Gevalia = good coffee allowed to go stale before packaging. Save your money and try Dunkin Donuts coffee. Pretty much the same beans, but fresher. Eight O'Clock blend is at the same level of taste and quality as Dunkin Donuts. Starbucks = good non-blended coffee (some are great), okay dark roasted coffee, good packaging. Brilliant marketing. Their blends are okay, but nothing special.
Dark roasting burns the beans and negates much of the coffee's distinctiveness, so it allows you to use less expensive beans to get the same result. If you're a French Roast sort of person, avoid paying extra for FR made from exotic, expensive beans. Once burned, they pretty much all taste the same.
Naturally I'm partial to Green Mountain because of the way we roast, blend and package the stuff, but there are several others out there as good as us. Maine Roasters out of Portland ME is very good. Caribou Coffee down south is excellent. Peet's out west has great quality control but only offers darker roasts. Whatever you get, I'd recommend buying 1/2 to 1 pound nitrogen-flushed valved packages of whole bean coffee. As long as the package is sealed keep it at room temp, but the moment you open the package it should be frozen. Grind the beans just before using; no need to thaw them if they came from the freezer. Never buy from those open bins in the store, especially if you want dark roasts. Oxygen is the worst thing coffee beans can be exposed to.
Hope this helps. Pete
