Straw poll: is it ok that...

[magnafunk]

I agree that if they claim to be specialty they should definitely warn you of the age when purchasing. Make it all into cold brew and get your corretto happening

[LeroyC]

I've had a similar experience here in NZ when I bought a deal for 2 x 500g bags for a special price on the GrabOne website from a local and fairly well regarded roaster in Christchurch that if been wanting to try. There was no mention in the ad that it was any sort of run out sale so I was expecting relatively fresh coffee. For some reason it took about 2 weeks for them to send me coffee that was already a month old when I 'bought' it. It was pretty disappointing. Luckily it was still quite nice, but it went off really quickly once I'd opened the bag and I probably only got through half of each bag before it was no good.
In your case Matt my take on the situation is that what they've done would be totally fine if they'd been honest about it. I've had coffee that's been good as much as 8-10 weeks after the roast date, so 6 week old coffee has every chance of being ok if it's been stored carefully. So in my opinion it's not a problem to sell it, especially at a discounted rate, but the fact that it's a bit older should be clear before you make your payment. A clearance sale or discount could happen for any number of reasons, so they should be more explicit.

[herzog]

Straw poll: is it ok that...

Fancy being surprised at receiving stale beans from a clearance sale. Lol

Yeah that's where I was going above.

I would have thought that's the whole point of the clearance - older stock at a significant discount.

Mind you 8 weeks post roast is still probably fresher than 90% of retail beans sold in this country!

If the discount was deep, as per the 25-50% off suggestion, then I think it's reasonable.

[Magic_Matt]

Caveat emptor.

Fancy being surprised at receiving stale beans from a clearance sale. Lol

Should you expect a grocery store to sell off produce? Milk past its use by date? Do you expect on sale electronic items to be DOA? 🤔

But yeah, caveat emptor will certainly apply to that company in future 🤷

[Erimus]

Well, yeah - but this isn't a supermarket, it's a company marketing itself directly at the enthusiast market. Either way, they're not doing themselves any favours - I was considering a subscription with them as they're a bit cheaper than TTT but they're out of the running now.

The beans with a roast date 30 march were supplied in a standard 250g retail pack; the others were in a standard 1kg bag with a stapled on card - not sure whether they were packed that way by the roaster. Both had one-way valves. Can't remember the discount offhand but in the 25-50% range.

Caveat emptor.

Fancy being surprised at receiving stale beans from a clearance sale. Lol

[Magic_Matt]

Honestly, 8 weeks post roast sounds reasonable if it was sold as "clearance". Especially considering roasted coffee typically carries a use by date of around 12 months after the roast date. Yes I know that's not what an enthusiast wants, but that's what the market currently recognises as a standard.


What was the discount as opposed to the full priced stock? Was it supplied in vacuum bags?

Edit: are you certain its rancid? These are whole beans, not preground right? It's hard to imagine how whole beans can go rancid in 8 weeks unless they have been badly stored or mishandled. Imported brands like Illy are probably older than that before they even arrive in the country.

Well, yeah - but this isn't a supermarket, it's a company marketing itself directly at the enthusiast market. Either way, they're not doing themselves any favours - I was considering a subscription with them as they're a bit cheaper than TTT but they're out of the running now.

The beans with a roast date 30 march were supplied in a standard 250g retail pack; the others were in a standard 1kg bag with a stapled on card - not sure whether they were packed that way by the roaster. Both had one-way valves. Can't remember the discount offhand but in the 25-50% range.

[Melbroaster]

I think it depends which expectation they have set in the past. My expectation if I ordered a bag of beans from an italian roaster (would be ideally leas than 6 months and certainly within 12 months of roast. If the bag arrived less than 12 months post roast I would look at that as consistent with expectation. If I was purchasing from a top level roaster in melbourne I would expect <= 1 week post roast and would probably start to get annoyed enough to complain if it was over 2 weeks out of roast. If this is a service that typically provides beans close to roast date and they fulfilled an order with 2 month old beans without warning of this and the beans taste crap I would be getting my money back pretty quick....

[matth3wh]

Straw poll: is it ok that...

If sold as clearance ideally they should give you an idea of roast date and how long ago that was.

I experienced similar from thing from them on previous sale. Not rancid. Aged yes. Same surprise at roast date. Beans were still drinkable but some bags were better than others.

They could do a better job of lowering expectations on their site before people ordering.

Could just be bad roasts too.

If memory serves, mine were all vac bags. Some roasters were definitely better than others.

When they email out specials now I tend to look and see if I've seen that particular roast on special on previous mail out. Then I suspect it's still bags of the original mail out.
(If that makes sense).

My conclusion was that the sale price was not particularly special price enough. 🤣

I'm lucky to be purchasing some beans for work consumption so helps in getting to try and turn over more and more roasters [emoji736]

Heaps of roasters out there so I'm picking my way through Golden Bean winners and others I've been keen on trying in between getting many sacks of greens from here at CS.

[herzog]

Straw poll: is it ok that...

Honestly, 8 weeks post roast sounds reasonable if it was sold as "clearance". Especially considering roasted coffee typically carries a use by date of around 12 months after the roast date. Yes I know that's not what an enthusiast wants, but that's what the market currently recognises as a standard.


What was the discount as opposed to the full priced stock? Was it supplied in vacuum bags?

Edit: are you certain its rancid? These are whole beans, not preground right? It's hard to imagine how whole beans can go rancid in 8 weeks unless they have been badly stored or mishandled. Imported brands like Illy are probably older than that before they even arrive in the country.

[Magic_Matt]

So, I bought some beans in a 'clearance' sale from an online coffee subscription service - I won't name them, but prolly not hard to figure out who. Not TTT.

I assumed that, since they position themselves as a specially coffee service, they wouldn't sell beans significantly past their best - maybe clearance stick is end of line, slightly past its best etc. But not stale.

I think I was wrong.

Of the two bags I purchased (last Thursday, delivered on Tuesday), one has a roast date of March 30, and the other March 6.

To me, that's not acceptable - the beans shouldn't be sold except with a disclaimer that they're only good for seasoning burrs or practice shots. They're noticeably stale, as you'd expect - not degassing and very light (zero moisture content). I haven't run a shot, but they smell rancid to me (that supermarket bean stank).

Thoughts? I'm hoping for some hive-mind advice before I get back to them.

Cheers,
Matt