[Originally from the Flying Five Coffee blog from 2004-2009]
I’ve seen some offers and coffee shops bragging that their coffee is roasted in Europe, and then shipped here to the US. They typically claim that this is a good thing, since everyone knows that the coffee in Europe is good stuff.
But, if you accept the fact that coffee tastes its best when it is just a week or two out of the roaster, it’s difficult to agree that “European Roasted” can result in coffee at its best. Well, that’s not entirely true, if I were in Europe, I’d definitely want European Roasted coffee.
You want coffee roasted close to you so that you get it as quickly as possible. In one sense, coffee is about two places: where the beans were grown, and where the beans were roasted. The resulting taste forms a link between the cup that you drink, the roaster, and the people who grew and picked the beans.
So, the next time you see “European Roasted”, ask yourself one question: when was this coffee roasted? Unfortunately, it would be very difficult for “European Roasted” beans to be fresh.
morgan.coffee 