In response to darkstar965 -
As the owner of M.E. Swing Coffee Roasters, I am very proud of our product, our company, and the progress this roasting company has made over the past seven years.. There are many inaccuracies in your post that need to be addressed:
1) Not sure where you would have purchased a six-month old bag of Swing’s, certainly not direct from us. ALL coffee leaving our roasting facility whether sent to our store downtown or to wholesale customers is right off the roast (24-48 hrs), roast dated, and sealed in valve bags for freshness.
2) Beans available at Swing’s Coffeehouse in DC are delivered fresh-roasted direct from our Alexandria roastery nearly every day of the week. Roast dates for all beans sold at the store are posted for customer visibility. The “churn” of beans there is so high, beans don’t have time to sit very long. Additionally, we grind and brew before they have a chance to age beyond peak flavor.
3) Swing’s coffee is not available at Safeway.
4) Every bag of Swing’s on the shelf at Whole Foods and other retail locations is roast dated. Not every coffee consumer has the time or ability to visit a local roaster to buy beans right off the roast, however, there is still complete transparency with regard to freshness of our product.
5) Blends vs. varietals – our coffee menu, whether online or downtown has an even distribution of both, with an ever-increasing emphasis on single origin coffees from small farm-holders. Yes, the industry is moving towards single-origins. As a long-term roaster (97 years), we have customers for both, and will respect the demands of our loyal customer base.
6) Proper blending coffee has NOTHING to do with masking freshness or quality of beans. Most often, beans are blended to complement and balance flavor profiles in either pre-roast or post-roast blends. See Counter Culture, Intelligentsia, Stumptown, Blue Bottle, Verve, etc...
DarkStar965 stated: “As a coffee hound, I'd love to see one of the old line locals really up their game. This applies to three roasters primarily: Swings,Quartermaine and Mayorga.”
Can’t speak for the others, but Swing’s has recently opened a new roasting facility that includes a comprehensive coffee cupping/training/roasting lab intended for the benefit of educating Swing’s wholesale clients, employees,and the public. Additionally, Swing’s will soon be opening a coffeebar on-site at the new roastery, thus allowing patrons to sample single-origin brews, espressos and beans, and tour the roasting facility. As a reference, read Tim Carman’s article.
I welcome everyone to visit either Swing’s DC or our new roastery in Alexandria and judge for themselves.
Mark Warmuth
Owner - M.E. Swing Coffee Roasters
