Fresh Roasted Coffee

What is Fresh Roasted Coffee?

A roaster that competes on freshness and price rather than on rare lots.

Fresh Roasted Coffee was founded in 2009 and roasts in central Pennsylvania. Its pitch, on its own About page, is coffee for everybody: specialty grade beans at a reasonable price, roasted fresh to order on eco-friendly Loring Smart Roasters, packed straight away, nitrogen flushed and shipped to your door, so that it arrives a few days after roasting.

The range is large. There are single origins from Central and South America, Africa and Asia, each usually in a medium and a dark roast, an organic line, decafs made with water rather than solvents, half caf blends, flavoured coffee, cold brew packs, single-serve pods and green beans for home roasting. Every coffee is 100% Arabica and OU Kosher, and the organic coffees are USDA Organic.

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.

The coffees we review

We started with the four that readers had already bought, and added five more origins.

• Costa Rican Tarrazu: medium roast, honey and baker's chocolate, $16.99 for 12 oz.
• Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Kochere: washed, grown at 1,798 to 1,996 m, lemon and honey, $14.99.
• Kenya AA: washed, medium-dark, peach blossom and black tea, $17.99.
• Organic Sumatra Water-Processed Decaf: organic, chemical-free decaf, bold and earthy, $18.99.
• Tanzanian Peaberry Aviv Estate: light roast from a named estate, banana and graham cracker, $14.99.
• Organic Bali Blue Moon: USDA Organic, wet hulled, dark chocolate and vanilla bean, $17.99.
• Sumatra Mandheling: medium roast, bold, dark chocolate and cedar, $15.99.
• Guatemala Huehuetenango: medium, hand sorted, cherry and baking spice, $14.99.
• Indian Monsoon Malabar: monsooned, very low acid, baker's chocolate, $14.99.

How to choose from the range

Pick the origin first, then the roast, then the format.

Most Fresh Roasted origins come in a medium and a dark version of the same coffee. The medium keeps more of what makes the origin distinct, the lemon of the Yirgacheffe or the brightness of the Tarrazu, while the dark trades that for body and roast flavour, which suits milk drinks and French press. Our medium roast and dark roast lists show how that plays out across every roaster here.

Then choose the organic line if the certificate matters to you, a water-processed decaf or half caf if caffeine does, and pods or capsules only if convenience beats freshness, since a sealed pod cannot show you a roast date the way a bag does. If you are unsure, the samples let you try three or four origins for the price of one bag.

What it costs

Cheap in bulk, ordinary in the small bag.

Most single origins cost $14.99 to $18.99 for a 12 oz bag, which is ordinary for fresh roasted coffee. The saving is in the 2 lb and 5 lb bags: the Tarrazu and Yirgacheffe drop to $28.66 a kilo at 5 lb, about 43 cents a cup at a 15 g dose. There are also 2.5 oz samples from $4.99, which are a cheap way to try several origins before committing to a big bag.

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.

Fresh Roasted also runs an Auto Delivery subscription with its own first order offer. The COFFEEGURU code does not apply to subscriptions, so if you plan to subscribe, compare the two offers first.

Fresh Roasted Coffee vs Volcanica and Cooper's Cask

Three online roasters with deep single origin ranges, sold on different strengths.

Volcanica Coffee publishes more certifications and sells in 1 lb bags. Cooper's Cask Coffee has the widest range of barrel aged and flavoured coffees and similar per kilo prices. Fresh Roasted's edge over both is the roast date on the bag and roasting to order, and its weakness is that it publishes less about where each coffee comes from.

Is Fresh Roasted Coffee worth it?

Yes, for everyday coffee that you can prove is fresh.

If you drink a lot of coffee and buy it from a supermarket, this is the obvious step up: the same money per cup in the larger bags, and a date that tells you how old it is. If you buy coffee for rare lots, competition scores and named farms, look at a specialty roaster instead.

Who should buy it (and who should not)

Buy it if

• You want fresh, dated coffee at a price close to the supermarket's.
• You want to try many origins cheaply; the samples make that easy.
• You use a K-Cup brewer or a Nespresso Original machine and want single origins in it.

Skip it if

• You want farm, altitude and varietal on every bag.
• You want Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance on every coffee.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Fresh Roasted Coffee based?

Central Pennsylvania, according to its shipping policy. It was founded in 2009.

How do I read the roast date?

It is a Julian day number on a white sticker on the bottom of the bag: the day of the year it was roasted. Fresh Roasted's FAQ has the chart.

How fast does it ship?

One to two days after roasting. Orders after noon on a Thursday are roasted on Sunday night and shipped on Monday.

Is there a discount code?

COFFEEGURU gives new customers 20% off their first order of coffee or tea, applied automatically through our link. It does not apply to subscriptions.

Does Fresh Roasted ship free?

Yes, on orders over $50 after discounts. Under that, shipping is a flat $7.95.