I bought a bag of Dunkin wholebean while ago for seasoning a new burrs in my grinder. Bought it May 5th this year. I have no idea when it was roasted. But apparently, it is good till Feb 2024. At least 9 mo from purchase, but more likely 12mo from roast. LOL

Just like trying to find fresh IPAs at the grocer. Depressing!

I would strongly suggest cutting the selection to ensure quality. 20 might be a good limit, you'll have to manage your choice yourself. If some are selling particularly poorly, rotate them out so something new can have a chance. Keep the ones that sell.

No offense, but most people that buy coffee in a grocery store don't really care about coffee. So the numbers will show you if there's something that your customers really like. And good for you for caring that the store is trying to make excellent fresh coffee available... Your competitors probably aren't.

Sal wrote: Feb 2024. At least 9 mo from purchase, but more likely 12mo from roast. LOL

Yup. It'll still be as good as it is right now.

Or as "bad" as it was to begin with. Can't get much worse than what it was when I bought it.

Capuchin Monk wrote:Yesterday (Aug. 29, 2023), I walked down the coffee / tea aisle of a local Whole Foods grocer and saw this.
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4 months old roast with 6 months shelf life. Yes, even at Whole Foods. Unless frozen, I would throw my own roast away after 4 weeks of sitting around. At least the roaster put the roasted date...

Depends on the brew method though, right? We are really kind of lucky to live in an age where there are so many people into coffee and it's so easy to find fresh roast that we can disqualify something at 4 weeks. I'm really only that picky with espresso.

Also there are some who are doing nitrogen purge in the bag, supposedly extending the life. I think that's mostly just the larger companies like Lavazza.

For me it's the other way around, I'll often make espresso with beans that no longer shine as pour over

Anyway, it's also about roast style / level. Sometimes they need a whopping 4 weeks of rest, even for pour over. Those tend to last longer as well before finally fading. Or perhaps there's harsh robusta in a dark Italian espresso roast that mellows out with age.. so I think shelf life should be adjusted depending on these conditions.

I home roast, use artisan single origin light roasts and grocery store beans for espresso. Sometimes high volume local roasters from the grocery store but mostly Lavazza and Kimbo.

For straight shots only the fresh artisan roasts or home roast. The high volume local grocery store stuff is usually stale. O.K. for lattes but too stale for straight shots.

Lavazza and Kimbo have great roasts for straight shot whipped up sugar Neopolitains. There's a hint of stale but the pulls are predominantly classic espresso. Over the years I think they've developed a blend and a roast profile that stores well for a long time. Honestly, I favour their roasts for biscotti dipping.