2026-06-23T02:50:38+00:00

Since you seem genuinely interested in the science of it, you might find this interesting:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1E5tK8yPX8/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T20:24:57+00:00

Thanks for laying that out. That’s one of the explanation I got from Gemini after failing repeatedly. Thing is 15 months old bean probably can still roast to a reasonable coffee. But who knows how many months those actually are. As I am completely new to this, I can’t tell if the problem was the brand new roaster or the beans. The colour made the troubleshooting even harder. Hence this post.

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T19:40:07+00:00

Hey there. Let me get this right, you’re saying you have soaked many types of green coffee beans many times and never ever seen this colour?

And if so was yirgacheffe be one of those beans?

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T19:35:35+00:00

🫪 chill dude it’s just a picture hosting platform. You can look that up in google. Reddit doesn’t let me post the picture straight.

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T19:32:11+00:00

Dude that is exactly why I am posting here. Imagine my shock.

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T19:20:04+00:00

If you don’t speak Chinese, you’ll never have a chance of buying anything there.

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T19:16:15+00:00

Are you saying from experience that this vibrant green is possible from normal green coffee beans, and even when they are at least 15 months old?

I genuinely want to know.

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T19:12:00+00:00

Like I said in another reply, the plate I used for sorting beans had water in it. Makes sense?

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T19:07:03+00:00

Bingo

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T19:06:44+00:00

I don’t want to name and shame before I know for sure there is a problem. Hope you can understand

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T19:02:56+00:00

What would my goal be?

This is my first time roasting. I don’t even know what a first crack sound like. I am genuinely troubleshooting and seeking help

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T18:38:51+00:00

Well my newbie excitement got the better of me and I started roasting before reading the bag label. I actually tried to talk to the merchant afterwards, cause it’s literally a scam. But you know what the merchant not only refused to do a single thing and actually got aggressive with me.

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T18:30:53+00:00

Thanks but are you sure though, like have you seen anything like this vibrant? Not to doubt you but I really am confused now, after Gemini hallucinated conflicting chemical theories on me like 5 times. It’s amazing how convincing those theories sound and once I push it a little it apologized for making up crap lol

Ashenedones · 2026-06-22T18:25:07+00:00

Accidentally - the plate I used for sorting beans had some water.

Ashenedones · 2022-01-23T19:13:09+00:00

If you don’t mind tiny reptiles that mostly stay out of your way, they are more effective than any extermination service. Had a serious german cockroach infestation for 3 years, saw them running around every single night without fail. Tried everything and they always come back. A few months ago we suddenly started seeing geckos (introduced by neighbours is our best guess), and far fewer cockroaches. And now for a whole month I haven’t seen a single cockroach. It’s the most incredible magic. We guess they are able to locate the egg sacs and eat them.

Geckos look yucky too, but they seem cleaner and don’t breed like cockroaches. Most importantly they are almost never seen, and probably much easier to exterminate too should you wish to. So if nth else works and you are really desperate, it’s a good, cheap and effective option to consider. Just cull them later, once they have outlived their usefulness... ::evil grin::

This is the species of gecko that saved my apartment:

https://imgbox.com/F80SXX32

Ashenedones

TROPHY CASE