msboo Senior Member Joined: 10 Nov 2012 Posts: 105 Location: Kentucky Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Baratza Virtuoso Drip: Bonavita
Posted Sun Mar 10, 2013, 9:06am Subject: Quills coffee at Whole Foods
I live in Lexington and Quills is in Louisville, KY. Whole Foods carries a lot of beans but with Best By dates, some also in dispensers for buying as much/little as desired. I finally looked around the corner of the isle area and much to my surprise found Quills Coffee with Roast Dates on the bag---able to purchase fresh beans, properly bagged and within 8 days of roasting. Brewed up great, thankful to find locally. Don't know how long Quills has sold their coffee there but hope they continue.
CMIN Senior Member Joined: 14 Jun 2012 Posts: 500 Location: South FL Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Crossland CC1 Grinder: Baratza Preciso
Posted Sun Mar 10, 2013, 10:29am Subject: Re: Quills coffee at Whole Foods
My Whole Foods carries Counter Culture and few other known roasters. But yeh the roast can vary all over, sometimes a few days, usualky 2-4 weeks out last time I was there lol.
emradguy Senior Member Joined: 31 Mar 2011 Posts: 1,698 Location: Houston Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Izzo Alex Duetto II Grinder: MacapM4T, Macap M4, OE Lido,... Drip: Espro press; Aeropress Roaster: internet
Posted Sun Mar 10, 2013, 10:58am Subject: Re: Quills coffee at Whole Foods
You guys are lucky. Whole foods near me doesn't sell anything worth buying. When I was visiting my parents in Tarzana, Ca last January I went to the new Whole Foods near them. The store is huge and a really nice one, but I couldn't find a single bin or bag with a roast date!
msboo Senior Member Joined: 10 Nov 2012 Posts: 105 Location: Kentucky Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Baratza Virtuoso Drip: Bonavita
Posted Sun Mar 10, 2013, 11:17am Subject: Re: Quills coffee at Whole Foods
We also have a Fresh Market here. When last there at the end of Feb they had Counter Culture, Intelligentsia and another I wasn't familiar with---all Roast Dates were 30 days or more so I didn't purchase. They also have their store brand in bins. In Whole Foods some of the Quills was roasted in Jan and still on the shelf. I'm sure both these stores want to sell the stuff and not throw out after 2 wks or so.
There's a roaster in a great little town just down the road, beautiful horse country there. They sell their coffee in the above mentioned stores in blends only and all are dark roast (can see beans thru a clear plastic 'window' in the bag) with no roast date---pretty packaging though!
It's funny -- THEN NOT -- when still so new to all this good coffee, to walk into a store and eyeball those familiar packages of coffee you've seen online, get excited and hurry over to grab a bag THEN see it's been there too long. LOL Thanks goodness for the Internet and web sites available!
msboo Senior Member Joined: 10 Nov 2012 Posts: 105 Location: Kentucky Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Baratza Virtuoso Drip: Bonavita
Posted Sun Mar 10, 2013, 1:09pm Subject: Re: Quills coffee at Whole Foods
emradguy.... if I can find out when new stock actually arrives in these stores that will be great to have available for immediate purchase. BUT since finding good stuff sitting there going bad? Those stores may as well not carry it at all. I don't know how long they've been stocking these fresh roasted gems but IF it doesn't move off the shelf in due time and they loose $$, end of story.
From my past, personal experience.... I grew up drinking 2 major store brands---tasted consistently great to us. We used typical department store brewers, sometimes percolators. Best brew I ever had yrs ago was done in an aluminum pot on a campfire! That being said, I found out yrs ago that I could not brew satisfactory coffee in my typical brewer using fresh ground coffee from a local roaster---under extracted, yuk. I'm sure the opposite would've held true trying to brew canned, pre-ground coffee in a BV, Bunn or TV. I did have some pretty good pour overs using those big brands while w/o a brewer, had no idea what I was doing but turned out good. FAST FORWARD to last Nov 2012.... suddenly what we'd been drinking went really bad. Opened a container of coffee---no coffee aroma, only a funny flat, chemical smell that brewed up even worse SO threw it out then ran to the store for another thinking it was just a bad can. New can was just as horrible, no more coffee that day---nasty! Purchased the other major brand---same bad brew. Gotta have my morning coffee so quickly found Kevin Sinnott's CoffeeCompanion.com and CoffeeGeek.com. I read 'coffee' for 4 days, day 5 ordered a Bonavita. Got fresh ground coffee from local roaster to brew, kept reading about grinders, online roasters, etc.
I googled "why does my ______ _____ taste so bad" (major brand in the blanks) and found a forum just over pouring with reviews/complaints of exactly what I experienced and worse. Looks like this has been going on for a couple of yrs. So there are tons of consumers looking for better coffee, moving away from one coffee market to whatever they can find that's better.
Hopefully sooner, rather than later, buying fresh roasted coffee beans (2-4 days from a Roast Date) right off a local store shelf on a regular basis will be the norm BUT I'm not holding my breath.
msboo Senior Member Joined: 10 Nov 2012 Posts: 105 Location: Kentucky Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Baratza Virtuoso Drip: Bonavita
Posted Wed Mar 13, 2013, 12:25pm Subject: Re: Quills coffee at Whole Foods
Spoke with the buyer at local Whole Foods about Quills Coffee shipments. They order depending on how much unsold stock remains on the shelf AND how old the roast dates are. Monday orders arrive on Thursday----Quills informed me they roast Mondays & Tuesdays. I told WF buyer how happy I was to find fresh roasted beans with the ROAST DATE on the bag, that I would purchase regularly as long as it was within 3-4 days or so of roasting. Buyer said during their last Quills delivery she learned more about coffee in 15 mins than had known her entire life. Quills roastery is in Albany, Indiana, just across the river from Louisville where they have 2 other shop locations---apprx 1hr 15 mins from here so I guess they're doing deliveries themselves.
Feel fortunate WF is a 5 min drive to get fresh beans----no shipping costs, same price whether in store or online (before shipping). On the other hand, I wonder how many customers are buying on a regular basis (to keep stock moving). My March 3 buy had Feb 26 Roast Date (was Los Naranjos, Colombia & delicious) but noticed other bags on the shelf with early Jan and mid Feb dates. WF buyer said they needed to address that. I may loose this 'convenience' IF this coffee doesn't move off the shelf in a timely manner. BUT can always order a months' supply online from lots of good sources (so I've been reading about freezing).
CMIN Senior Member Joined: 14 Jun 2012 Posts: 500 Location: South FL Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Crossland CC1 Grinder: Baratza Preciso
Posted Wed Mar 13, 2013, 1:44pm Subject: Re: Quills coffee at Whole Foods
Like you found out if you talk to the coffee buyer for the store, they'll tell you when fresh shipments come in and usually you can have them notify you (email whatever) so your not popping around randomly hoping to catch something lol. Even then I still find it funny that when I've been to whole foods or fresh market, the known roasters with roast dates are usually the older ones still sitting while the companies that put no roast date on and have flash bags etc sell like hot cakes. You'd think people going to either market would be a bit smarter but maybe not haha.
If I lived closer I might pop in more but the Whole Foods by me is only 20 min away, but in city traffic, my truck will use more gas to go there and back then it would to just order online and pay shipping lol. I used to do that and with places further before ordering online then realized how much more $ my coffee was driving to get it lol.
msboo Senior Member Joined: 10 Nov 2012 Posts: 105 Location: Kentucky Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Baratza Virtuoso Drip: Bonavita
Posted Wed Mar 13, 2013, 9:18pm Subject: Re: Quills coffee at Whole Foods
CMIN.... yeah, you're right about the stuff with no roast dates selling like "hot cakes"---people buying beans in valved bags with Best By dates, less expensive too. No pun intended BUT I didn't know beans about coffee until I couldn't tolerate what we had been drinking. In panic mode I found this forum and started getting coffee informed/educated (and ongoing). THANKS BE TO THE GEEK GODS here and KEVIN SINNOTT (CoffeeCompanion.com), for they gave me back my morning coffee. Due to what I've learned from them I know what to do with a roast date---lots of consumers do not AND it's more expensive too. I would love to save money but also know the Best By coffee has been in that bag for way too long. All coffee has gone up in $ so I want the best bang for my $.
Our Fresh Market has beans in bins (to open, scoop out) and it's 'confidential' as to who roasts for them---arrives at the store in plain unmarked bags. I wanted to cry when I saw bags of Counter Culture and Intelligentsia with roast dates over a month old---wonder IF those roasters are aware of that. Our WF has tons of bagged coffee with Best By dates, also 8-10 dispensers full of beans (instead of bins) THEN a smaller area right around the corner with the good stuff---roast dated coffee.
If Counter Culture, Intelligentsia, Quills and the like continually sit on the store shelf too long then at some point those roasters may pull their coffee from those stores or those retailers will cease stocking it due to low sales and/or loosing money. Retailers also need to know/understand that this coffee has a short shelf life. CRAZY that they're currently stocking Roast Date that should be sold/used quickly, Best By dated that's supposed to be good for 6-8 or so months and lastly beans in bins or dispensers with no date what so ever.
msboo Senior Member Joined: 10 Nov 2012 Posts: 105 Location: Kentucky Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Baratza Virtuoso Drip: Bonavita
Posted Thu Mar 14, 2013, 7:25pm Subject: Re: Quills coffee at Whole Foods
Quills delivered to Whole Foods today, coffee roasted Mon 3/11 and Tue 3/12. Can't believe my good fortune having this convenience. Going to try freezing some tomorrow.
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