Steve wrote:

Coffee is stale 7 days out of the roaster. Nitrogen loading and/or
freezing doesn't change that much. Intensive studies have been done
looking for a way to change that without much success. Unfortunately,
there just isn't a way to get fresh coffee unless one roasts or has a
roaster they trust nearby.
Trivia: most Americans that drink coffee have never had fresh coffee.
That's not a put down, just an interesting (to me at least), factoid.

One of the great advantages of living in Rome is that you don't
have to know or worry about any of this ****. Walk into *almost*
any corner bar and you can be sure that the coffee was roasted
properly no more than a couple of days ago, the grinder was
filled within the past few hours, and the barista knows what the
**** he's doing without giving it much thought....

- JR