tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25028142.post7878040589362489861..comments2008-06-28T02:24:06.599-04:00Jaime van Schyndelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08393406880231947408jaime@barismo.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25028142.post-39721547087251891072008-06-28T02:24:00.000-04:002008-06-28T02:24:00.000-04:00Wow, I was just thinking about all these steps while I was at work, and how different businesses try to market each individual step as the only important one. Some it's "fresh ground" and some it's "fresh brewed" but you never see all of them together. It's been very slow at the coffee shop I work at nowadays, and I have to really keep track of the drip coffee - I'm not serving someone a three hour old cup. Surprisingly 2 liters can last that long in the "dead of summer".Christopher Van Schyndelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12189620127851224913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25028142.post-83197282143345692192008-06-27T14:33:00.000-04:002008-06-27T14:33:00.000-04:00Good post. Starbucks is advertising coffee a couple of blocks from me that was "freshly" roasted about a month ago. Not fresh by any means, but I am happy to see them display a roast date in the stores.<BR/><BR/>Fresh is always relative, and most customers (I believe) think of fresh as "brewed fresh"... i.e. within the last xx minutes/hours(!). Fewer customers understand freshly ground, even fewer freshly roasted, and so on back to the very beginnings.<BR/><BR/>Going back (tangent) to the previous post regarding milk, these nuances can get muddled or lost if customers are used to "unfresh" or poor quality and use condiments to "fix up" their coffee. Much of the care that went into delivering that natural flavor can be lost, but over time I think folks begin to appreciate these qualities more and more. <BR/><BR/>I actually really like milk- I generally don't put it in my coffee, but I'm not one to begrudge anyone putting some cream in their coffee if that's what they're used to. I think over time I slowly win them over to appreciating the coffee more like I would like them to. <BR/><BR/>Even though customers can't always put their finger on it, they can tell it is "better", and over time I've seen regular customers use less and less additives and express an interest in learning more. End of tangent...<BR/><BR/>I think with some of our best customers we're starting to impart that coffee really is seasonal and the quicker you get it to market the better you'll be able to experience what it should be.21streetcoffeehttp://21streetcoffee.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25028142.post-58548636364359095152008-06-26T01:42:00.000-04:002008-06-26T01:42:00.000-04:00great post. good reminder on fresh. (not to be mistaken with 'funky fresh'gabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05691221410374908842noreply@blogger.com