For about four years I was the person who orders coffee beans from a roaster in another country because someone on a coffee subreddit called them the best in Europe. La Cabra. Coffee Collective. Hydrangea. I had lists. I paid international shipping. I would wait three weeks for a bag of Colombian light roast and then finish it in eight days.
What ended the chase was not disappointment. It was that a small roaster opened fifteen minutes from my apartment, and their coffee was 92% as good, at half the price, with zero shipping, brewed the same day it was roasted. That last part matters more than most articles about coffee will tell you. Beans peak somewhere around 4 to 14 days after roast. By the time your international package arrives, half your window is gone.
I still order from the famous places once a year, at Christmas, as a treat. But my default has shifted. When someone asks for coffee bean recommendations now, I do not tell them a shop. I tell them to find the roaster within walking distance, buy from them for a month, and see how they feel. The best beans in the world roasted two weeks ago will be beaten by decent beans roasted last Tuesday, almost every time.