Quote:
Originally Posted by why 
They have the same expiration dates as the pre-ground stuff. I just checked to confirm my suspicions. Also, there is nothing preventing 'good beans' from lasting forever, no matter how 'good' they might be.
That's precisely the thing I was talking about before, though. I don't care what Food and Wine or anyone else says is the best. And frankly, the attitude of 'this is the world's best' or 'that is the world's best' is all pretty silly. It's not a coincidence that English-speakers regard one producer as the best and speakers of some other language might regard another as the best (what, do English-speakers all have different taste sensations or something?) -- it's simply a matter of communication and dissemination of information. One magazine writes a review, others jump on board, and soon there's a fad for everyone to do this or that or some other thing according to what some no-name nincompoop declared. What's the point of having a tongue to taste if the only things you're going to use are your eyes and ears?
That same attitude is what caused the now-fully-perverted microbrew craze in America. At some point, beer stopped being beer at all and brewers started chasing some ideal microbrew that tasted more like it was made from molasses than barley. The same occurs in the restaurant industry -- sous vide, foams, and other equally overwrought nonsense (sous vide: when Ziplock meets Eastern Europe). And bozos blogging about bacon, or why I might see the same damn 'artisanal' foods at two restaurants separated thousands of miles.
If you like microbrews because of some characteristic they have, cool, have fun. I generally don't. As long as you like it because of some intrinsic quality and not because you feel a need to fall in line with food critics then there's something to discuss.
They have the same expiration dates as the pre-ground stuff. I just checked to confirm my suspicions. Also, there is nothing preventing 'good beans' from lasting forever, no matter how 'good' they might be.
That's precisely the thing I was talking about before, though. I don't care what Food and Wine or anyone else says is the best. And frankly, the attitude of 'this is the world's best' or 'that is the world's best' is all pretty silly. It's not a coincidence that English-speakers regard one producer as the best and speakers of some other language might regard another as the best (what, do English-speakers all have different taste sensations or something?) -- it's simply a matter of communication and dissemination of information. One magazine writes a review, others jump on board, and soon there's a fad for everyone to do this or that or some other thing according to what some no-name nincompoop declared. What's the point of having a tongue to taste if the only things you're going to use are your eyes and ears?
That same attitude is what caused the now-fully-perverted microbrew craze in America. At some point, beer stopped being beer at all and brewers started chasing some ideal microbrew that tasted more like it was made from molasses than barley. The same occurs in the restaurant industry -- sous vide, foams, and other equally overwrought nonsense (sous vide: when Ziplock meets Eastern Europe). And bozos blogging about bacon, or why I might see the same damn 'artisanal' foods at two restaurants separated thousands of miles.
If you like microbrews because of some characteristic they have, cool, have fun. I generally don't. As long as you like it because of some intrinsic quality and not because you feel a need to fall in line with food critics then there's something to discuss.
WTF are you on about here? "Microbrews" is painting with a pretty broad brush. Nevermind. I can't believe a got sucked into the whytroll blackhole.
Edit: are you really saying that expiration dates are a reliable cue as to quality degredation?
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