Joris wrote
The quality of Douwe Egberts is overrated in my opinion.
I've never tried it, but I'm guessing, 2 day old beans could be quite drinkable, but I've only seen the pre-ground option in the UK.
The problem of freshness lies with the Supermarkets. In forcing the packers to print distant 'best before' dates, it dosen't put pressure on the supermarkets, to maintain good stock rotation management.
I was in Morrisons/Safeway yesterday and looked at some of the BB dates :-
Morrisons own brand (pre-ground) : April 2007
Douwe Egberts : May 2007
Lavazza and Rossa (pre-ground vac packed) : July and Nov 2007
Bearing in mind that ground coffee goes off after X hours, it's clear that supermarkets, do not regard coffee as a foodstuff. 'Best before' rather than 'use by' suggests they believe it's drinkable after the BB date.
Numerous threads state that, as coffee ages, you will need to grind finer. Looking at the pack you see "suitable for all types of coffee machine". Ah!, so this is what is meant by the 'omni grind' ok in a Cona and an espresso. Thus endeth the rantette.
QC