Nitrogen wash beans VS Fresh I live in a really small area. The closet roaster to me is roughly an hour drive away. 

I know how big of a role that using fresh beans play in making quality espresso. Because I may not be able to make it to the roaster on a regular basis, I was curious about LaVazza coffee. 

I have heard and read online that LaVazza uses a nitrogen wash on all of their beans that keep them fresh longer. How do they perform compared to fresh beans? Obviously they wont be identical, but will they produce a nice fully bodied espresso with a decent amount of crema?
The correct term is nitrogen flushing and it does appear to increase the stored shelf life of roasted beans.  There is a school of thought that using nitrogen (80% of the air we breath) is not a green friendly technique, but it is nevertheless used in other products too.