Recommendations ?

I always thought the 8 o'clock brand was a notch above the others. They claim to use only arabica beans which are higher quality than the robustas used in most mass market blends. If you like Italian Roast, they make a French Roast which will be pretty similar. Buy whole bean and get a grinder if you don't already have one. Whole bean coffee stays fresh a lot longer than pre-ground.

Personally, I've been roasting my own coffee for the last 2-3 years and haven't turned back. It's hard to the freshness of coffee roasted last night!

I caught the "Home roasting" bug from this board (CastleCrest) and once you buy the roaster it is easy to buy great quality green beans to feed it, and, easy to do. The only problem is that once you have tried really fresh coffee the best of the supermarket offerings will not make you happy any longer.

I brought some Nabob coffee back from Canada and it was a refreshing change.I like to try different coffee and have a freezer full. I don't buy canned coffee anymore,just whole bean and in smaller quantities.

In reading up on coffee (after becoming interested in the "perfect cup" by Blooth and CastleCrest) it seems that green coffee beans can be stored in burlap sacks for two years without loss of flavor. Once you roast the green beans and release the oils they need to out gas for one full day and then be used within 10 days (being stored after roasting in a mason type jar at room temperature) So, you can see that canned coffee is stale before you get it, and roasted beans get stale within a week. There is a lot of good info on sweetmarias.com (no financial link to me). Good luck on your quest for the perfect cup. Regards