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  • #16
    Re: Use by date or batch label?

    I have a friend who works for Belaroma, and I will qualify by saying I have never tried their coffee. From his ramblings it seems they have quite a professional approach to coffee roasting.  However as an outsider I get the impression they have an image problem. What I mean by that is that for some reason in my head I associate their brand with supermarket type coffee. Maybe its because of all the crappy cafes in Sydney that used to serve their coffee in the 90s. I genuinely feel they want to be considered a quality force in the Australian coffee market, but they also have a touch of the V*#ttor*#a about them. If they want to be taken seriously they need an image overhaul. They can start by removing use by dates from their coffee and moving to roasted on dates. I guess employing Scottie Callaghan is also an attempt to improve their image. All I will say is that FOR NO VALID REASON if I see a cafe selling their brand I steer away, and I know this is shallow because I have never tried their coffee but its just the way it is.

    mod edit- I think this topic has diverged far enough that a rename is appropriate....I have done that..
    2mcm

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    • #17
      Re: Use by date or batch label?

      I think batch labelling can be fine for commercial product, except when less scrupulous roasters use the process to hide shoddy production and/or warehousing. In retail product, use by dates are a laugh serving only as an indication of how close to 12 or 24 months post roast the product is... :

      In one cafe I owned, my experience was with batch labelled product which was initially good and fresh. Later batches were really poor. A few questions to the right people revealed that the batches we were receiving at that time had been roasted 6 months or so prior. Why the roaster allowed that to happen, I have no idea :

      Roaster/retailer is a two way relationship. The roaster should be able to provide fresh coffee as the retailer needs to manage stock holdings to ensure that the optimum result is in the cup...If either party is dishonest or slap dash in the relationship, the customer suffers and the reputations of the roaster and of the cafe move a notch in the southerly direction.

      Brand cred once sullied is extremely difficult to retrieve. It why we see wind barriers outside places that demand a truck load of freebies and think "no way"....

      Chris

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      • #18
        Re: Use by date or batch label?

        Roasted on dates would be nice on all bagged coffee particuraly where product is being shelved and resold to enable proper stock rotation. Larger bags for shop consumption are easier to manage providing the turnover is good. Best befores are a WOFTAM and Roasters should stop using them NOW.

        The large commercial roaster I deal with only has some sort of batch numbers on the bags but I trust them to send me fresh beans without a roasted on date and as Chris mentioned above "Roaster/retailer is a two way relationship".

        Part of the reason to pick a blend is consitancy, freshness and how you find company X is to deal with. Price and freebies are really low on my list but in looking around my little town over 2/3s of the cafes have been swayed by freebies and most wouldnt know or care if the coffee was a month or three old. :P

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        • #19
          Re: Use by date or batch label?

          I was in bellaroma the other day and noted they have rosted on dates on all single origin coffees but use by dates on the blends, I also noted that use by date was exactly 6 months after the stated rosted on date of current blend running in the coffe center and I recall that is usually the case.

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          • #20
            Re: Use by date or batch label?

            Hey doc...I now see that we are getting our blend with both roasted date and use by date on them from Belaroma again. Were supplied with the 1kg bags, so I can only speak from that perspective.

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            • #21
              Re: Use by date or batch label?

              Im always surprised with this topic of freshness. What surprises me is that so many operators are ok with "trusting" that the producuct they are buying is fresh. Happy to take the word of the roaster, and if the roaster wont give the information freely on the roasted date, how many operators think that it is fine.

              For me personally, freshness is vital. If I deal with a roaster in any way, and they can not, or will not, tell me when the beans were roasted, I wont deal with them at all. Every customer is entitled to know when the product they are brewing or selling was roasted. I have dealt with many roasters over the years, some bad, some amazing. Openess of knowlege and information is the way to go, roasters that dodge the question of when the coffee was roasted on....not cool.

              At the end of the day, the coffee industry is completely unregulated, just like mush of the food industry in Australia. Wouldnt it be great though, if the coffee industry could lead the way in freedom of freshness information. Quality freshness, instead of use by dates/best before dates, that allow a roaster to work their business more easily, yet not nneed to worry about freshness and quality.

              I have a dream........

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              • #22
                Re: Use by date or batch label?

                Originally posted by 3E2126252C3A21263D2825263F2C490 link=1279602845/20#20 date=1309218093
                just like mush of the food industry in Australia
                Haaaaaaaaaa, this has got to be one of the best Freudian slips ever! (Unless you did it deliberately--then its just great!)

                Greg

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                • #23
                  Re: Use by date or batch label?

                  I picked up bag of grinders coffee beans at a cafe / snack bar , it had a use by date of some time in 2013,
                  I laughed and quickly put it back.

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                  • #24
                    Re: Use by date or batch label?

                    Originally posted by 76594255405F475542300 link=1279602845/22#22 date=1309334673
                    I picked up bag of grinders coffee beans at a cafe / snack bar , it had a use by date of some time in 2013,
                    I laughed and quickly put it back.
                    Actually, thats correct. You can use Grinders coffee in 2013 and it will pretty much taste like it does today.

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