We've certainly come a long way in the last thirty years when it comes to the appreciation of fine coffee. Whether you're a Starbucks fan or not, we can attribute the raising of our collective coffee consciousness to this innovative coffee retailer in a grand way.
In just a few short decades, we've evolved from mundane ground coffee in a can, to fresh roast gourmet coffee beans that we grind ourselves. And we've retired the coffee-murdering electric percolator once found in almost every kitchen in America, for the much improved automatic drip coffee maker or even a French press for that truly sublime coffee brew.
Many choices for coffee beans and styles of roast abound everywhere. Coffee retailers including Starbucks, Petes, Seattle's Best, Tulley's, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and others have stores at almost every corner. And the choices down the coffee aisle in most grocery stores and supermarkets are almost overwhelming.
There is no question that purveyors of fine gourmet coffee beans are competing fiercely to meet our growing demand for better coffee.
This should be fresh-roast nirvana for coffee lovers everywhere, right? But here's the dilemma. While we can find gourmet roasted coffee beans at virtually every local retailer and coffee store, are these truly the freshest coffee beans available?
Fresh roasted coffee beans are best consumed 24 to 48 hours after roasting, and grow stale after ten days. The challenge for the big retailers and scaled up commercial roasters is the difficulty moving the freshly roasted beans from the roaster to the retail shelf or counter before the beans become stale. The reality remains, even with today's enlightened coffee consumer demanding freshness, that 90% of the gourmet beans are already stale at the time of purchase.
If you're lucky enough to have a local roaster nearby in your town or neighborhood, you stand a better chance of purchasing fresh roasted beans within the critical ten day window. You're even luckier if you have access to a local roaster that's truly skillful at what they do. Gourmet and boutique coffee roasting is an art form. Similar to a master winemaker, it takes years of experience to hone the necessary skills to produce the real quality premium roasts. Most of us are not that fortunate to have a local roaster of this ability nearby.
But don't despair. There is a better fresh roast solution!
Consider buying your fresh-roasted coffee beans online. In fact, to overcome the freshness problem, bringing the premium coffee roaster and the consumer together online is one of the most well-suited solutions enabled by the Internet. And there are some fabulous fresh-roast coffees available from master gourmet roasters online.
Here's what you want to look for when buying coffee beans online.
- Choose a coffee roaster that offers a full selection of choice and premium beans. This enhances the adventure of trying different beans and varieties from around the world.
- Look for a roaster with a reputation for quality and excellence that stands out. Of course, outstanding customer service is a must.
- Most important, find a roster that is producing small-batch roasts to order. A good roaster that operates online can collect the orders from the customers as they come in and line the orders up into small batches for the different beans and roast styles they produce. These small roasting batches can usually be scheduled within 24 to 48 hours after the orders are placed. Once the roasts are completed, the freshly roasted beans can be individually packaged and ready to ship right to your door by UPS or Parcel Post almost immediately. Allow 2 to 5 days for delivery, and you can consistently receive the freshest roasted beans well inside the ten day freshness window. How convenient is that?
- Some roasters will put a "roast date" right on the package to further insure and control freshness. When you receive your order, you know exactly when the beans were roasted.
- With today's advanced online technology, ordering over the Internet is easy, user-friendly, secure and safe.
- You can place your orders one at a time, but it's even more convenient and less hassle to get on an auto-ship plan so that you're never caught short without your favorite coffee beans. The idea is to keep a steady supply of fresh roasted beans coming to your door at a comfortable rate that you can consume.
- Find a good online roaster that provides access through their web-site to put you in full control of your single or auto-renew shipments, Want to skip a shipment, or change the selection for the next shipment, it's no problem.
Buying your premium roast coffee beans online over the Internet is most definitely the freshest idea. It's fun, satisfying and convenient. Once you taste the difference of truly fresh roasted coffee, you won't go back to your old stale beans.
