HI Rich,
Guess that questions depends on what you’re after.
If you’re roasting for business:
There are plenty of places to buy, but east of the country I buy from royalny.com and west side from royalcoffee.com…they’ve always had fair pricing and delivery terms. Though you do have to buy a full bag, that’s best for business roasting. If you need smaller
See the green coffee section on this page:
http://www.rkdrums.com/index.php/en/support/success
For personal quality roasting if you’re an aficionado:
Nobody beats sweetmarias.com for the best stuff around. But expect to pay $4-$6/lb and smaller lots are available.
Gary Gray in Ohio reported good results on small volumes and pricing from this link:
http://orleansbeans.enstore.com/browse/1
On the timeframe, I have always been taught and have learned from experience that coffee peaks in flavor 24 hours after the roast and begins to slowly degrade over time thereafter. I’ve heard from very reputable sources that new and interesting flavors can develop as late as 4-5 days after the roast. Personally I don’t put much stock in a 2 week time frame…I would consider that well past peak. But… I learn new things every day, so if someone has that on authority..I’d love to hear it and be educated by it.
With that said, 2 week old coffee certainly isn’t bad. I would still sell it. Even as late as 4 weeks to 6 weeks out…speaking from a business standpoint, not a purists standpoint. I think after 6 weeks out though, without Bathing the coffee in nitrogen which isn’t practical, you will start losing your fresh roast edge over the competition.
From the purists standpoint, looking do deliver nothing but perfection, I’d stop selling coffee at 2 weeks post roast.
My opinion: For best results. Roast your coffee then bag it right away (if you have a valve or a breathable bag) and spend the next bit of time getting it to your customer. That should naturally be about 24 hours later. If you happen to roast and get a bag into someone’s hands immediately tell them not to drink it until the 24 hour mark after the roast. And then tell them they might notice the development of other flavors subsequently.
Hope that helps.
Shane