Fresh Roasted Coffee from Starbucks?

Fresh is apprently the new word at Starbucks. I went to a local Starbuck yesterday, was dazzled to see these bags of coffee for sale by the name of Pike Place Roast in market style bags with a spot of the barista to write in when they were "hand scooped" into the bag. Then I noticed the old black and white Starbucks logo that says Fresh Roasted Coffee in the cups and a few other locations. (Sorry that the photo is backwards.)

As turned around to wait for my drink, I say huge 5 pound bags of the Pike Place Roast with the roasted on date hand written: March, 22 2008 and a place for where it was roasted by Starbucks written in: York, PA. I was taken a back of how similar they looked to my bags with the roasted on date, almost like Starbucks ripped off my idea. Whatever. Only when I deliver my coffee they hit stores that same day I roasted them and not billed as fresh roasted when the coffee has still not been brewed two and a half weeks after it was roasted. Coffee reaches its peak flavor about 24-48 hours after it has been roasted. Not only that, but this "fresh roasted" coffee was roasted 953 miles away. Is that fresh roasted?

Support your local coffee roaster, they are the real deal. And always inquire to find out when your coffee was roasted. 

Life is to short to drink bad coffee!

Since this is my first blog entry, I will attempt to make it short and sweet. Here is the question.

Why should I spend $10-$18+ on a pound of coffee when the the grocery store sells it for a fraction of the cost?

Well, with coffee you usually get what you pay for... Usually that is.

Don't assume it is good coffee just beacuse it...

-is sold whole bean (you can sell bad coffee in whole bean)
-says Columbia or Kona on the bag (It may be a blend of coffee that contains only 1-5% of the Columbia or Kona)
-has boutique-style packaging (while packaging is important, it doesn't mean that coffee is worth the price)
-says Arabica on the bag (Even through Arabica is better then low-grade Robusta beans, only 5% of Arabica is specialty grade, commanding a high price.)

-is flavored ( Usually flavored coffee uses really low quality beans. Good quality coffees should have their own unique flavor, just like wine so you don't need flavoring)

To start getting more from your coffee check out coffeereview.com or coffeegeek.com. Or you can check out our web site at newrootscoffee.com

I welcome your feedback on what you might want to chat about in future blogs.