Beacuse they are dark and dry, roasted coffee beans don’t look delicate. They are are no different than bananas. This is a fruit that has been subjected to high temperatures. The resulting sugars have a finite shelf life and a baseline for consumption.
Coffee beans thrive on room temperature, darkness and air-tight bags. Yet roasted beans are taken for granted by cafes, grocery stores and coffee vendors. Unknowing shoppers will buy coffee from glass dispensers, thinking it is fresh, but two things don't match up: The roast is subjected to light 24/7 and it carries no roast date.
There are some estimates that 99% of all the coffee consumed is stale. Your $6 latte, $4 pour over — stale? Moreover, you pay $15-$25 at stores or coffee shops you trust to sell you reliably good roast.
Enter, the roast date on the label. Not the "best by" suggestion, 6-12 months out.
Beans have a lifespan of about 4 weeks after the roast date, then the liveliness of flavors begin to drop off. Stale coffee is merely flat with no complexity, but it can become bitter. Educated palates would give roasted coffee no more than 2 weeks before finishing a bag. No roast date? A whole other conversation — would you buy old fruit? All Elevated Roast bags have roast dates. It's absolutely ethical. We also go the extra mile — cupping scores by certified Q-graders at the farms.
When you order from us, we ship within 24 hours. Beans rest and off-gas throughout the trip in the mail, ready at your doorstep. This is why we don't sell wholesale or subject our product to shelves other than yours.
Long-term storage
There is controversy surrounding this, but there wouldn’t be if all coffee drinkers blind-cupped a fresh roast compared to one that was frozen in a one-way valved bag and stored for three years. Freeze your roast intended to be stored and ground at a later date. Do not re-freeze and do not refrigerate — this causes condensation. Loyalists who buy our subscriptions will attest to getting 3-4 bags every 4 weeks, but freezing all but the one they have opened. It's every bit fresh.
Cannisters with air-tight functionality will keep your coffee fresh.
Start by buying coffee that offer a roast date — how else would you know it's fresh?