Starbucks Roast Date

[sutono]

So, I was in northern California recently, taking my daughters to Yosemite, and I stopped by a Starbucks for my guilty pleasure, a doubleshot in a can. The bags of Pike Place Blend on the counter showed a roast date on the day that I visited the store, Sunday, 10/19. Lord knows I'm no logistics expert, but the probability of getting fresh roasted Pike's Place Blend on the day that it was roasted to the middle of nowhere strip-mall California on a Sunday is just not possible.

I used my iSpy camera to take this photo:

[phaelon56]

I'm no more a logistics expert than you but am inclined to agree. Seeing as it's hand written with a marker on the bag I suspect it's more likely to have been written on the bag incorrectly than to be any attempt to mislead. The other possibility - just a wild guess - is they might be bagging up 1 lb bags for retail sales in the store and using the five pounders of bulk as the source. if that is the case I can see how someone might just write the date it was packaged rather than the roast date .

Their roasting locations - that I know of - are as follows:

April 2007 update

The new Calhoun County (South Carolina) facility will provide additional roasting and packaging capability to augment production from Starbucks four existing roasting plants. Starbucks other roasting plants are in Kent, Wash.; York, Penn.; and Carson Valley, Nev., and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The shops in my area get beans from the York PA plant. I've seen in the shop them as fresh as 3 to 4 days past roast date but have also seen them a bit long in the tooth at 8 to 10 weeks.

[Jason Haeger]

Isn't part of the marketing for that horrible blend the fact that it is "hand scooped"?

That having been said, each 1lb. bag is likely "hand scooped" from a larger 5lb. bag. Thus, the date would be written by whoever transferred from one to the other. They have Sharpies on hand at all times there in the retail stores.

I don't think it's a mistake.

[Matt Milletto]

I was at a Starbucks yesterday (with my wife as she loves their iced tea) and i picked up a back of "house blend" looking for a roast date. Not date but what is says if I can remember right is, "for fresh roasted flavor, brew by FEB2009 in a barcode like stamp.

This particular store was in a Target, so it may be one of their licensed stores ... but still, I think they are still rockin the 6 month brew by dates in most stores.

- matt

[Keith]

I was in one recently in Norcal and saw a recent date written on the bag and asked about it...when I pressed them it turned out it was the date they scooped the coffee.

[sutono]

It seems pretty suspect to provide Starbucks employees with blank 'roasted on' stickers with instructions to write in the 'scoop date'. If 'scooped on' is what is meant, then that is what the stickers should say. Anything else is deceptive advertising, and is blatantly disrespectful to those of us who really do roast date our bags. Anyone else up in arms about this?

just sayin'

[phaelon56]

It seems pretty suspect to provide Starbucks employees with blank 'roasted on' stickers with instructions to write in the 'scoop date'. If 'scooped on' is what is meant, then that is what the stickers should say. Anything else is deceptive advertising, and is blatantly disrespectful to those of us who really do roast date our bags. Anyone else up in arms about this?

just sayin'

When I was tweakin' hard from the three doubleshots I had for lunch (all your fault Tony) I was totally incensed, inflamed, enraged and hoppin' mad. But not anymore.

Seriously though... they have highly visible blackboards in the stores that show the "Roasted On" date for the Pike Place Roast they are currently "scooping" at that location. As I mentioned earlier - I've seen that date slip out to the point where they were "scooping" beans that were nearly two months past roast date. I'm inclined to think that it's just an issue with lack of training on proper procedure or someone getting sloppy who should be supervising the folks filling and labeling those bags.

I think they are still rockin the 6 month brew by dates in most stores.

The openly stated and public "Roasted On" dating and focus on "fresh" is - as I understand it - targeted strictly at Pike Place Roast - not any of the other products. And the customers that most of us are in search of - the ones who DO care --can tell the difference when they drink the coffee.

[Sandy]

It seems pretty suspect to provide Starbucks employees with blank 'roasted on' stickers with instructions to write in the 'scoop date'. If 'scooped on' is what is meant, then that is what the stickers should say. Anything else is deceptive advertising, and is blatantly disrespectful to those of us who really do roast date our bags. Anyone else up in arms about this?

just sayin'

it upsets me greatly. all joking aside, it IS false advertising.

you know and i know and the coffeed community knows......but the customer doesn't know that that is not the actual "roast on" date.
i don't care what the "sign" says, the sticker says "roasted on".

With starbucks being the trend setter that it is, next thing we'll see is "roast on" stamped on cans in the grocery store....oh but what they "mean to say" is Canned On....or brought in on the truck and placed on the shelves on...