Over the last few years, I’ve become quite a coffee-holic. There’s nothing I like more than starting my day with a hot cup (or two). In the interest of brewing a fresher, tastier cup, I’d like to look into getting fresher whole-bean coffee. I have a coffee grinder and french press, but I can’t distinguish any advantage over a cheap percolator when all I’m brewing is Folgers or Starbucks.
The first hit when googling “fresh-roasted coffee” is the Little River Roasting Company. They seem to have quite a range of coffees, and their roasting level is clearly indicated. After perusing some of the other search results, they also seem to have one of the best prices, too ($10 per pound).
Can any other Doper coffee lovers out there share their favorite places to buy fresh-roasted coffee at reasonable prices?
Before checking the online side of things, I considered major grocery stores. It seems that the bagged whole-bean coffees available in stores typically don’t have a roasting date on them, and that many are made in such large quantities that the roasting date is likely to be quite a long time ago. Similarly, the whole beans available in the clear plastic dispensers at grocery stores have probably been sitting out there for a long time. Do any mainstream grocery stores, like Kroger or Publix, sell fresh-roasted coffees? If not, what about places like Trader Joes or Whole Foods?
When you have to choose from what the grocery store has, Alton recommends the bagged-with-the-little-one-way-gas-vents beans to the bag-your-own-from-the-bins. His logic, IIRC, is that the bins have been exposed to air, light, and (as you point out) probably aren’t any newer.
I have been really, really pleased with Eight O’Clock Coffee’s dark roast lately.
But to the actual question, I would seek out local non-chain coffee shops.
Peets is my go-to online source for coffee, usually for gifts…here in Madison we have numerous places that roast their own daily and that’s where I get my home java fix.
Have you considered roasting your own? It’s really quite simple, and oh so good…
The best way to get freshly roasted coffee is to go to a store that freshly roasts its coffee. That sounds like a pretty obvious statement, but there’s at least a bean of truth in it. The freshness of a roasted coffee bean obviously depends on how long it’s been sitting around between roasting and selling.
You have various choices. You can go to a generic mega-mart and buy a generic bag o’beans that’s been on the shelf for six months. You can go to a oo la-la coffee emporium and get beans that have have sitting in a jar for six months, or you can go to a store that smells decent coffee beans. That’s not a typo. If you walk in the door and you’re assaulted by caffeinated goodness, then you’ve found a store that roasts its beans on a daily basis. This is a good thing. It might be a local mom and pop place, it might be a mega-mart. It will, however, be popular with the local bean heads,
For the freshest bean, buy the generic house blend. It’s the most popular and therefore the freshest.
If you live in the Atlanta market, I recommend Harry’s Farmer’s Market (Whole Foods). How freshly roasted is it? If you’re patient you can watch them roast in in front of your very eyes. mmmmm fresh coffee.
I have briefly considered roasting my own, but I think that’s more work than I want to get into right now. For now, I’ll try the sealed bags of Eight O’ Clock Coffee. I’ll keep an eye out for local, non-chain coffee shops, but those kinds of places always slip right past my line of sight.
I’ll be interested to hear what you think of the Eight ball.
Oh, and I don’t mean to suggest that you don’t know how to brew coffee, but I’ve found the following tips very, very helpful:
[ul][li]Only grind the amount you need for that pot.[/li][li]Grind at the coarsest setting you have.[/li][li]Preheat the French press carafe by swirling some hot water around in it before you put in the grounds. (I find that this step, for whatever reason, produces a noticeably mellower brew.)[/li][li]Grounds in, then water, then brew. Stir after the brew.[/li][*]Four minute brew time, minimum. Five max.[/ul]
I’ve had pretty good luck with The Coffee Fool. Prices are quite reasonable, coffee is awfully good. Can’t say I’ve ever had “roasted right in front of me” coffee though, so my standards may not be up to par.
An ex-girlfriend of mine was a devotee of theirs. I didn’t have the savvy to do it real justice* when she sent me a gift pack of theirs, but I remember it as being good.
I had bought my grinder, but was still drip-brewing. With straight tap water.
Where in Madison? I used to get fresh-ground French Roast at Cargo Coffee, but since Trader Joe’s opened down the block (and since they have free samples so I’ve tried most of them), I’m grinding their F.R. or Peaberry (Mmmm…)
CoffeeAM has a great selection of coffees, fresh roasted and shipped to you. Many varieties of roasts and flavors available - my current flavor is Cognac Black Velvet, mmmmmm. They also have a variety of teas, cocoas, and other drink mixes.
I tried the Eight O’ Clock Coffee (whole bean) yesterday morning. It actually tasted a little sour. I did use a regular drip percolator, so perhaps the water didn’t get hot enough. This morning, I ran the coffee maker without grounds in it to preheat the water, and then ran the heated water through the coffee maker after adding the grounds. It still tasted a little off to me, personally.
I can’t remember where I read that tip, but the idea is that cheap drip coffeemakers can’t get the water up to the appropriate temperature (~190 - 200 F) in one go, and that running the water through once will preheat it. Although, I can’t say that I’ve ever measured the temperature of the water. It would be an easy test to do, and I’d be interested in seeing exactly what the temperatures are in each case.
They also have a variety of teas, cocoas, and other drink mixes.
indeed.