Starbucks.... it that the dirtiest word on these forums? I get fresh beans every week from a local roaster but I ran out of beans today and won't get my new beans until Wednesday So tomorrow morning I'll be out of luck. Out of desperation I called the closest Starbucks to see f they had any espresso beans roasted within 5-10 days I could buy to hold me over. The girl said she would check and get back to me. She called a few hours later and said the freshest beans that have are just over a month old...wow. She said they get their deliveries but nothing is ever that fresh. Alterra on the other hand , which is a little farther that I wanted to drive, gets 5 day post roasted beans twice a week. I think I will go to Starbucks for a straight shot of espresso.. it can't be drinkable, can it?

There is a reason nobody actually orders espresso at Starbuck's.

Even if it was fresh, it's swill. Don't waste your money. I used to work there and never saw anything come in fresher than 2 months. Even the seasonal stuff would be roasted 2-3 months before release One time a got a couple of reasonable shots with their blonde roast (it was free). Nothing extravagant, but drinkable. Again, it was 2 months old, but the bag was just opened. The bags are pretty good at keeping beans "fresh" for maybe a couple months but after you open it, the next day, they'll be stale.

I'll drink tea or even take a cold shower before I resort to drinking starbucks.

Shameful to admit this, but I've had to resort to Starbucks on a few occassions over the last 5 years to tide me over in-between shipments and when I was out of greens to roast myself. I'm more cautious and observant now.

Having said that, IF you decide to go the Starbucks route, I recommend their House Blend as a decent alternative. While it will not be stellar, it is very drinkable, but you'll have to tighten your grind a bit as the beans will be older that what you are accustomed to using, otherwise you'll have a 10-second or less shot. Also, like Jonny said, their beans go stale very fast, so hopefully you only need a few days worth at best.

Avoid their Espresso Blend as it's basically aged tar and will have so much oil present you'll want to clean your grinder to remove the contamination it leaves behind.

Good luck, and let us know your outcome.

There's an awesome farmers market near me, which is actually an indoor business, like any other old time privately owned grocer, the name of the store is actually Farmers Market. Anyways, they sell great food, but their coffee bins are filled with the oiliest nastiest looking coffee. They have a sign that states a local roaster keeps it fresh within a week or so. I was in there yesterday and I glanced at their stock on hand and it came to mind again when I read this thread.

They also have two $55 bags of "100% Kona" coffee that has probably been there long before early this summer when I first saw them. They are all the way down near the floor, practically hidden. No roasted on date either. I was tempted then to come back with a very small discrete sticker that I could put on the bottom of one of them to mark it and see if it's the same one 6 months later. Wouldn't be surprised.

I went to Maui last year with a girl-friend, and her parents. Her dad is a regional distributor for Peet's Coffee. He knew how big I was on coffee, and we talked a lot about Peet's and coffee in general, while we searched out decent coffee farms on Maui (not easy). Anyways, he was telling me the in's and out's of the Peet's stocking and replenishing requirements the distributors are supposed to follow, and apparently not all do. They only go off of date codes on the bags. But the date codes, once you understand them, don't reflect the week and month the coffee was roasted, it's only the week that they package the roasts. Their batch roasts are obviously enormous, and post roast, they are stored in containers until the computer tells them to bag and ship. Obviously they don't sit on the roasts forever, but still, it's basically stale the day after you open the newest shipped bag.

Gary, Starbucks House Blend is very similar to Illy's Red but is about 1/3 the price per lb. Illy is just too expensive for what you get, at least here in the U.S. Great cups though!

I had no coffee this morning! I had strong tea instead, I love tea but I NEED espresso.. I will have my fresh beans in the A.M. Whats funny is my wife wasn't really into espresso drinks until I got my new machine/grinder.
As I was out the door for work she said "You're going to bring more beans home in the morning, right?"