Hi L-to-L - thanks for your post and I don't want to comment about the bringing food in issue, as i'm pretty sure you're right. However, I would like to give my interpretation, with respect to the 'dissing (presume you mean dishing) it out' on large coffee companies issue you raise. My perception of this is that people on this site believe strongly in a craftsmanlike approach to making coffee, versus what I guess you could call a 'mass production' approach, which influences everything they say/post on this site. This means that, in general, they would prefer to deal with a small local coffee shop than a big chain. But in particular, when it comes to roasters, they would prefer to deal with a (usually small) local roaster. This is not out of maliciousness, but simply because most people who love their coffee realise that you must start with really fresh beans. That means that beans from a large company which roasts overseas, then stores their product in warehouses overseas, then takes several more weeks/months to ship, and then more time in a warehouse here, are unlikely to be nearly as fresh as something roasted 3-4 days ago at your local roaster down the road. And even with large companies here, it is much harder to get really fresh beans, because of time stored in warehouses, etc. [By the way, if you want to see someone really 'dishing it out' on a large (Aust.) coffee company, click on: www.coffeegeek.com/forums/worldregional/australasia/188515. It's a little vitriolic in parts, but can't say i disagree with most of it). But back to the topic - I have read most comments on this forum about Lavazza in the same light - it may be that people have been singling out Lavazza, but I believe they really have just been using it as a proxy for other (overseas) companies, and there are certainly a lot worse. Actually, Lavazza probably makes the best job of any of the overseas importers. The point is simply that most people believe their product can't be as fresh as something roasted a few days ago. Lastly, for what it's worth, I do know the reason Celebrate was cancelled - because they told me personally. Sorry if this is a bit long-winded, but that's my perspective. -A
