[geeks] Coffee survey

[gsm at mendelson.com]

This is an informal coffee survey. I know that many of the people on this
list are serious coffee drinkers. I wanted another opinion.

Today I saw an ad on a local mailing list for a new specialty coffee company.
They advertise that they have fresh roasted coffee of various specialties.

Their cheapest prices seem to be around twice that of Illy ground coffee 
vacuum sealed in a steel can, and about four times that of localy produced
coffee in vacuum sealed in mylar bags. (just for a point of reference).

I looked at their website and saw that they really where about 30 miles
from Jerusalem and did not deliver here. Why they posted on a Jerusalem
specific list I have no idea, but they did. I sent them an email asking
if they delivered to Jerusalem and they said no, but I could web order
the coffee and have it sent via post office.

Here packages take at least 3 days as when they arrive at the post
office, the post office sends you get a notice that package can be
picked up the next day at the post office, and it takes a trip to the
post office to actually get them. I would also have to pay postage.

To me this makes no sense as fresh roasted/ground coffee (I'd rather grind
my own) means that the coffee comes out of the roaster, is allowed to cool
and then is ground and drank. If you don't intend to drink it, it should not
be ground (they seem to sell only ground coffee, but I did not research it).

I also think that vacuum packed coffee tastes different the first cup out
of a package and by the next day has started to deteriorate. 

When I wrote back and said that kind of killed the whole concept of fresh
roasted coffee, they told me that coffee had to sit for 48 hours after
roasting for the CO2 to be released. 

I've heard that before from a TV show from Australia, but have never had 
any coffee that IMHO tasted better if you let it sit. I used to buy fresh
roasted coffee when I lived in Philly (still warm), roasted coffee in a hot
air popcorn maker in the late 1980's before it became popular, and still own
a Sirocco coffee roaster, which I have not used since I moved here in 1996
due to lack of filters. 

So now if you are still reading, the question. Do you think that coffee 
improves if you let it sit after roasting, and if so, for how long?

Thanks, and good drinking,

Geoff.
-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or
understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation. 
i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found in the Wikipedia.