For me personally, having a roast date is absolutely essential . The info helps me to know where the coffee is “at” , it gives me trust in the roaster that they are being transparent with nothing to hide and confidence that they actually care about the needs of the customer. If they can write some long winded descriptor regarding flavour notes , processing etc and attach an eye catching label often with a QR code then surely they can print a basic roast date and recommended drinking timeframe suggestion to avoid customer confusion?
The devil is in the detail and being consistent and giving information on a product is more likely to keep customers happy and loyal.
I roast my own very often for personal use and I wouldn’t dream of not writing the date on the bag, it’s just basic common sense surely?

  • MWJB replied to this.

    dfk41 "We did contemplate putting both dates on a bag, but this confuses many customers. (In our early days, some of our coffees just used to have the roast date on and some customers complained as they thought it was a “expired” best before date!) The compromise we came up with is to comply with the law but make it clear how this relates to the roast date.’

    The more I read this, the more I roll my eyes. Plenty of other roasters have both dates on the label. Even so, say, if their customer base cannot distinguish between the terms “Best Before Date” and “Roasted On Date”, then they could simply put the “Roasted on Date” and right next to it a sentence saying “Best consumed within 3 months from the roast date”.

        MediumRoastSteam @dfk41

        I received exactly the same reply on more than one occasion. We know one can derive the roast date from BBE. The thing is they put the BBE and a note stating “6 months from the roast date”.

        I do ask them the roast date before placing an order and would only buy if they are roasted 2 weeks before from the date of enquiry. Because, I tend to open the filter bags immediately for filter and I prefer rested bags even for filter.

        What I find not acceptable from any roaster is receiving coffee roasted weeks ago when I am prepared to pay £100 a KG. 😊

          Right chaps (and whatever the female version is!), it is back to the working week. I have heard from Paul, the director to say he is not in today but will contact me tomorrow. I am quite happy with that answer for the moment. There is a possibility that a simple series of errors has occurred………let us wait and see

          https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2024/02/thank-goodness-for-madeira-cake/

          Platypus For me personally, having a roast date is absolutely essential . The info helps me to know where the coffee is “at”

          Do all coffees/roasts come on song at the same resting time? How do you determine this without brewing the coffee?

              MWJB Do all coffees/roasts come on song at the same resting time? How do you determine this without brewing the coffee?

              I find them all different, I’ve known really light roasts take weeks before getting good results and darker roasts ready only a few days post delivery. I normally try them initially to see but I find the roast date a really good initial starting point as to their age and how long they’ve been hanging around.
              Maybe I’m just singing from a different song sheet to every else, who knows! 😊

                  Platypus Sorry, but if you need to try them to see when they’re at their best, because they’re all different, then the roast date seems a bit irrelevant? You may as well try coffee of an unknown date and continue, or rest further, based on the result?

                    Platypus I find them all different, I’ve known really light roasts take weeks before getting good results and darker roasts ready only a few days post delivery. I normally try them initially to see but I find the roast date a really good initial starting point as to their age and how long they’ve been hanging around.

                    Which is exactly why it’s important to know roast date. If you order that same coffee again and know it was good x days after roast date, with no roast date on the bag, you can’t replicate that or even understand it.

                    Contact me

                      Will be good to hear from the director of Darkwoods. Just as an example of a great job well done, Foundry, for years, both dates are in the packaging (this is from an old packaging I had lying around):

                      Any excuse is just… an excuse.

                      whinmoor85 I think you have not picked my beef up. I contacted them to ask why they could not add a roasted on date to the best before date. They replied and I queried the reply. You can work out the roasted on date as they say best before 6 months to the day as opposed to the month. I then ordered again and after the exchange of emails, the beans turned up. One bag had no best before but a roasted on date (remembering they told me they do not do this). The beans were 24 days old on receipt. I am suggesting when buying a premium product at over £70 per kilo IO expect them not to be 24 days old! The second bag had no information on them at all.

                      https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2024/02/thank-goodness-for-madeira-cake/

                        Right, matter is resolved. I heard back today with an explanation. I specifically asked not to be refunded but they did anyway due to the damaged packaging. As far as I am concerned, I will continue to place orders with them. I am still on the lookout for a nice punchy, fruity coffee suitable for V60 or Hario Switch if anyone can help!

                        https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2024/02/thank-goodness-for-madeira-cake/

                        MWJB Does that ridiculous cost come with a side order of Rao arrogance? What good can 100 grams be? All the better reason to home roast and easily be on par and usually better than most any commercial roaster worldwide.

                            Might I ask why you would refuse a refund if you were offered sub standard experience?

                              JonWoo187 MWJB Does that ridiculous cost come with a side order of Rao arrogance? What good can 100 grams be? All the better reason to home roast and easily be on par and usually better than most any commercial roaster worldwide.

                              The price I quoted was as per 100grams (this is just how I quantify bean cost), not an order of 100grams. Yet, it is not the most expensive coffee I have bought, it was acceptable once rested (the other 3 bags, not so much).

                              100g is 7 pour over brews, plenty enough to get a god grasp of a coffee. Many of my orders are 150g, Sweven, for instance, do smaller bags at114g.

                              I have roasted at home too, I’m obviously not as good at it as you are, any tips greatly received.

                              I was (and still am) a big fan of Rao’s first 2 books, as an intro to understanding coffee. His latest social media content seems to be less rigorously researched & referenced. However, Scott was actually the most happy & kowledgeable to engage with on suggestions on how to troubleshoot Prodigal coffee, compared to other roasters I have communicated with. As I said in response to David, I am not keen on stockpiling coffee, waiting for it to rest just because the roaster is in a rush to get it out the door, so ordering a month ahead of time is not for me.

                                Tal Of course you may ask. A refund was never in question although that was not what I was after. Initially I simply wanted to know why a roaster who seems to be offering beans at the top end price wise, was not prepared to simply add a Roasted On date to the packaging. I was not particularly happy with the answer. The sub standard part was receiving beans with damaged packaging (that can happen to anyone) coupled with one of the two packs having zero information on the packaging. By zero, I mean nothing, nada.

                                When I queried this I received an answer and I was quite happy. I will continue to order beans. it is quite possible to ask questions, debate robustly and not have to fall out!

                                https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2024/02/thank-goodness-for-madeira-cake/

                                    JonWoo187 Does that ridiculous cost come with a side order of Rao arrogance?

                                    I’m not sure why you’re suggesting Scott Rao is involved the company? He owns Prodigal coffee, not Darkwoods.

                                    Decent DE1 • Mazzer Philos

                                    • MWJB replied to this.

                                        dfk41 Glad to see they resolved your issue. What did they say about the lack of roast dates?