Beginning at midnight Saturday, coffee sales to consumers will be halted for a week to give grocers an opportunity to fill up gaping spaces on their shelves. State OPA authorities have been advised by coffee experts that even coffee that has been packed in vacuum tins will not keep fresh indefinitely, that it may turn stale in anywhere from a month to a year. In many cases, the first two or three cups of coffee made from a can of vacuum packed coffee that has been hoarded for more than a month will taste fresh but the remainder will be stale because of the oil in the coffee bean turning rancid. Persons having hoarded coffee would be denied additional quantities until the coffee in their possession is reduced to comply with regulations. --- Ed's Note: Coffee in Retrospect is a reprint column prepared by Coffee Monitor and Poor Farmer blog to provide context for the current global coffee trade by republishing news articles fr...