Löfbergs is nice stuff, I picked it up at Carrefour a few times before they apparently stopped ordering it, and the packets became close to a year old.
I read in the news there were some instant coffee packets that came into the country about a couple of months ago, that were laced with narcotics…
That is taking the “junky” part to the next level.
Guy
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A question about the roasting date. I’ve always thought we should go for the most recently roasted beans to ensure freshness, but I recently went to my local Cama to pick up some beans, and was told that the beans that were roasted just the day before were not “ready for consumption.” “You need to let them sit.” I was advised to buy beans that were roasted a week earlier instead if I wanted to drink it right away. Is there any truth to that or is it the shop’s ploy to get rid of older beans? 
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They taste terrible straight out of the roaster, in my opinion, yes. 
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I’d say they’re half right? My impression is beans roasted the previous day are “too” fresh, but they’re at their best four or five days after roasting. I have no idea where I picked up this bit of information, but it’s how I’ve bought roasted beans for a long while now - yesterday or today is too new; look for something four or five days old. (Well, when I’m actually buying bags with dates on them, which isn’t always the case!)
Caveats: I’m not sure my palate would really tell the difference; and depending on how long it takes you to go through a bag of beans, buying a “too-fresh” bag roasted a day earlier may work better for you anyway.
This page provides a bit more backup, emphasis added:
After roasting, coffee needs a couple of days to degas and then it is ready for consumption. At about three days after roasting, coffee is at its peak. You’ll still be able to pick out flavorful notes, and appreciate a selection’s body and acidity, though, for a few weeks after roasting. By three weeks, at most, coffee is no longer fresh.
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So basically, you have to let it fart before you brew it? 
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Oh no. The “fart” coming out of a freshly opened bag of coffee beans is one of my favorite smells. I really really really hope comparing that to a fart is NOT a lingering image in my brain, or you may have ruined a minor but dearly loved kitchen sensation.
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Sorry!
I did work in sales briefly, but I didn’t enjoy lying all day.
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Early in the lockdown, I picked up two bags of PNG beans from the Starbucks Reserve store on Zhongxiao East Road here in Taipei. As some forumosans will know, coffee from the highlands of PNG can be a mixed bag, but when it’s good, my goodness it’s good. Think Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee trees transplanted to rich volcanic soil in Asia.
So I asked the helpful worker: what can I expect? It was getting near the height of summer, and to my surprise she said: It tastes like tomato juice.
The next day I opened the bag, and made a pot of French press coffee with the beans. Yup, it indeed tasted like tomato juice. I grudgingly worked my way through the bag before turning my attention to other beans for the next month or so.
Recently I had a look at the second bag I’d purchased and thought, OK let’s give it a try now. Same PNG beans, same roaster in Tokyo, same brewing technique, but now a month or so later. The result is much rounder, more balanced, with a nicer creamy mouthfeel. The tomato juice inflection is gone. It’s amazing how much better this coffee became after sitting for a while.
Guy
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I’ve had this experience with, in my case, some unpalatably light roasts. Normally I would just toss them, but in one case I had a decent sized bag of geisha which 2 weeks out of the roaster was still too sour for me. I threw it in the back of the cupboard, and when I fished it out it had mellowed quite a bit.
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It’s hard to throw out geisha beans given how much they cost! But yes they really do like emphasizing the high notes with light roasting lately—a hard adjustment for those of us schooled in darker roasts with more body and depth.
Guy
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I lived on Kona for a few years and learned about quality differences and how labor intensive coffee farming is.
Key takeaways - French roast sounds nice but it’s used for the worst quality smaller broken beans. Roasting the hell out of it removes distinguishing qualities.
Light roast is probably to grassy for most people but if you really want to taste the coffee, then it’s the way to go. I personally loved the mix of light and medium. This coffee plantation called it the brown and tan. https://mountainthunder.com/
Another key point is labeling. You can advertise coffee as Kona coffee even if only 10% are Kona beans. They put 10% on the bag in tiny letters.
I’m sure other premium coffee producing regions face the same issues in protecting their brands.
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Here’s a question for forumosans.
The fancier City Cafes in 7-11s (do they call them Cafe+? I can’t remember) are now serving three (3!) varieties of Alishan Coffee, with the lower priced water processed beans coming in at (I think) NT$220 a cup, the sun processed beans from the same estate a bit higher, and also an eye-watering cup from another estate coming in at NT$450.
Has anyone actually tried them?
Guy
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Point of order…You were in the wrong sales job. Good sales people help their customers not lie to them.
I need beans low in caffeine but not heavy roasted either .
Recommendations ?
For price and value, OK Lao is hard to beat.
I cannot vouch for the low in caffeine part though 
Guy
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Jesus Taiwan coffee is expensive. I heard the acreage went to 50 ,times in the last 20 years .
Never tried cos too expensive. Although I often drank gukeng coffee…Nothing great
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And it still largely sucks.
I wonder if/when they will figure out how to do this well, as they did with tea, rice, mangoes, etc.
Guy
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They were involved in various scandals over the years, blending a very small amount of Gukeng beans with cheap imported beans from Vietnam, while marketing it as “Gukeng Coffee.” When this was exposed, folks seemed to just shrug and carry on. There was no sense whatsoever that their brand or image was being tarnished.
My conclusion: avoid.
Guy
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