I was wandering around my neighborhood supermarket today when I came upon the coffee aisle. Much to my surprise, there was a very nice selection of coffee beans from high quality roasters.
In addition to Peet’s, there were five different beans from Stumptown, four from Intelligentsia, and even Death Wish (hi Heidi!). I happily grabbed a bag of an Intelligentsia espresso blend, only to find that the roast date was in January.
We all have our own standards, some snootier than others. The chances of 4 month old beans, even when packed in a vacuum bag, being fresh are somewhere between slim and none. Turns out all the premium beans were at least two months old, except for a dark roast Intelligentsia blend which was roasted three weeks ago (which I happily took home).
It’s great to have so many readily available sales channels for quality beans, between cafes, roaster websites, and now the local supermarket. Just be sure to check the small print at the bottom of the bag for the roast date.