Bought some pricey beans from well known roastery - one pack was two weeks from roast date which surprised me. Would have expected them to be roasted max four or five days prior to delivery as is the custom with other roasters I use. What are your thoughts?

@"Systemic"#p52817 My thoughts are. 'You/we/they can't win!'. How are they brewing? If the roaster thinks their beans shine best at at 2 or more weeks after roast, I'd rather they held them, QC'd them and then released them with accurate notes (rather than roast & post without QC of that specific batch). I recently bought 3 bags from a well known roaster, all bags were tasteless…we had some back & forth between me & the roaster over the week I brewed them, nothing helped, they said their beans were good from the off. Then, recently they then said their beans are best 4 week after roast…maybe they are but I will never know now. I usually brew manual methods within a day or two of receipt and mostly this works out. But I tend not to have lots of coffees on the go, I order when I need them, so a delivery of beans that need weeks before brewing are no good to me, unless I am made aware well in advance.

@"Systemic"#p52817 For starters, name and shame! I have had beans recently that say roasted to order daily on their website. They have a 22 kg roaster so what happens if they only need a couple of kilos? When the 4 bags turned up the roast date was a right mixed bag

Post roast date

MWJB

dfk41 Shouldn’t we identify whether there is/what is the problem first?

dfk41

MWJB The problem is, that there is no legal definition of the word ‘fresh’ or ‘freshly roasted’. This means you have a website offering you the world, painting a picture but then sadly letting you down by sending out beans that have not been roasted to order. Quite a few roasters, usually the more popular ones send out beans that have been roasted within the last day or do. it is easy. If you want to send out beans roasted a week ago, say that on your website!

MWJB

dfk41 Roasted coffee is as fresh as a pot noodle, we don’t know that the word ‘fresh’ was even used, nor that the roaster claimed to ‘roast to order’ (they don’t, they roast what they have, whenever they do it)…even if it was, I’d completely ignore it.

I agree entirely, roasters should be clear about what you should expect regards roast date, it would also be nice if they were clear about many other things too (QC results, roast level, most suitable brew method, etc.) but that is not the world we live in. Funny though how they can tell you a dozen things you don’t need to know, usually on little cards with microfiche sized type! 😆

Dusk

I would assume most roasters probably want to be a little vague about how often they roast purely to avoid wastage, that is unless they roast purely on demand but that has its own issues.

Systemic

MWJB How are they brewing?

If the roaster thinks their beans shine best at at 2 or more weeks after roast, I’d rather they held them, QC’d them and then released them with accurate notes (rather than roast & post without QC of that specific batch).

First brew was good.

Would be nice to think roasters hold back beans post roast to ensure optimum quality but not sure that is the case. Wondering if it is more a case of with parcels of pricey beans, they don’t roast as often.

Systemic

dfk41 For starters, name and shame!

Think that would be both rash and harsh. I’ve emailed the roaster and will wait to hear what they say.

Cuprajake

its a hard one for me as ive tucked in to beans a week after roast and also after a month or even 2,

dfk41

For me, it is about perception. I want a bean roasted within a couple of days of being delivered so that I can degass it myself. Why use terms like freshly roasted (when)? If you walk past a bakers and smell fresh bread you want a nice warm loaf, not something they baked yesterday. All these roasters are so quick to create something. The obligatory carbon footprint/climate change nonsense. The photo of the farmer and his family living 12 in a tin shack without electricity etc. If they are selling a perception, then they ought to live up to it.

I bought some beans from a roaster in Cornwall (Patrick knows the one). I was unhappy with the stuff they sent out, so I emailed them. I received an absolute load on nonsense back so I rang them and challenged them. It turned out they were actually roasting on a 1 kilo roaster (nothing wrong with that). The beans were stored by tipping them on top of existing beans in cardboard tubs with see through lids then mixing them! To be bagged some time later. Yet there website had all the obligatory stories, nonsense and usual claims. They just missed out the important stuff

Dusk

There’s a roaster local to me and their more unusual (and more expensive) beans always tend to be older. I assume they have a much lower stock turnover rate on the expensive stuff. As they have a small cafe/shop it must be difficult to gauge demand.

I quite liked when I visited the Rave cafe as they sold off their older stuff at a cheaper price. Seemed like a reasonable compromise, I think Django also do this.

delta76

If they don’t claim they roast to order, then it’s hard to hold them responsible. Technically. but I agree that would leave a bad taste.

I was once delivered a one month bag, complained with them and got a 35% coupon for next purchase. It was OK-ish for me, but now I moved to roast to order roaster, and always get freshly roasted coffee. I can even ask them to make some changes to the order (like roast a bag to light instead of medium. it does not always work well, but I can)

tompoland

Systemic depends on the roast depth.

I’ve done a lot of testing on this over 240 roast batches. And as always, just my opinion and legitimare alternative impressions will abound but here we go…

Some light roasted beans dont hit peak flavor for 40 days post roast. Dark roasts can hit peak as soon as 8 days but normally closer to 14 days. I drink medium roasts from 18 days post roast but some have not hit peak flavor until 28 days. City (light/medium) hit peak after 21 days.

I roast my own beans but if I had to buy some I’d gladly pay a bit more to secure a batch that was 2 weeks post roast as opposed to 5 days. Full respect to David, each to his own of course, but rather than name and shame, I’d be hoping they set up an outlet nearer to me!

Systemic

tompoland Some light roasted beans dont hit peak flavor for 40 days post roast.

Interesting. I vacuum pack beans if I buy in bulk which does a good job but not, IMO, a substitute for freshly roasted. With regard to 40 day post roast wondering if the beans take on different notes?

dfk41

tompoland Tom, there is nothing wrong with ageing beans yourself. I often drink 40 day plus stuff. My single point is that fresh has no legal meaning in food labelling. If the roaster says, we roast on mondays and thursdays to order, then beans turn up from the previous week I would not be happy

james65477564

I normally find that beans are too fresh!
I get them and want to use them immediately but they typically need additional resting time. I am therefore pretty relaxed about roast date as long as it is within a few weeks.

Royal mail are of course doing a brilliant job of pre-resting most coffee I get.

delta76

james65477564

Royal mail - resting your beans, since 1516

Systemic

As I predominantly use pricier beans for pour over, degassing is less of an issue so prefer to use up a batch with a month from roast date. Getting a bag that is already two weeks in reduces the optimum use by period which roasters often recommend being one month.

Platypus

I received some from a well known roaster that were almost 2 weeks post roast, I wasn’t very impressed because they were on the medium ++ side . If they had been a light roast it wouldn’t have bothered me but I take about 2 weeks to get through a bag so by the end they were almost a month post roast and I felt like the clock was ticking.
I thought about sending an e-mail but when I looked at the FAQ on their website it said “ Our coffee will be shipped to you within 3 weeks of being roasted. It arrives at peak freshness, ready for you to enjoy” so I didn’t bother. After reading this I would think twice about ordering from them again and they are quite a reputable roaster who supplies coffee shops local to me.

Systemic

Just had this from the roastery.

“Thank you for reaching out regarding the roast dates of your recent coffee deliveries. Your feedback is important to us.

I understand your preference for coffee with roast dates closer to the delivery date, and I apologize for any inconvenience caused. We prioritize freshness and are committed to improving our processes to meet your expectations. Please note I have arranged for a new bag to be sent out to you with a newer roast date – it should arrive to you next week.

Your feedback is appreciated, and we value your business. If you have further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us.”

That’s excellent service so I’m happy to share that it was Atkinson’s, Lancaster.

delta76

Happy ending. Think that’s what roasters should do :)

LMSC

Today, I received 0.5 KG of coffee from one of the roasters. It just mentions brew before Dec 2024. It doesn’t have a batch or a serial number either.

Considering the best before is still 12 months away, I am assuming it was recently roasted probably in Dec 23.

It doesn’t impress me when a roaster can’t be asked to put a roast date bags.

Somebody gave me a bag as a gift for Christmas 2023. It had a roast date some time in mid Sep 2022 and the best before was by March 2024. The person insisted we brew this coffee immediately. We did and it was a punishment drink, which I would not even dream of giving it to my nemesis. I hate wastages. We tried to camflouge with a drop of milk and sugar, which are no no for me. After a few drinks, it went to the bin, unfortunately.

These experiences make me a little suspicious. 🤷

I have emailed the roaster. Let’s see. :-)