Dating in the 21st century: the lack of an agreed upon method of identifying fresh coffee works to the detriment of specialty coffee. The debate continues.

OVER A HUNDRED YEARS after Frederick A. Couchois began dating his fresh roasted private estate beans, and about 70 years from the introduction of Chase & Sanborn's "dated" coffee in one-pound bags, Bernie Digman of Milagro Coffee Espresso, Inc. in Las Cruces, New Mexico raised the "D-word" during the recent SCAA elections. Mr. Digman, a well-respected roasting retailer, asked the SCAA 2nd vice presidential candidates in an open forum on the Roasters Guild bulletin board, "Would you support a position by the SCAA or RG (Roasters Guild) on a fixed length of time, after which specialty coffee should not be marketed?"

Specialty coffee roasters in North America set the standard for great coffee, but while SCAA has endorsed standards for brewing, it has had issues with setting standards for coffee labeling since its organizational days in the early 1980s. SCAA didn't exist when a pre-organization committee reported to the prospective membership on standards for labeling that would be amended to the proposed association's charter. The proposal raised a storm of controversy. The idea of labeling guidelines themselves (they did not address freshness dating) was so hot, that it had to be dropped from the proposed organization's platform and constitution in order to guarantee that the association itself would be birthed.

Since those dynamic days at the SCAA Debating Society, the organization has defined specialty green coffee by creating a standard called Type 1. SCAA has endorsed the gold cup standard of the old Coffee Brewing Center. We have defined the beverage as a quantified standard related to soluble solids in solution, but we continue to struggle to define the bean and the cup by objective standards of taste.

Roasters Guild executive council member, Peter Giuliano, says that a freshness standard "must" be essential, but that "we should not pursue a freshness standard to the exclusion of other standards." His reasoning, explained in a thread on the Roasters Guild bulletin board, begins with the premise that people are attracted to specialty coffee because of its perception of higher quality, and a freshness standard must sit beside other standards for the coffee to be perceived as a high quality item. Guiliano's credo for a specialty standard is something like this:

1. Green coffee of a high quality by an accepted standard.

2. Roasted by a skilled professional to an accepted standard.

3. Sold fresh by an accepted standard.

The nature of taste is a subjective judgment. The nature of standards must be objective, and there in lies a conundrum. Freshness is a unique category of quality, and though what we are really talking about is relative freshness, as all coffee begins to change at the very moment it leaves the roasters mouth, it behooves us to recognize that our opponents in coffee are vulnerable on freshness issues. We do ourselves a disservice by not exploiting their weakness with a united SCAA Roasters Guild approach in marketing specialty coffee's freshness advantage.

Government agencies require "Kill dates" or "Use by" dating, when out-of-date foods cease to be healthful. There is no dating requirement for coffee, as there is no health risk in consuming old coffee. The lack of an official system, or an agreed upon method of identifying fresh coffee, works to the detriment of specialty coffee in many instances. However, there are so many variables in specialty coffee that it is hard to find a method of freshness identification related to dating that fits all roasters' ideas of freshness. Two of our most knowledgeable experts in the field, Michael Sivetz (www.sivetzcoffee.com) and George Howell (www.terroircoffee.com) believe that ground coffee left exposed at room temperature begins to stale within 24 hours, whole beans within 5-7 days, and that freezing temperatures extend the fresh life of beans.

We also know that beans packed in valve bags that have been evacuated to attain a low oxygen content, and with inert gas flush are preserved with a "just roasted" taste quality even after weeks of storage, provided that the integrity of the packaging holds up. Years ago, Jerry Baldwin (www.peets.com) confided that the tests he conducted strongly indicated that the time from the roaster to the valve bag was critical in maintaining fresh aroma and taste. There are also issues of temperature, which should be low and steady. Humidity should also be kept low and steady, and light should be minimal and steady. All these need consideration.

For the purposes of this discussion, I am limiting myself to roasted coffee packed in the best technology readily available to all in the roasting trade regardless of size. So don't look today for the vagaries of packing in thin plastic materials without valves, lined-burlap glassine paper, corrugated or other materials with a lower protection level than the properly made and used valve bag. Retail merchandising techniques, as metal and Plexiglas dispensers, and open or covered barrels or burlap sacks, may all develop consumer interest, but none do much to protect the coffee from the trials of oxidation and staling.

A recent buyer's guide in Gourmet News suggests that some roasters either do not know, or choose not to acknowledge the frailty to staleness of even well-packaged roast coffees. While many roasters have settled on a 6-month shelf life, others claim 12-months. One imported (UK) product line claims freshness for 18 months in their valve bag.

Loss of freshness accelerates when the packaged roast coffee is opened and while tapes, and zip-lock type closures are an aid, using up coffee as fast as possible is important, and for the most part out of the hands of the roaster or retailer. Baristas and coffee bar operators must be trained to understand this failing of the product, as must the end user at home and in the fine restaurants or other foodservice industries, where our goods find their way.

Dated coffee may help coffee handlers see the light, but as Trish Skeie, a member of the RG Executive Council, pointed out on the RG Bulletin Board, the bigger question is educating folks on the nature of coffee.

Intelligensia Coffee's, Doug Zell does not believe that freshness should be defined for the consumer, saying "There are so many factors determining how something will ultimately taste and what people like, that I think we should leave it to our customers to decide what they think is fresh." While not wanting to define freshness for the customer, he believes in "Roasted on" dating and the process of "Natural Selection", or "Survival of the Freshest."

Roasters Guild chairman, Shawn Hamilton (www.javacity.com) is also a proponent of "Roasted on" dating. Hamilton also points out that big brand supermarket coffee is usually sold by secret-code dating. The inference being that a secret system generally works to the detriment of the consumer.

A larger point is that specialty coffee should stand for transparency in business practices, in stark contrast to those who oppose us with their cleverly packaged and marketed coffee & coffee by-product blends. Dating is a step toward transparency that would be welcomed by wholesale and retail customers.

Born on dating may or may not be part of a pledge of ethical standards put forward by the roasters guild, but with a new generation of specialty roasters coming into their own in the trade and into leadership positions in the specialty community, the air is tingling with expectation and it already appears that the clarion call of the new leadership echoes the first generation of SCAA roasters. In the words of Jeremy Raths, of the Roastery Inc., located in Minneapolis Minnesota, "Get the best, freshest coffee in the hands of the end user."

One measure of quality that is timely is "Born on" dating. It is not the only measure. Dating does not speak to environmental and human issues, bean quality, skill level of the roaster, packaging, pricing, marketing and a whole panoply of other issues. It is a piece of the objective of Pledge of Excellence that the Roasters Guild should be developing for its membership, and the wholesale and retail buying public to assure them that what's in the cup is worthy of them.

It is 25 years, since SCAA & Roasters Guild founding father, Donald Schoenholt, chaired the committee that first recommended labeling guidelines to the coffee community that would soon become SCAA. He can be found at Gillies Coffee Co. located in Brooklyn New York, www.gilliescoffee.com.