Some roasters may freeze their fresh roasted coffee on the same day and pull it out of the freezer and stamp a roast date then. If their inventory moves quickly, you would be getting fresh coffee. Frozen coffee that's well seasoned won't age much, especially in a brief time window. I let my home roasts age to peak and freeze them airtight to enjoy them for a couple months ground out of the freezer.

mkane wrote:I won't buy if there's no date.

same here

drgary wrote:Some roasters may freeze their fresh roasted coffee on the same day and pull it out of the freezer and stamp a roast date then

All the roasters that I buy from state that they roast the next day after placing an order, I am hoping that they are not freezing their beans after roast as this is not the impression that they give. Perhaps it is not a big deal as I freeze bags when they start tasting good, it is just not what we are buying into.

I have seen mention here not to refreeze beans when taken out of the freezer, does this not matter?

drgary wrote:Some roasters may freeze their fresh roasted coffee on the same day and pull it out of the freezer and stamp a roast date then.

I don't like that at all.

A roast date should be a roast date. If the roaster wants to put a "best by" date or a "taken out of the freezer" date or a "prepared for shipment" date on their coffee, that's one thing, but....a roast date should be exactly that.

I'm not even that finicky about the exact time from the roast date to my receiving the coffee and freezing it in mason jars, opening it when I need it and using it up, but I do want the roaster to tell me what I am dealing with.

SJM wrote:I don't like that at all.

A roast date should be a roast date. If the roaster wants to put a "best by" date or a "taken out of the freezer" date or a "prepared for shipment" date on their coffee, that's one thing, but....a roast date should be exactly that.

I agree. I would even go further and say that it is potentially a deceptive trade practice. I'm an attorney, and if I were giving advice to some hypothetical company that wanted to do that, I'd frame it as a potential violation of the deceptive business practices and consumer fraud statute (every state has one). Basically, if a roaster does that, then it is representing to consumers that the coffee in that bag was roasted on a particular day when they know that it wasn't.

Well said, and I agree.