Topic: Coffee jars for spices

[Peripatetic Phil]

Incidentally, without wishing in any way to dampen your enthusiasm, are you certain that all their coffees are roasted the same day as they are sent out ?  I ask because this is what I read on their site :

we roast coffee beans daily and dispatch the same working day (on orders placed before 12pm weekdays). Coffee has a completely different taste when its freshly roasted. Trust me, you will be amazed at the difference.

and if I were a lawyer, I would argue that so long as they roast every day, and dispatch the same working day for orders received before mid-day, then they were in full compliance with their statement even if the coffee that they dispatched had been roasted several weeks beforehand (i.e., just because you are roasting bean "B" on day "D" doesn't mean that when someone orders "B" that day they are guaranteed day "D"s roast -- it may well be that they roast Monsooned Malabar one day, Kenya Peaberry another day, and so on (and if they stock a large number of different beans, that could imply a considerable delay between roasting and dispatch).

It's simply not possible to dampen my enthusiasm for things I love, Phil - though I must admit I hadn't given their claim a thought (and I've been called a cynical old git many times before).  Bottom line is that I'm not certain of anything in life, apart from that I do like their coffee, of which I probably consume far too much (along with salt, saturated fats, etc., etc!).  Now, if I was a real purist I'd be roasting my own beans, but I'm not sure that other residents of Dhali Towers could cope with yet another obsessive activity. That said, the thoght of the combined aroma of BIR and roasting coffee does have a certain allure...   ;D

Just to set the record straight, I asked Coffee Direct whether they could guarantee that my order would be roasted the same day it was dispatched and not "diluted" with left-overs from previous roastings, and they assured me that that was the case : "Orders received by 12pm are collated, roasting takes place in the afternoon, and orders are then despatched the same day.".  So, on my last packet of Waitrose Monsooned Malabar yesterday, I placed an order for 908gm, paid an extra 99p for fast delivery, and was awakened from a very pleasant sleep by our post lady with my coffee this morning.  In fact, I had already forgotten that I had ordered coffee by post (those not yet 65 have no idea of the meaning of "short-term memory loss"), and wondered why the house had such a wonderful freshly-roasted coffee smell about it   Anyhow, I have just made my first cup, and very good it is too.  I think I shall now be a little more adventurous and explore the same coffee from other online suppliers and see if I can tell the difference.  Unfortunately steve@hasbean.co.uk no longer lists Monsooned Malabar, but I am sure there are other quality suppliers with whom it will be worth comparing Coffee Direct.

** Phil.

[George]

I asked Coffee Direct whether they could guarantee that my order would be roasted the same day it was dispatched

I don't doubt that fresh roasting can make a significant difference to the quality of the coffee but how long does it take you to get through your order for 908g of beans? Aren't any beans used after the first day a bit 'old and stale' by your standards?

[Peripatetic Phil]

I don't doubt that fresh roasting can make a significant difference to the quality of the coffee but how long does it take you to get through your order for 908g of beans? Aren't any beans used after the first day a bit 'old and stale' by your standards?

They are kept in a hermetically-sealed glazed ceramic jar (those for immediate use; the other 50% are frozen), and I would expect 908gm to last me about a fortnight.  There has to be some tradeoff between perfect freshness and economy, and it seemed to me that 908gm amortized over a fortnight was about optimal.  The fortnightly saving compared to 4 x individual 227gm packs is