I once read that roasted coffee beans oxidize and become stale only seven days after roasting. Ground coffee oxidizes after only three days. So, bottom line is that most of us drink stale coffee, even if you use an airtight container. Meanwhile, green unroasted coffee beans stay fresh for up to a year. Home roasting is one solution for fresh coffee, but the conditions for optimal coffee roasting are extremely precise, and it’s easy to burn the coffee beans etc., and many are willing to sacrifice some taste for the convenience of store bought coffee.

Starbucks has done a good job of educating coffee consumers of the benefit of quality coffee, but the experience could certainly be improved. In the era of “you,” I believe there’s an opportunity to create a chain of Fire Roasted Coffee houses (the domain firecoffee.com was available at the time of this writing), where consumers can select among a variety of green coffee beans in canisters (so they could select Kona beans, or Columbian beans, or Kenyan beans, for example), and then select the type of fire roasting they want (ie french roasted, vanilla roasted, orange roasted etc.). During the roasting, consumers can watch the expert fire roasters, or meet with people, or read, or browse music or book selections. There could also be online ordering, so you can custom order your coffee from home and pick it up or have it delivered in time for optimal freshness and taste.

I love brick oven pizza, and believe a brick oven creates not only superior pizza, but also can dramatically improve the ambiance of a restaurant. A coffee house with a brick fire oven for coffee roasting would achieve a similar kind of experience, and also better tasting, fresher coffee to either consume at the shop or to take home.

[UPDATE: A variation of this, a more earth friendly approach: Solar roasted coffee]