I know some of you roast and grind your own coffee. How about sharing some experiences, successes, failures, etc. I've been roasting for a couple of years using a hot-air popcorn popper. Great fun and great coffee!
Coffee Roasters
- Thread starter Straight Arrow
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The History Channel just had a show on tonight about coffee! Part of the show dealt with the roasting process, as well as other details about coffee.
www.coffeegeek.com
I don't roast myself -- leave that to the professional roasters.
I do have a Mazzer grinder (not cheap) -- the same manufacturer that used to supply Starbucks before they downgraded all their machines. It is brilliant, does the job perfectly. It is a grinder for life, built like a tank. I will probably need to replace the burrs after about 20 years of domestic service!
I don't roast myself -- leave that to the professional roasters.
I do have a Mazzer grinder (not cheap) -- the same manufacturer that used to supply Starbucks before they downgraded all their machines. It is brilliant, does the job perfectly. It is a grinder for life, built like a tank. I will probably need to replace the burrs after about 20 years of domestic service!
Ya might want to talk to Dinder.
Apparently he knows a little something about coffee.
www.ristrettoroasters.com
Ethiopian Harrar is yummmmmmmmmmmmmy !
Apparently he knows a little something about coffee.
www.ristrettoroasters.com
Ethiopian Harrar is yummmmmmmmmmmmmy !
Caught it. Excellent show. Fell asleep when they mentioned a very expensive coffee made from beans crapped out of some exotic animal. Thought I was hallucinating. Was I?
No you can get that stuff. I turned down a cup when I was in Milan, well actually SWMBO threated to divorce me if I had some....
It is a weasel, comes from Vietnam, and you can even get the stuff on amazon these days. Just search for weasel coffee through your favourite search engine:
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=weasel+coffee&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
It is a weasel, comes from Vietnam, and you can even get the stuff on amazon these days. Just search for weasel coffee through your favourite search engine:
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=weasel+coffee&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
What's next? Recycled beer? 
Does anyone use a vacuum brewer for their coffee? I'm interesting in trying one out.
Does anyone use a vacuum brewer for their coffee? I'm interesting in trying one out.
I enjoy roasting coffee on a little Fresh Roast 8 which is a hot air roaster. Its a neat little machine kind of like a hot air popcorn popper. It does a great job roasting small batches of coffee. I like to make espresso and cappucino on the weekends. Plus buying green coffee beans is cheap like DE blades vs. cartridges and the green beans keep for a long time.
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Tell me a little more about the Fresh Roast 8. How many watts? The Poppery II machine I'm using is rated at 1200 watts but seems to take way too long to complete the roast. Where did you get your roaster? Do you buy beans online?
Ya might want to talk to Dinder.
Apparently he knows a little something about coffee.
www.ristrettoroasters.com
Ethiopian Harrar is yummmmmmmmmmmmmy !
the best!What's next? Recycled beer?
Does anyone use a vacuum brewer for their coffee? I'm interesting in trying one out.
I thought about it, but they are expensive and fragile. The coffee brewed is probably very good and I'm sure it'd look good brewing on the dinner table infront of guests. <dreaming> one day... </dreaming>
Yes. Vac Pots make the best brewed coffee by far. I've got all the stuff, gadgets and what-not, but vacuum pots are the best. They are also the most inconvenient and require a lot of effort in use, cleaning, etc. I find it worth the trouble. I'm at work, but at home I'll post a link to one of the best values in a good quality modest priced vac pot.
for a lot of info and good products, check sweetmarias.
I buy green beans in bulk for roasting here.
It took me a while to learn coffee roasting with an air-popper, but I'm now spoiled --and I get cranky if I run low on fresh roast.
-- John Gehman
Sweet Marias http://www.sweetmarias.com/ is where I have purchased green beans. They have a large variety and very good descriptions and information on each bean. They also sell the Fresh Roast 8 http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.freshroast.shtml and provide some good information. When I roast beans it generally takes about 6-7 minutes for a cycle which includes a cool down. I like to let the beans 'rest' for 12-24 hours before grinding and brewing them. However, you can do that right away.
STOP.
I'm in danger of developing coffee making apparatus AD again.
I already have six creams, one soap (and another gift to be received in a few weeks...), three brushes, three moisturisers, and six types of DE blade. I do not need another AD.
I don't want a roaster nor a vac pot.
Or maybe I do.
NO. I don't. Stop it all of you. EVIL.EVIL.EVIL. I must control myself.....
I'm in danger of developing coffee making apparatus AD again.
I already have six creams, one soap (and another gift to be received in a few weeks...), three brushes, three moisturisers, and six types of DE blade. I do not need another AD.
I don't want a roaster nor a vac pot.
Or maybe I do.
NO. I don't. Stop it all of you. EVIL.EVIL.EVIL. I must control myself.....
If you like the smell of freshly ground or brewed coffee well....fresh roasted bean smell even better. I even like the smell of the smoke when the beans are roasting!
Just took a gander over at coffeegeek, and I must say that those guys appear to be every bit as nutty as we are.
I'm starting to get that trembly feeling that happens right before I dive head first into yet another ridiculous hobby.
Thanks for all the great tips!
One of the best cups of coffee I ever had was from this ancient, filthy little dive in Chinatown where they use what appears to be a very cheap stovetop vacuum brewer. Any ideas?
I'm starting to get that trembly feeling that happens right before I dive head first into yet another ridiculous hobby.
Thanks for all the great tips!
One of the best cups of coffee I ever had was from this ancient, filthy little dive in Chinatown where they use what appears to be a very cheap stovetop vacuum brewer. Any ideas?
Yep, I'm a coffeegeek member too.
Their forums aren't as mad as this place though. (That's a compliment.)
Their forums aren't as mad as this place though. (That's a compliment.)
I'm not a huge fan of coffee, but I like it, escpecially in winter. I can't drink too much at once though or it gives me headaches. Tea works better for me in that respect. But in any case, I'll stick to brewing my coffee in my relatively cheap, easy to use, and generally well regarded French Press.
Home roasting is a great way to learn about coffee, but the problems with the small air driven machines are:
6-8 min. roast= way toooo fast a roast with little to no control of the roast profile you are trying to achieve.
Small capacity= 3-4oz. per batch, and remember that coffee will lose 15-20% of its weight by way of roasting.
Loud= you need to hear, see, and have control over the coffee at critical moment of the roasting process.
All this being said, a small air roaster is a great way to get a taste of what roasting, and what drinking truly fresh coffee is all about.
Now if you want to spend say $500-700 you can get a a small drum roaster called a Hottop roaster, which will roast about 10oz. of coffee
in the 16-20 min. range. This type of roaster will give you a much better taste of what coffee roasting is all about, and give you a little more control over your roast.
Happy roasting, DJ.
6-8 min. roast= way toooo fast a roast with little to no control of the roast profile you are trying to achieve.
Small capacity= 3-4oz. per batch, and remember that coffee will lose 15-20% of its weight by way of roasting.
Loud= you need to hear, see, and have control over the coffee at critical moment of the roasting process.
All this being said, a small air roaster is a great way to get a taste of what roasting, and what drinking truly fresh coffee is all about.
Now if you want to spend say $500-700 you can get a a small drum roaster called a Hottop roaster, which will roast about 10oz. of coffee
in the 16-20 min. range. This type of roaster will give you a much better taste of what coffee roasting is all about, and give you a little more control over your roast.
Happy roasting, DJ.
Okay. Would someone do me a favor and just put a bullet in my head right now?
I can see exactly where this is leading................
I can see exactly where this is leading................
