This is a pretty minor point, but any proper coffee geek will tell you that the shelf life of roasted coffee is pretty bad. Thus it makes sense to roast closer

This is a pretty minor point, but any proper coffee geek will tell you that the shelf life of roasted coffee is pretty bad. Thus it makes sense to roast closer to the time when the coffee is made available for sale; shipping from African countries up to Europe, would increase the "latency" a great deal. I'm sure modern packaging gives a decent shelf life, and TBH I don't worry much about the use-before label on coffee around here, but that's generally because it doesn't last long on the shelf anyway. :)