Persistence pays off after some bad planning.

Persistence pays off after some bad planning.


I ordered some paradise coffee for thanksgiving and really enjoyed it, but somehow with the extra guests and the extra time at home for me I went through far more coffee than I usually do.  I have been enjoying Roaste Prime, which allows me to order just one pound at a time so as long as I stay on top of things I can always be drinking fresh coffee.  The result is my usual stores of good frozen coffee were used up.  Alas that left me in trouble because I used up my fresh coffee and did not have anything as a back up.  It only makes sense to have frozen coffee because the drop off is somewhere  between little and nothing versus fresh coffee (if stored well in something like a canning jar).  Alas that does not help if you do not have anything in the freezer.


I could, of course, whip off an order from Roaste, but I still would have to wait for it to be roasted and be mailed, so I would not have it for a few days and then it would probably not be at its peak for a few days after that.  Usually not a problem unless you do what I did and slip up in your planning.


Desperate times lead to desperate measures and I headed off to Whole Foods.  Because I am a couple hours from Counter Culture they often have good coffee there, but it is often way too old.  Sure enough I picked up a bag and looked at the roasted on date – July – yikes this is not something I would want to drink.


I decided to persist and dig deeper and luck was on my side.  The fourth bag I looked at was not only roasted more recently it was roasted three days ago!   I brought it home and have the bag to tide me over until my next mail order comes in and have it with style.  


I wondered about the strategy they were using.  Put the coffee that has gone south up front to try to sell it rather than throw it away is like grocery stores putting milk up front that has a closer expiration date, but the difference is that milk is just as good on the day you buy it if it is sell by 3 days from now or 7.


Then again I always look for the best date on milk (yes I am one of those people) so I guess people like me who are obsessed with these things will dig for the best coffee, too, so perhaps they get those who don’t care to buy the old coffee and those who do to buy the new stuff.  


On the other hand perhaps some of us will give up seeing the first bad date and some of those who do buy it won’t like it and will give up not realizing they would love it if it were fresh.

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