What is Fresh Roasted Coffee 100% Colombian?
The everyday Colombian, roasted to order and cheaper per kilo than anything else we cover.
Colombia is one of the largest coffee producers in the world and, for many people, the taste of coffee itself: balanced, sweet and easy to drink. Fresh Roasted Coffee roasts theirs to a medium, and the bag label reads medium roast and bold bodied, with notes of honey, cherry and balanced. The product page describes a smooth, balanced body with a bright, clean finish, and lists it as 100% Arabica and OU Kosher.
It is sold whole bean, or ground for drip, coarse for French press or fine for espresso, in 12 oz, 2 lb and 5 lb bags, and it sits with the other single origins on the Fresh Roasted Coffee roaster page. The store's address for it says Supremo, but neither the bag nor the title does, so we do not claim a grade the bag does not print.
What Fresh Roasted publishes, and what it does not
The roast date, yes. The farm, no.
For some of its origins Fresh Roasted names the region, the estate or the altitude. For the Colombian it gives none of those: no department, no farm, no processing method. That is common for a house single origin bought for consistency rather than for a particular farm, and it is why this coffee scores lower on sourcing than the origins that name their growers. What you do get is the date it was roasted, which matters more to the cup than most of what a specialty label prints.
Roasted to order, and dated on the bag
The strongest thing Fresh Roasted publishes is not a tasting note. It is when the coffee was roasted.
Fresh Roasted Coffee roasts each order after it is placed, on Loring Smart Roasters at its base in central Pennsylvania, then packs and nitrogen flushes the bag straight away. Its shipping policy says coffee leaves one to two days after roasting, and orders placed after noon on a Thursday are roasted on Sunday night and shipped on Monday.
The roast date is printed on a white sticker on the bottom of every bag. It is written as a Julian day, the number of the day in the year, so day 272 is the 29th of September. It takes a second to decode, and the roaster's FAQ has the chart, but it means you can see exactly how old the coffee is, which most supermarket bags will not tell you. A best before date on a supermarket bag says when the seller stops standing behind it, not when it was roasted.
Price, and what a cup costs
Cheap at every size, and the cheapest kilo on this site in the 5 lb bag.
| Bag | Price | Per kilo | Per cup (15 g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 340 g (12 oz) | $14.99 | $44.06 | $0.66 |
| 907 g (2 lb) | $29.99 | $33.06 | $0.50 |
| 2.27 kg (5 lb) | $54.99 | $24.25 | $0.36 |
Shipping is a flat $7.95 on orders under $50 and free above $50 once discounts are taken off, so two 2 lb bags or three 12 oz bags usually clear the threshold.
New to Fresh Roasted Coffee? Our link applies the code COFFEEGURU, which takes 20% off a first order of coffee or tea. It is for new customers only and does not apply to subscriptions.
At 36 cents a cup in the 5 lb bag, it undercuts every other coffee we have recorded per kilo, including Fresh Roasted's own Indian Monsoon Malabar. Five pounds is a lot of coffee for one person, though: at two mugs a day it lasts about five weeks, and whole beans keep best in a sealed, opaque container away from heat. Our guide to storing coffee beans covers it.
Fresh Roasted also sell this Colombian roasted dark, as single-serve pods for K-Cup brewers in medium or dark, as Nespresso Original compatible espresso capsules, and green for home roasting.
100% Colombian vs Cooper's Cask Colombian Dark Roast
Two Colombians from US roasters, at different roasts.
The Cooper's Cask Colombian Dark Roast is roasted dark with cocoa and dark fruit notes, at $18.95 for 12 oz and from $33.05 a kilo. It is the choice for a darker, heavier cup. Fresh Roasted's is a medium roast, keeps more of the honey and cherry sweetness, costs less at every size and prints a roast date. For a classic medium Colombian, Fresh Roasted; for dark and bold, Cooper's Cask.
100% Colombian vs Costa Rican Tarrazu
Two easy medium roasts from the same roaster.
The Fresh Roasted Costa Rican Tarrazu is the brighter of the two, with honey, baker's chocolate and bright on its label, and it costs $2 more for 12 oz. The Colombian is the rounder, more balanced cup, and cheaper in the bigger bags. If you are not sure which you prefer, a 12 oz bag of each is the cheapest experiment in coffee.
How to brew it
It is hard to get wrong.
A balanced medium roast is at home in a drip machine, a French press, a pour-over or an AeroPress. In a drip machine, start with about 1 gram of coffee to 16 of water. For a French press, 1:15 with a coarse grind and four minutes; our French press guide has the method. It also takes milk well, and the dark-roast version is the better pick if you want it for espresso.
Is it worth it?
Yes, as an everyday coffee for the price.
Roasted to order, dated on the bag and cheaper per kilo than anything else we cover, it is the easiest recommendation on this site for somebody who wants good, familiar coffee without paying specialty prices. If you want to know whose farm it came from, choose an origin that tells you.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
Buy it if
- You want a classic, balanced daily coffee.
- You go through a lot of coffee and want the lowest price per cup.
- You want a roast date on every bag.
Skip it if
- You want organic coffee; try the Organic Honduran Marcala.
- You want the farm and altitude named; the Tanzanian Peaberry Aviv Estate names its estate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Fresh Roasted's Colombian taste like?
The label lists honey, cherry and balanced, from a medium roast with a bold body.
Is it Colombian Supremo?
The store's web address says supremo, but the bag and the product title say 100% Colombian and do not name a grade, so we do not claim one.
How much does it cost?
$14.99 for 12 oz, $29.99 for 2 lb and $54.99 for 5 lb, which is $24.25 a kilo.
Is it a dark roast?
No, it is a medium roast. Fresh Roasted sell a separate 100% Dark Colombian.
Is it kosher?
Yes, Fresh Roasted list it as OU Kosher certified.
