Coffee Roasting

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 5:03 pm

I was going to post this on your blog, but it keeps insisting I'm typing the wrong auth code:

Cool! I've been roasting my own coffee for about 5 years at this point, and I completely agree. I started roasting coffee because store bought coffee is generally bunt, crappy, and expensive. I just tossed out my aging alpenrost, replacing it with an iRoast2. The iRoast is a great roaster, but good god is it loud. Funny you posted this, because I was about to post my own blog entry about home roasting. I buy my beans (primarily) from sweet maria's (http://www.sweetmarias.com) here in the states, but occasionally buy stuff elsewhere.

What kind of roaster do you have, or are you doing it "the old fashioned way?"

edit: changed thread title.

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 6:23 pm

Hey, Snarkout. Hmmm... I don't know what could be up with the blog. Sorry about that.

Anyway, that's cool!

I never knew how good coffee could taste, until we decided to try home roasting our beans. Just finished two more batches today for use over the next few days.

I bought a Zach and Dani's home roaster and am quite pleased with it. Although I'm told it's one of the slower roasters, I think probably makes it a little more forgiving for my entry level skills at roasting.

I buy from a supplier in Toronto called The Green Beanery. They're a non-profit organization that support the Fair Trade market. They also have some pretty good prices, from what I've been able to find.

What my wife and I like about home roasting is the control over how your coffee tastes, by controlling the roasting process. Regular store/coffee house bought coffee will never taste the same. Blech!

Favorite bean/roast so far: a light roasted (first crack) Papua New Guinea Plantation "A"

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 6:33 pm

I should also say, thanks for posting about this topic. I really enjoy learning about coffee. Great to know that someone else on the forums is a home roaster, too!

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:22 pm

Roasted some Burundi "A" beans yesterday and was able to give them a try this morning.

Very nice. Not quite as acidic and seemed a little sweeter.

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 2:31 pm

Judland wrote: I bought a Zach and Dani's home roaster and am quite pleased with it. Although I'm told it's one of the slower roasters, I think probably makes it a little more forgiving for my entry level skills at roasting.

I've never used one, but a lot of people swear by the Z&D - longer roast times aren't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you like more "base" notes in your coffee. The alpenrost was fairly slow too, but I really liked it until it started to fall apart.

I buy from a supplier in Toronto called The Green Beanery. They're a non-profit organization that support the Fair Trade market. They also have some pretty good prices, from what I've been able to find.

That's cool - I'm a lot more interested in Fair Trade than I am in organic -- I try to but Fair Trade when I can. I think that "organic" has become horribly perverted. The truth is that most coffee farms *are* organic, but they don't have the money to get "organic certified." This means that HUGE conglomerates like ConAgra can buy their way into selling more expensive coffee while small off-the-map coffee farms who have never been able to *afford* pesticide can not. More to the point, even if the coffee is organic, there's nothing to say that the farmer is being paid even a fraction of what his crop is worth. I'm completely in favor of organic farming, but think that the certification process is totally broken.

What my wife and I like about home roasting is the control over how your coffee tastes, by controlling the roasting process. Regular store/coffee house bought coffee will never taste the same. Blech!

Favorite bean/roast so far: a light roasted (first crack) Papua New Guinea Plantation "A"

Yeah - that was a big part of why I started, too, but the savings is amazing as well. I pay a fraction of what I used to for coffee. It's also cool to discover that "light roast" doesn't mean it has to taste like Folger's. I take most of my coffee into the beginning of second crack, though I'm having a much harder time controlling the iRoast since it's so loud and it's fan is so strong. I'm drinking a slightly over-roasted cup of Harrar Horse right now - it's not burnt, but it's dark enough that it's lost some of its funk.

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:33 pm

Yes, I was surprised at how relatively quiet the Zach and Dani's roaster was. Not enough to scare the dog, so that's good

Being smoke-less is a definite plus, too.

I have read about people roasting coffee with their hot-air popcorn popper, but I don't think that would work well for me just yet.

I have to say that the whole idea of Fair Trade is a good one... especially for a Linux user.

Kind of fits the mentality, don't you think?

Judah · Post by **Judah** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:11 pm

Ahh, yes. I used to work in a small little village and this cafe had a huge coffee roaster and
would roast the beans right there. This guy imported coffee beans from all over. If I
remember correctly, the lighter/green beans had more caffeine in them. Some of my favorite
beans were from Ethiopia, Guatamala, Brazil, etc. You could smell him roastin' beans
throughout the village! It was like the pied piper with his flute, beckoning you to come hither!:lol:
Sadly, he had to close shop several years ago. My coffee experience has not been
the same since..

A french press *is* mandatory though!

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:20 pm

Judah wrote:A french press *is* mandatory though!

We've been making coffee this way for over a year now. Threw away our drip coffee maker not long after trying the French press way. The best way to make coffee!

You've got to get yourself a roaster, Judah.

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 1:03 am

I still generally do drip except on occasion.