I've looked all over Yahoo.com and it can be had, but at $9/lb. and on up. That's more expensive than I thought it would be. Anybody have any good sources? Thanks.

-- gita (gschmitz@directcon.net), September 14, 2001

Answers

You might do better buying on sale at wal-mart or k-mart,etc. But coffee in bulk? How much are you talking about here? 20 pounds? 30? 50??????

-- TomK(mich) (tjk@cac.net), September 14, 2001.

No, about 5 lbs.

-- gita (gschmitz@directcon.net), September 14, 2001.

Are you looking for beans or ground coffee? Instant? Regular or decaf? I would suggest that you just buy 5 one-lb vacuum packed bags. That way it would keep fresher.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), September 14, 2001.

I buy whole bean coffee in 20 lb bags for about $12 to $16 at our local Sav-A-Lot, depending on the seasons harvest south of the equator.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), September 14, 2001.

I hate to say it but I bet that "south of the border" coffee has been heavily sprayed with DDT and who knows what else. That is unless it is organic. It is not illegal for coffee and produce grown in other countries to be sprayed with things that are illegal in this country and then harvested and sent to this country to be sold. I'm leary of buying any food raised out of this country and will only buy organic coffee. Has anyone else thought about this?

-- ugly (here@home.com), September 15, 2001.

Try a resturant supply company. Here in So. Cal we have Smart & Final. Open to everyone and no membership required.

I'm not a coffee drinker so I don't keep tract, but I'm sure I've seen bags, larger that 5 or 10lbs.

They may have a website, I didn't check, sorry.

-- jennifer (schwabauer@aol.com), September 15, 2001.

=== I hate to say it but I bet that "south of the border" coffee has been heavily sprayed with DDT and who knows what else. That is unless it is organic. It is not illegal for coffee and produce grown in other countries to be sprayed with things that are illegal in this country and then harvested and sent to this country to be sold. I'm leary of buying any food raised out of this country and will only buy organic coffee. ===

I've never called anyone 'ugly,' but Ugly, -LOL- most of the food in the supermarket doesn't come from this country. It's put in U.S.A. boxes. I know the produce manager where I shop and he has told me this. And you're right, all the poisons that our country has banned, are used in those countries. Our government has caused more and more of our farmers to go bankrupt everyday to give us this food. And some still think the government cares about its folks. Ha!

On another thought, I also wondered if those chemicals really are not harmful since other countries were using them and we were being brain-washed against them. Whatever, those foods aren't a problem for me 'cause I rarely eat fruits and veggies. I'm sure I get plenty of out-of-the-U.S. foods in the rest of the store.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), September 16, 2001.

Sale rice of coffee today in the Phoenix newspaper was two large cans (about 4 1/2 lbs total) for $6.00. Hardly seams worth the effort to grind your own.

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), September 16, 2001.

You hand grind for taste, not economy. Anything prepared ahead of time starts losing its flavor, aroma, and nutrients immediately. This goes double for coffee. Those who have never had freshly roasted (you can buy them green and roast it yourself - takes practice) know not what they miss.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 16, 2001.

Lots of grocery stores have 3lb bags. I don't think I would buy a bigger bag. I wait for coffee to go on sale, then purchase several of the smaller bags, then seal those in (recycled)Ziplocs then stick those in the freezer. It keeps pretty fresh-if your out of freezer space you can store in a cool place-still in the Ziploc. This works pretty well, it just seems likes it tatses better stored in the freezer. Could be my imangination.....

-- Kelly (markelly@scrtc.com), September 16, 2001.

Check out Sam's Club. I used to buy 2 lbs bags of Starbucks there for $15. We switched to 8 O Clock coffee when Sam's started carrying it because it's only 5 or 6 dollars for a 2 lb bag. We're kind of coffee snobs, but 8 O Clock brand tastes great (to us) and we're saving money to boot.

-- Tonya Bednarick (tbednarick@hotmail.com), September 17, 2001.

I"m not a coffee drinker so I can't quote prices, but Frontier Natural Foods Co-op has organic coffe in bulk. Frontier

-- Sherri C (CeltiaSkye@aol.com), September 17, 2001.

Gita, If you will go to this URL and just read the first two paragraphs of the article there on "Fair Trade" coffee, you may feel better about paying a higher price for better coffee and you will be more educated about where your money actually goes and the current crises in South American countries that export coffee.

http://www.globalexchange.org/economy/coffee/

-- Laura Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), September 18, 2001.

Reread Soni's post. If you really want to save money and buy a large quantity of coffee, green coffee beans isthe only way to go.

-- Rick#7 (rick7@postmark.net), September 19, 2001.

better yet, just quit the coffee habit. It isnt that good for you anyhow, and is just a drain on the pocketbook. A cup of hot tea at least has some antioxidents, and you can grow your own, and dry it even.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), September 19, 2001.

You can buy Dunkin' Donuts brand at their website for about $4 per pound, delivered to your door on an on-going scheduled basis.

-- Jim Hitchcock (jwh@aol.com), October 08, 2001.

Laura, thanks for the ref to globalexchange. I checked it out a little, and will go back. They don't seem to have a catalog from which you can purchase. I have some relatives who are not computer savvy. Do you know of a catalog that contains a variety of "green" goods?

Also, they do not say if the coffee is "shade grown." I don't know if the description "organic" means that it was shade grown. I typed "shade grown coffee" into a search engine, however, and got several interesting hits.

-- Bob (robertblessum@netscape.net), October 11, 2001.

Okay - on a link from globalexchange, I found the Fair Trade Federation, fairtradefederation.com, which has a list of catalogs. I have questions about what to purchase, though. Will start a new thread about it.

-- Bob (robertblessum@netscape.net), October 11, 2001.