Well one year after dfk41 was given some bags of Ueshima beans from his nephew for Christmas, guess what I got from my son-in-law for Christmas 2022? A bag of their House Blend beans bought in mid-December 2022 from The Japan Centre.
And also they only had an unnamed date on the back, which I presume is their ‘Best before’ date - 
The beans smelt very good when I opened the bag and looked like this - 
Quite a dark roast but not oily. They tasted good to me as espresso. What might be described as like a traditional Italian espresso, but with no bitterness.
I was similarly curious as to how old the beans were and emailed Ueshima to ask. I got the same bland PR reply twice. On my third and last try, when I said that members of a coffee enthusiasts’ forum in the UK were looking forward to hearing their reply, I got -
Many thanks for your comments below, all feedback is important and I have passed this to our marketing team to help going forward with regards to the roasting date and information provided on the packaging.
The best before date is now 18 months from the roast date. The gas flashing keeps the coffee fresher for
longer.
I think that 18 months back from 19 April 2024 is 19 October 2022. So the beans were two months old when bought from the retailer. I had expected older. I bought a tin of Illy Classico beans from Sainsbury’s in December 2022 because a restaurant we went to used them and their espresso was remarkably good. The beans in the tin (a blend of nine different beans and described as ‘Medium roast’), were of different sizes and some broken and did not look or smell very good, especially at £6.50 for 250g.
Unlike Ueshima, Illy print exact roast dates on the bottom of the tin, which to be fair was sealed with a ring pull lid and this was on my tin -
So they were about 5 months old.
Well I don’t know what to make of all this. Ueshima ‘House Blend’ as a medium-dark blend, readily available in Sainsbury’s & Waitrose at £4.25 for 250g and £8 for 500g (a useful size bag, I think) were to my liking and of high quality. They say they have been in business since 1933 and are No.1 for coffee in Japan.
The beans are ‘made’ in Netherlands for Europe distribution.
Their unhelpful sourcing blurb reads:
Our House Blend coffee beans have been responsibly sourced from across the bean belt, the geographical area that sits between the two topics of Cancer and Capricorn. We have created blends - which will remain secret to preserve the work of our Japanese coffee masters - from our longstanding relationships with coffee farmers and cooperatives across different countries.
I would be interested in others’ views about the Ueshima House Blend beans.
