I had an occasion to visit Pixar awhile back and observe a "dog and pony show" put on by Weaver Coffee. John Weaver, a former Peets roaster, along with some partners, purchased Peets' Probat L45 and leased Peets former roasting location in Emeryville, (Peets having moved on to a larger facility and a gigantic industrial roaster).

The coffee was excellent, especially when prepared in a French Press. Even bubbling from a thermos, it wasn't too bad.

John claimed to have shortened the roast times he was using at Peets and the roasted beans were lighter in color than a Peets bean, about a 46 Agtron, my guess.

What was interesting was their claim of coffee freshness. They told us, Starbucks coffee was sold as fresh for as long as 9 months after roasting while they would not sell a bean 90 days after the roast date.

I'd say Wave 2 1/2 is being very generous. 90 days post roast sitting on a shelf a good thing? I think not. Maybe better than a ridiculous 9 months but 90 days post roast is still pretty much dead coffee.

Even being a struggling Roastery Cafe owner 1 week, 10 days at a push occasionally, is as long as a retail bag sits on my shelves. I mean, ya gotta have some life in the beans after someone buys it for pitty sake! Anything shipped max 2 days post roast.

That's not wave 2.5, that's old, old wave.

When I was buying for my store in the early 80's, one-way plastic valves and "hot packing" in aluminized mylar were new technologies. Some roasters were anxious that you (the retail merchant) knew to buy only what bulk beans you could sell in a few days time, even with the new bags. One of my main suppliers sold beans in relatively small 5# bags to help facilitate this.

Other roasters sold roasted beans in big, 25# plastic lined burlap bags so you could set out the funky bags - in the open air, mind you - and make your store look cool. They would blithely assure you that their beans had a 30 to 60 day "shelf life", or more.
Plus ca change...

It helps if you know what you're doing.

The 90 day philosophy was no doubt inherited from Peet's. Peet's prints a "freshness pledge" on supermarket bags that coffee will be sold within a 90 day window.

There is a serial number printed above the Peet's barcode, for example 2 089 14 09. I believe you read it like this: The "pull date" (when to remove from supermarket shelf) is the 14th week of 2009. The roast date is 90 days prior to the 89th day of the year, i.e. this coffee was roasted on Dec. 31.

It's a fun game if you happen to browse the supermarket aisle, but obviously there are far better ways to source good fresh coffee.