I've tried a lot of different types of espresso roasts and their Leelanau Espresso Blend is the best. Produced great flavor and crema.

http://www.coffeeguys.com/

Back in the 80's, when I sold bulk coffee beans in my store I had at the time, I learned about coffee from some scions of the "New York school" of coffee roasting. The canon went like this:

1) the best "home gourmet" coffee brewing method is manual filter drip
2) the best roast is full city
3) espresso is something made on exotic equipment in commercial places using black "Italian roast" beans

Over the last several years, I've sporadically bought coffee from Porto Rico Importing in NY, a long established business who follow something like the NY school approach. They are good roasters, and the price/benefit ratio of their offerings is excellent, but they don't roast date, they don't make very explicit promises about roast-to-ship time, and I found I couldn't find much to make good espresso with, unless of course, you really want that roasty toasty bean.

The roasters favored on this board roast date their stuff, roast their espresso beans city to vienna generally, and choose beans for their espresso taste character. Some also pioneer relationships like direct trade.

These Leelanau guys seem to occupy a space in between these two commercial approaches. They explicitly promise fast shipping from roast, but they still seem to have the ya-gotta-have-some-black-roast-in-there-to-be-espresso mentality.

I don't mind keeping a lookout for roasters that offer good value, although I take satisfaction from supporting the direct trade concept too. How does Leelanau do on their freshness promise?

Gary, I see what you mean:

Leelanau Espresso Blend wrote:Our Italian Roast is blended with dark and oily Indonesian coffees for astonishingly smooth and sweet espresso drinks.

Roasters who sell flavored coffees is another red flag.

While I am very glad, Michael, you have found a roaster you like -- we all should! -- my problem with Leelanau is this description:

Leelanau Espresso Blend wrote:Our Italian Roast is blended with dark and oily Indonesian coffees for astonishingly smooth and sweet espresso drinks.

Personally, I have found that the terms "dark" and "oily" a) don't necessarily translate into "smooth" and "sweet"; and b) are descriptors I try to avoid.

But what is far more important is that you love them. Indeed, that is all that counts!

Cheers,
Jason

Yeah, I, too find that Leelanau's own descriptions cause me to want to avoid them.

Len