My First "Freshly" Roasted Beans?

[slipslopslap]

I just read the other posted topic “ Freshly roasted beans taste better "in a few days"?
…and noticed some of the reply’s about trying beans at different post roast date’s and decided to post this.

I purchased my first lot of “freshly roasted” bean’s last weekend from a boutique roaster, I bought 4 x 250grm sample packs of different bean type’s to try.  When I got home I noticed the pack’s that they gave me had no Roast dates on (are they supposed to have?) there was only a sticker on the back with the date of  “Oct 10” stamped on all 4 packs,… what would that be, an expiry date?
How I am supposed to play around and try different post roast date’s if there isn’t a Roast date put on .?
Should there be a "Roasted" and/or a "Use By Date" on these packs?...."STREWTH"...even my supermarket brand Vittoria has a Use by Date :

Stuart.  

[beanflying]

Re: My First "Freshly" Roasted Beans?

Stupormarket use by dates are waste of time and the beans are long since staled. Not all roasters put a roasted on date either.

Best bet is to ask what the date on the bag is, could be a best before (3-4 weeks post roast?) or unlikely a best after (5-7 days post roast). My commercial supplier uses batch numbers but I trust them not to send me old beans so I have never asked what they are.

So ask I guess or if they taste good drink them

[GregWormald]

Re: My First "Freshly" Roasted Beans?

You will have to ask the roaster.

It sounds like you either have beans that are freshly roasted (Oct 10) or a year old! ;D

(The use by date for coffee is usually roast date plus 1 year. ;D While they go stale in about 3 weeks, they dont go truly "off" for more than a year! Good luck with supermarket beans that are pre-staled before packing so they dont blow up the packs. :P )

Greg

[Andy]

Re: My First "Freshly" Roasted Beans?

Every packet of roasted beans we have ever sold has a roasted date so you can determine when you like it best. Heck, I can tell you the hour of the day too if you really need to know.
;D

Many others dont for a number of reasons but mostly because they endup with unsold coffee that gets thrown out.

Useby date is up to 2 years from roast date, its the age that the coffee and/or packaging will break down enough to make a small percentage of the public ill. Its a date set by govt departments and has nothing to do with quality or freshness (as Greg said).

I would guess your "boutique" coffee was roasted "October 2010", which allows the roaster to sell their coffee all month as roasted this month.