4 ms·

I’m a big coffee fan, but my routine leaves me buying whatever is fresh from Counter Culture at Whole Foods. I don’t make regular trips to a coffee shop, becaus

I’m a big coffee fan, but my routine leaves me buying whatever is fresh from Counter Culture at Whole Foods. I don’t make regular trips to a coffee shop, because it doesn’t fit my schedule. If many of those roasters are decent, this would give me more variety. And today I definitely end up running out of beans at inconvenient times. Price: I brew at home, and buy roughly two bags a month, typically $11-14/bag. So I’d at least consider this.

benatkin 8y ago
It sounds like you're closer to being able to find a use for this than many, because you like to have the same brand of coffee. Some coffee lovers like me like variety, not just within a brand, but across brands.
- hyperpape 8y ago
  It's not that I like to have the same roaster, it's that I typically only have access to one high quality roaster that's fresh. When I go to a coffeeshop that's downtown or another city, I often get different roasters. That's just not my routine.
tedmiston 8y ago
One thing to be mindful of is the roast date. Whole Foods might be better at this than others (I'm not sure) but many grocery stores, even high-end specialty ones, have coffee sitting on their shelves that was roasted 3–6 months ago. Even worse, sometimes the roast date will be omitted from the bag entirely (or replaced by an arbitrary made-up "best by" date) because the coffee is embarrassingly old. A good third wave shop will sell beans with a roast date of about a week or less. Most baristas recommend beans tasting best when used within 2–3 weeks of roast date. I suspect you'll get much fresher beans ordering through a service like Bottomless that drop ships directly from the roaster. It might be something you've never thought about until you've tasted the difference between freshly roasted vs not. Not everyone cares about freshness but it's very important to me.
- hyperpape 8y ago
  Agreed on both points. Counter Culture labels its coffee with roast date and is local, which is part of the reason it’s one of the only coffees I buy at the grocery store: they always have something I like, usually roasted within 4-14 days. If bottomless is doing this right, everything will be towards the lower end of that range, so that’s a draw.

benatkin 8y ago

It sounds like you're closer to being able to find a use for this than many, because you like to have the same brand of coffee. Some coffee lovers like me like variety, not just within a brand, but across brands.

hyperpape 8y ago
It's not that I like to have the same roaster, it's that I typically only have access to one high quality roaster that's fresh. When I go to a coffeeshop that's downtown or another city, I often get different roasters. That's just not my routine.

tedmiston 8y ago

One thing to be mindful of is the roast date. Whole Foods might be better at this than others (I'm not sure) but many grocery stores, even high-end specialty ones, have coffee sitting on their shelves that was roasted 3–6 months ago. Even worse, sometimes the roast date will be omitted from the bag entirely (or replaced by an arbitrary made-up "best by" date) because the coffee is embarrassingly old. A good third wave shop will sell beans with a roast date of about a week or less. Most baristas recommend beans tasting best when used within 2–3 weeks of roast date. I suspect you'll get much fresher beans ordering through a service like Bottomless that drop ships directly from the roaster. It might be something you've never thought about until you've tasted the difference between freshly roasted vs not. Not everyone cares about freshness but it's very important to me.

hyperpape 8y ago
Agreed on both points. Counter Culture labels its coffee with roast date and is local, which is part of the reason it’s one of the only coffees I buy at the grocery store: they always have something I like, usually roasted within 4-14 days. If bottomless is doing this right, everything will be towards the lower end of that range, so that’s a draw.