if you look closely on the picture, you can see that all of the bags have a small 5/2 written on the upper right corner above the label. I can't be 100% sure that this is the roast date, but it has to mean something!

revrussell wrote:if you look closely on the picture, you can see that all of the bags have a small 5/2 written on the upper right corner above the label. I can't be 100% sure that this is the roast date, but it has to mean something!

ROAST DATES!! AHHH!

Jan here from 1000faces. Pleasure to be on Wine.Woot for the fourth time.

Yes, the fresher the better, and ideally we'd all be drinking coffee the day after it's been roasted.

These coffees we're offering will be roasted beginning today, and not all at once, meaning, if you get your pack in 2 weeks, it should be from one of the later roasting batches next week.

Please take a listen to our "roaster's voicemail" for some great details on our sourcing and roast philosophy.

We will on the boards all day to help steer the discussion of high quality, responsibly sourced, and profile roasted coffees.

1000facescoffee wrote:ROAST DATES!! AHHH!

Jan here from 1000faces. Pleasure to be on Wine.Woot for the fourth time.

Yes, the fresher the better, and ideally we'd all be drinking coffee the day after it's been roasted.

These coffees we're offering will be roasted beginning today, and not all at once, meaning, if you get your pack in 2 weeks, it should be from one of the later roasting batches next week.

Please take a listen to our "roaster's voicemail" for some great details on our sourcing and roast philosophy.

We will on the boards all day to help steer the discussion of high quality, responsibly sourced, and profile roasted coffees.

wow. awesome! why isn't every company like this...... +50 points.

They list that they support "quality, justice and equity", but are they fair trade certified? Don't see the stamp, but nonetheless looks like a great price for 4lbs of coffee.

Silly question from a novice coffee buyer: Can someone explain the Espresso Savio beans to me? I thought espresso was a brewing method and not a type of bean. Should these beans only be used in an espresso machine, and not to brew an regular cup of coffee?

I've tried to buy coffee samplers as a gift to my father before. I've discovered he's like a cat. Best when you just stick to one brand, one style.

meh3884 wrote:They list that they support "quality, justice and equity", but are they fair trade certified? Don't see the stamp, but nonetheless looks like a great price for 4lbs of coffee.

Hello! Fair question you have about "fair trade".

First of all, "Fair Trade" is a brand, more than an equitable sourcing model.

Now, please enjoy this map we've designed to explain the concept a bit more:

http://www.1000facescoffee.com/storage/co-op_explan.pdf

hollamode wrote:No way I'm able to use all four pounds before the beans go stale? anyway to preserve the one's i don't use? I mean what's the word on freezing it?

This will be my third 1000faces purchase and I can vouch for the fact that that stay reasonably fresh if vacuumed sealed (I place the whole bags in a foodsaver bag and seal 'em up) up to two months later.

Please also be prepared for the fact that the beans are light and DRY. No oils. Sometimes oily coffee = rancid coffee. I have used for both espresso and drip....tastes great in either medium.

The first time I saw this on Woot I bought it. The coffee was OK at best, but I think that mainly has to do with the fact they put the coffee in paper containers. This lead to the beans being dry, as their natural oils dried up.

If they were to put them in foil, or plastic bags (with the 1 way breather of course), I'd try them again, but with that this coffee isn't as good as most of the stuff I can buy at the grocery store, and not close to as good as some place like Good Dog Coffee.

bolligra wrote:This coffee quartet was my very first woot after joining back in January. The coffee was excellent, very freshly roasted, and a great value. I especially like the Ethiopian selection, my favorite country of origin for coffee.

In for one. I'd get three if there were a good way to keep them fresh!

Vacuum sealing works well... With the refurbished sealer I bought on Woot!
; )

I've bought this the last 2 times 1000 Faces has offered on wine.woot. 4 lbs is a lot of coffee if you're just buying for 1 person. I usually end up sharing at work and then I make gallon batches of cold-brewed coffee which will last two weeks. It ends up being a great deal for me because around where I live, if I want good coffee I either am paying up to $19 for 12oz of Intelligensia.

Oh man if this were 4x 1/2 lb. bags I'd be all over this. I need more coffee, and Nashville has some good quality roasters around, but I'd be up for trying this brand. There's just no way I can drink 4 lbs in any reasonable amount of time. This would last me almost 2 months and I don't want it to lose its quality

"Environmentally sound land stewardship is intrinsic to our mission", yet no organic certification? Yeah, no.

heinricp wrote:Can anyone speak to the roasting profile of these batches of coffee? I'm not a fan of the heavily roasted coffees (like Starbucks) with the flavorful oils leaking out . . . I feel like the nuances are burned/roasted out of the coffee.

Does anyone know what kind of roast is used to prepare this coffee?

Hi there! Roaster Jess from 1000faces here! Our roasting profiles, at their darkest only touch the door of second crack (when the oils appear). The coffees that we're offering in this package are not even that dark. Both single origins and the bell's blend are roasted medium-light. City roast. Each time we get a new bean in we do a test roast and cup the results at different times and temps. When we find the sweet spot we stick with that so each coffee has it's own unique profile. Our espresso roast is slightly darker but is mostly varied in profile by adjustments in airflow and time.

Sorry, I ordered this the last time it was up, and it was just...terrrible. All 4 bags. Threw most of it out. Brewed up flat and nasty; the Cafe Bustello that I get at my supermarket is much much better.

I live in NYC and buy varied locally-roasted beanage all the time, and wanted to give this stuff a try, but not again.

And yes, stored it properly, etc. Just...meh.

BigCheeze wrote:The first time I saw this on Woot I bought it. The coffee was OK at best, but I think that mainly has to do with the fact they put the coffee in paper containers. This lead to the beans being dry, as their natural oils dried up.

If they were to put them in foil, or plastic bags (with the 1 way breather of course), I'd try them again, but with that this coffee isn't as good as most of the stuff I can buy at the grocery store, and not close to as good as some place like Good Dog Coffee.

Hmm...I'm wondering if the reason the beans seemed "dry" is because of our medium-light roasting. Since we don't roast dark, the oils are still maintained inside the bean, not seeping out. Also, the paper bags we place them in has a recycled PLA liner so it would be unable to soak up any oils.

teevee wrote:"Environmentally sound land stewardship is intrinsic to our mission", yet no organic certification? Yeah, no.

While we agree strongly with the principles of organic, namely growing coffee or other produce without the use of harmful pesticides, we do not agree with the terms and costs associated with organic certification. We do not believe that the farmers we work with should have to pay upwards of two thousand dollars to have a German inspecting company come to their farm and tell them they are doing everything the way that they have been doing it for four generations, you dig?

1000facescoffee wrote:While we agree strongly with the principles of organic, namely growing coffee or other produce without the use of harmful pesticides, we do not agree with the terms and costs associated with organic certification. We do not believe that the farmers we work with should have to pay upwards of two thousand dollars to have a German inspecting company come to their farm and tell them they are doing everything the way that they have been doing it for four generations, you dig?

As with your fair trade stance, very reasonable. Many of the certifications do nothing more than add layers and costs to all involved.

wahoo7 wrote:Silly question from a novice coffee buyer: Can someone explain the Espresso Savio beans to me? I thought espresso was a brewing method and not a type of bean. Should these beans only be used in an espresso machine, and not to brew an regular cup of coffee?

You are correct in your assessment that espresso is a brewing method, rather than a bean. That being said, we have created two blends (one of which we have placed in this package) that we feel work really well for the espresso brewing method. The roast profile has been altered a bit from our regular profiles so that when brewed as espresso you're drinking the perfect "'spro."

The last few times we have been on woot we've included a medium-light and a dark house blend. This time we chose to include the Espresso Savio instead of our dark Aldo's blend because while it was created with espresso in mind, it also tastes great as a rich, full bodied regular cup of joe. I find the Espresso Savio tastes nice as a pour-over as well as french press and would please the drinkers of darker, chocolatey tasting cups.

-roasterjess

Jana gets her coffee in bed every morning. In for one.

I never thought that the comments on a coffee offering would be snootier than the wine comments!

Is this wine.woot.com or coffee.woot.com?

bolligra wrote:This coffee quartet was my very first woot after joining back in January. The coffee was excellent, very freshly roasted, and a great value. I especially like the Ethiopian selection, my favorite country of origin for coffee.

In for one. I'd get three if there were a good way to keep them fresh!

Buy yourself some airtight containers and always keep them at room temperature. I got 4 of the Snapware Airtight 60-Ounce Round Coffee Canisters.

Unvented bags make me sad. Most coffee canisters wind up having a poor seal, so unless you're willing to shell out some cash for vacuumed models, it's always best to just keep it in the bag and squeeze as much air out as you can.


That's a no go on an unvented bag, unfortunately.

hollamode wrote:No way I'm able to use all four pounds before the beans go stale? anyway to preserve the one's i don't use? I mean what's the word on freezing it?

Zipper bag or a vacuum sealer and you're all set.


Q for roaster:
Of these 4, which is your favorite for using a stove top "espresso" maker like the Bialetti?

myfester wrote:But how are you able to consume 4 pounds of coffee in 4-10 days?

I sometimes store 2 different kinds on the counter and 2 in the freezer if I don't brew a lot and if I think they'll be sitting there for a while. I brew French Press so I can go through a Pound in 2 - 3 weeks. In the summer I like to brew a crap load of Iced Coffee so I can leave all 4 out. You really don't have to consume it all within a certain amount of time with the airtight containers. I also usually grind a weeks worth of beans and store them in a Pyrex dish.

This is a great site for organic/fair trade coffee:
http://sustainablecoffee.com/

The Ethiopian Coffee is my fav.

It seems like on these threads there is a little bit of correct info that gets taken to extremes and becomes not entirely correct.

One of those is roast dates. When I first started getting involved in coffee roasting I also thought all coffee MUST be drunk by the 10th day. Of course it is subjective but I've come to realize that especially with espresso brewing there are many coffees that don't even reach their peak until 12 to 14 days after roasting and continue to be very good after that. Ethiopian coffees and coffees with strong berry flavors will often lose their berriness after 10 or 12 days but many of them continue to be good beyond that.

Another area where information gets spotty on these threads is freezing. Many people read on coffee sites something like "NEVER FREEZE YOUR BEANS" but in fact some very well-respected coffee palates in the business have done blind testing and found that if you freeze in a sealed environment as cold as possible the beans will typically still taste about as fresh as when you put them in the freezer. You can find this confirmed at places such as home-barista.com forums. I was skeptical but after hearing a tasting judge for the US barista championships recommend it I tried it myself and found it to be true. I get just as good flavors and crema from my Expobar espresso machine (coffee ground in a Mazzer Mini) from properly frozen beans as I do with equivalent fresh beans. You should try a blind test if you're skeptical. That's how you can order 4lbs of this coffee and keep it fresh. What you DON'T want to do is keep the coffee in the freezer once you start using it. Put it in there and then when ready to use take it out, defrost and leave it out as normal.

What totally puzzled me about this coffee though is that it comes in a completely unsealed bag with no two-way valve. I've NEVER seen that from a commercial roaster and I wish they would change it.

brad

Don't freeze your coffee. If you're buying good coffee and then freezing or refrigerating it, you're doing yourself a great disservice. You may as well be buying pre-ground Foulgers, at that point. >_<

We do have a decaf but unfortunately it isn't in this woot batch. It is great stuff though:

http://www.1000facescoffee.com/decaffeinated-monk/

lotsofgoats wrote:Don't freeze your coffee. If you're buying good coffee and then freezing or refrigerating it, you're doing yourself a great disservice. You may as well be buying pre-ground Foulgers, at that point. >_<

I sometimes have to freeze coffee beans. I have found nothing wrong in doing this.

michaelvella wrote:Zipper bag or a vacuum sealer and you're all set.


Q for roaster:
Of these 4, which is your favorite for using a stove top "espresso" maker like the Bialetti?

I would advise using the Espresso Savio. It's extremely versatile and already has espresso brewing in mind. Plus, since it's deeper in flavor profile it'll handle the stove-top brewing a bit better without getting too sour or cloying.

L3P463JR wrote:I sometimes have to freeze coffee beans. I have found nothing wrong in doing this.

It seems there is a difference of opinion, but that's very dependent on how you actually store it in the freezer. Storing small quantities (~.5 lbs or so) in separate ziplocks and putting them deep deep deep into the freezer is okay, but only a short-term solution.

A frige is an absolute no, though. That's not nearly cold enough to be beneficial, and adds a ton of moisture that your coffee won't like.

lotsofgoats wrote:Don't freeze your coffee. If you're buying good coffee and then freezing or refrigerating it, you're doing yourself a great disservice. You may as well be buying pre-ground Foulgers, at that point. >_<

Did you read my post above yours? Clearly you've never done a blind taste test.

http://www.home-barista.com/store-coffee-in-freezer.html

http://www.home-barista.com/tips/freezing-espresso-coffee-part-two-t10301.html

Jim Schulman has been a tasting judge at SCAA barista competitions.

His conclusion based on testing: "Freezing remains a viable method for the preservation of coffee roasted for espresso, for a period of at least 4 months."

From the first link: "Now the ball is with the anti-freeze people, not to nit pick his results, but to announce something like "the difference between fresh and frozen is this, here's how you taste for it, here's how to set up a blind test." Any sort of "freezing is just bad—put some vague reason here—" is, after this test, simply BS. The test moves the debate to the realm of discussing narrow differences, precisely specified."


brad

Right, so it's dependent upon how exactly you're storing the coffee. I don't think that the average home user buying this coffee has unlimited dual-valve bags (or any at all, being that these bags don't have them in the first place). That's why I wouldn't trust the ziplock method for very long, which is what I assume most people would be able to do.

I was going off of coffeegeek.com, by the way. They have just as many experts over there.

(I may have exaggerrated juuust a bit in my prior post :P)

Hmm, interesting to me that they did tape over the valves in one case. The other doesn't specify a container, but shows mason jars being used. Thank you for the education.

Back to this post AGAIN! Most sources that I'm finding are claiming that freezing 2-3 days after roasting will extend the life of your beans, and anything longer may not be helping you out. I still defer to the experts who find no detrimental effect in freezing, however, so no harm even if you may not be saving yourself.

radi0j0hn wrote:Those without grinders can find OK ones (blade type) for as little as $10. These will not work for true espresso grind, but for most else, they work well. Even cheaper at thrift stores, often found unused.

The second most important thing after freshness is the quality of the grind. A blade type grinder cannot produce any kind of consistent grind. For that you need a burr grinder. When you use a blade, the resulting ground coffee has many different size particles, from dust size to large half-bean chunks.

These days you can get a cheap burr grinder for under $40. If you enjoy great coffee and you have been using a blade grinder, it's a no-brainer upgrade which will significantly improve the quality of your coffee. It really does make a huge, noticeable difference.

1000facescoffee wrote:We will on the boards all day to help steer the discussion of high quality, responsibly sourced, and profile roasted coffees.

Yay! Welcome back

blakewoot wrote:These days you can get a cheap burr grinder for under $40. If you enjoy great coffee and you have been using a blade grinder, it's a no-brainer upgrade which will significantly improve the quality of your coffee. It really does make a huge, noticeable difference.

I can recommend the Hario Mini, for anybody who's fine with a manual model. It's a pretty quick grind for two cups, and, if you can get over the minor inconvenience of having to refill the hopper, is perfectly fine for making more.

$28.95 on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Hario-MSS-1B-Mini-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B001804CLY/

lotsofgoats wrote:It seems there is a difference of opinion, but that's very dependent on how you actually store it in the freezer. Storing small quantities (~.5 lbs or so) in separate ziplocks and putting them deep deep deep into the freezer is okay, but only a short-term solution.

A frige is an absolute no, though. That's not nearly cold enough to be beneficial, and adds a ton of moisture that your coffee won't like.

I usually store them in the freezer within an airtight container and try to get them out asap.

Let me preface this post with my preference for coffee. Freshly roasted (I buy from Orens) and if it gets past 2 weeks roast date I throw it into a jar for brewing for random visitors who dont care for coffee. I am a coffee snob in short.

That being said 98% (personal survey conducted with 40-50 odd visitors) of coffee drinkers are oblivious to the freshness aspect.

Sure there is a marked dropoff in taste (because of staleness) after 10 days from roast date but most people wont care and will still think this as a marked improvement from the regular swill they drink from Sbux, DD and other largescale coffee houses. Hell even some specialty coffee places are clueless about the roast date from the coffees they "carefully" select to improve taste.

It's like wine, some of us have a palette that can distinguish between 96pt and 93pt wine. But to the majority it's just wine, tastes good and gets you drunk.

CNs: this coffee will be far better than anything you can get from a Sbux, large scale coffee chain or grocery store.

Buy it.