What is Starbucks's roast date? What is the roast date of Starbucks beans? I've heard rumors that it's 7 months or 8 months before the expiration or "best by" date, but is there an authoritative source for this information?
Starbucks is a huge company that wants to reduce the costs. Therefore, it is expected that they optimize for profit most of the time, not for the taste.

One cost-saving approach is to have lots of beans, roasting them all together right after the harvest --when the beans are easily available, then pack them and send to many other selling points --sometimes overseas.

As a result, it might be expected that shipping numerous of containers of packed beans overseas may take a while. However, we cannot just estimate this.

One note, checking the packaging date may help you do a closer estimation. I'm not aware of the legislation around the globe, but when I check a bag of beans in the nearby store, every time till now, the typed date is enough for me to throw the bag as far away as possible.