Frequently Asked Questions:

·    Can you summarize your philosophy?
We really believe in the words of the coffee guru Kenneth Davids who says: Coffee should be consumed within days of having been roasted, minutes of being ground, and seconds of being prepared!

·    Why is the roast date so important?
This is the only way to know that the roasted beans are absolutely fresh and haven’t been sitting around on someone’s shelf for a long time.  To get the freshest tasting cup of coffee you should drink it within 2 weeks of the roast date!

·   Is this some sort of marketing gimmick?
Try this - get some freshly roasted coffee and make notes on how it tastes every day for the first two weeks after roasting. Pay special attention to the acidity - this drops off noticeably! Then compare what you tasted to the other coffees that are available - you will notice the difference - and pretty soon you will be able to guess the age!
  
·    Wait a minute - I have not seen roast dates on other bags of coffee...!
Because the "big guys" roast to stock, not to order! Roast to order is much more difficult to manage!

·    What happens if I don’t drink my roasted beans within two weeks of the roast date?
Nothing bad will happen – it is just more likely that you won’t get an optimum coffee experience!

·    What is a valve bag?
Sorry to go back to talking about chemistry, but the roasting process creates chemical changes in the bean.  These chemical changes continue for a few days after the beans have been roasted and produce carbon dioxide (the same little bubbles you see in soft drinks).  The valve in the valve bag allows the carbon dioxide to escape from the bag, while keeping air from entering the bag – this helps to keep the beans fresh, and keeps the bag from swelling up like a balloon and popping!

·    Why do you talk about packaging your coffee in ½ lb valve bags, even though this kind of bag is more expensive?
We package our coffee in ½ lb bags, because this will last the “average” coffee drinker 1 to 2 weeks.  We don’t want you to open up more than you need!  It is especially important that we put our coffee in valve bags because we package our coffees right out of the roaster, while the beans are still very active chemically!

·    I am confused about how long coffee beans can stay in a bag…?
The beans can stay in a bag for a long, long time - many, many months.  The beans will just get stale – so if you don’t know the roast date, how do you know how long the beans have been in the bag?

·    What is the big deal about roasting coffee?
Roasting coffee is not just turning the bean brown.  It is a complicated series of chemical reactions which drive the moisture out of the bean, and then convert the flavor elements in the bean to a pleasant taste and aroma.  At least 1,500 different chemicals are involved in this process!  If you heat up the bean quickly, for example, you will have a fuller body in the coffee, as opposed to baking it slowly – which will end up as a bland cup of coffee. 

Not all “roasts" are created equal – it is how you do it that counts.  Roasting is a journey, not a destination!

·    What is the deal with water-processed Decaf Coffee?
Decaffeinated coffee is made by chemically extracting the caffeine from the coffee bean.  There are several ways to do this – and they typically involve solvents from Organic Chemistry which are not exactly good for you…  A “water-processed” Decaf is processed with a relatively new process, which uses only water as the extraction medium – so the coffee bean has never been in touch with any organic solvents.  I have worked personally with industrial-scale solvent extraction processes and understand very well the issues in running an extraction plant…  All I can tell you is that when I drink a Decaf Coffee, it is a Water-Processed Decaf…

·    Why should I buy Tucson Mountain Coffee Roasters Coffee?
It is all about freshness – we not only tell you when we roast it, we roast, pack and ship our product in less than 48 hours.  This keeps you as close as possible to a great cup of coffee…

    We drink what we roast, and we really get excited about a great cup of coffee!  We hope you do too!

    Sincerely, 
    Tucson Mountain Coffee Roasters 

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