What matters is not the shop type but whether the coffee is fresh and traceable.
Buying from a roastery
Freshest. Often roasted within days, sometimes to order.
Most information. Roast date, origin, process, altitude, and staff who know the lot.
Best value per kilo, especially with a subscription or a bulk bag.
Buying from a café that does not roast
Cafés sell retail bags from their roaster, usually at a markup, and turnover can be slow. Check the roast date rather than assuming.
A café that is busy and buys weekly is fine. One with a dusty shelf of retail bags is not.
Supermarket specialty
Some supermarkets now stock genuine specialty roasters. The bags are real; the turnover may not be. Check the date.
Subscriptions
Convenient and usually fresh, since most roast to order. The trade-off is less choice and paying for curation.
Worth it if you want variety without deciding. Not worth it if you know what you like.
The one rule
If there is no roast date, do not buy it. Every serious roaster prints one. A best-before date instead is a deliberate choice not to tell you.
Last reviewed 8 August 2026