CoffeeWhat You Need To Know About Supermarket Coffee
Coffee is popularly purchased by consumers in the grocery store or supermarket, but it is still important to understand the process of how it is shipped and shelved. Many coffee consumers are currently relying upon private roasters and Internet retailers online for a fresher choice, so take the time to find out how fresh your coffee really is when it is purchased at the grocery store!
Supermarket coffee offers a number of diverse choices, not to mention a convenience for shoppers in purchasing their coffee. To begin, coffee begins to be packaged for the supermarket after it has been roasted by its manufacturer. From that point, it will sit in a warehouse for up to two weeks, and then it will be loaded and transported to different distribution centers, where it can sit for up to two days or a week, depending on when it is ready to be shelved in the supermarket. After that, it will be shipped to another distribution center of the supermarket where it will sit until it is ordered by a specific store. At that point, it will be transported again to the grocery store to sit on the shelf until it is purchased. If the coffee is a premium commercial brand like Maxwell House or Folgers, then its shelf time may be significantly less, but if it is a more obscure brand name, it could sit on the shelf for months at a time.
One other thing to keep in mind is that decaf coffee is often less purchased, so any decaf varieties could be sitting on the shelf for more than six months. From that point, take into consideration the fact that coffee beans go stale 30 seconds after being ground. This means that if you are purchasing a large canister of pre-ground coffee, then it is beyond stale because it has been sitting in distribution centers for weeks, and potentially on the shelf for months.
One other issue with grocery store coffee is that many consumers believe that they are purchasing a full pound of coffee, but the bags are actually sold at 12 ounces, which is 4 ounces less than a complete pound. This amount is shortened to make up for the cost of shipping the coffee on a truck to the store location.
If you are interested in a truly fresh coffee roast, there are two ways to go about it. First of all, start out by purchasing whole bean coffee because there is no way to purchase pre-ground coffee that is not stale. It is just not possible. From there, contact local roasters in your area, or even better, look online as a convenient alternative. Fresh roasted coffee beans are good for up to 14 days, and many reputable online retailers will freshly roast their coffee beans the day that they ship to you. This means that even if it takes up to five days for the coffee beans to arrive to you, you still have at least a week to enjoy their freshness!