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.

We've always been fortunate to have fresh roasted whole beans
available locally. There really is no comparing fresh beans
with stale and like you say if it's 7 days out of the roaster
it's already stale.

I've never had the urge to roast my own, we lived in the same
block with The Coffee and Tea Exchange when we lived in Chicago
and while the roasting filled the neighborhood with wonderful
smells I wouldn't want my whole house to smell like that.

We're not connoisseurs at all but we both like arabica beans
roasted to exactly second crack. That's a little darker than
what the connoisseurs like but both of our local roasters have
varieties they roast that way. We buy a pound of whole beans a
week on the day it's roasted and grind it as we go. Our grinder
holds a pound of beans so that works out well.

At home I drip grind through a gold cone filter into a thermal
carafe and camping I use a Melitta cone and paper filters into
a thermos. The paper filter makes it easier to dispose of the
grounds while camping.

We used to drink a lot more coffee than we do now, in fact we
sometimes have beans left in the grinder we have to toss after
a week. I drink two, three cups max in the morning and that's
it anymore. When I was a computer weenie I'd drink coffee and
smoke Marlboros all day long. It was like an occupational hazard. ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry