Coffee: we drink it or we get angry.

Discussion in 'Food and Drink' started by Jeb, Jan 16, 2016.

  1. westermac

    westermac Friend

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    Middle of last year a roaster friend of mine helped me get up and running with my first home roasting setup, which consisted of some stuff I found for next to nothing:

    -Stir Crazy popcorn popper
    -Galloping Gourmet convection oven lid
    -2in aluminum spacer ring
    -probe thermometer
    -basement (my own)

    There's a ton of information on this type of setup out there (Google SC/TO roaster), and there may be comparably cheap methods of getting more consistent results, but it was a great way for me to learn the basics of roasting coffee (temperature, time, sight, sounds, smells etc).

    It's so much fun. I'm hooked.

    I started out roasting alright coffee... Not great but far from bad, and better than 90% of of the stale beans sitting at the grocery store for who knows how long.

    Gradually through lots of experimentation and logging, I started to develop a sense for what the beans liked and didn't like... What degrees of roast brought out the best in what origin of bean... And I picked up a USB thermocouple interface to start recording roast profiles in Artisan (open source software).

    A few months ago I picked up a Behmor 1600+ on eBay, and after I got over my frustration with the sheer amount of safety features, program presets and buttons I've been able to get my best coffee yet out of it - to the point where I can confidently say that I am roasting good coffee, that I really enjoy drinking. Great coffee? Occasionally by accident. Disappointing coffee? Sometimes. But it's only going to get better.

    All this to say: if you've entertained the idea of roasting your own coffee (or even if you haven't) I strongly encourage you to give it a shot. It takes a bit of money up front, quite a bit of patience, and - depending on your standards - a whole lot of weeks of drinking subpar coffee, but the satisfaction I find going down to my basement and appearing 30-40min later with fresh coffee in hand is awesome.

    Side bonuses: stick with it long enough and you'll have paid off your roasting setup (given the lower price of green coffee, even the good stuff), saved yourself money, and be drinking coffee on par with what the best shops in town can offer. If you love coffee, have a basement, garage, attic or temperate weather, and can invest an hour every few days toward developing a new skill, do it.
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2018
  2. DigMe

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    I used to roast on an Sc/TO also (after using air poppers, freshroast and some other rando methods). I also moved to a Behmor after that. I got the best roasts of my life on the SC/TO but I was extremely obsessive standing over it cycling the temp control on and off to maintain temps exactly throughout the profile. Eventually I moved to Behmor because I wanted to be able to just let it go without as much obsessiveness. I was on the original Behmor though and I understand that the plus offers way more control.
     
  3. westermac

    westermac Friend

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    @DigMe my experience with the SC/TO was similar: having to control gradual temperature changes by toggling the heating element on/off makes for a very involved session!

    IIRC the original Behmor didn't offer much in the way of manual controls? The 1600+ gives 5 different heater settings and 2 drum speeds; so it's still not a ton of control but an improvement on the SC/TO in that regard.

    Only thing I don't have sorted out with the Behmor yet is an accurate bean temp readout; it has two sensors internally in the side wall and exhaust vent but neither give an indication of actual bean temp (though by themselves they're enough to be helpful). At some point I may drill through the sidewall and drum axel to insert a thermoprobe; not sure what else would be possible.

    Happy roasting! Picked up some natural Yirgacheffe earlier in the week that I'm looking forward to roasting today.
     
  4. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    I don't roast anymore actually. Just didn't feel like I had time anymore when my second kid came along and we had the money to buy fresh-roasted beans from good roasters anyway.
     
  5. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    Getting sick of the regular French roast coffee I've been drinking, I figured I'd give www.coffeebeandirect.com a try for some more exciting dark roasts. I ordered the

    Dark Sulawesi Kalossi @ $16.20/lb,
    Dark Kenya AA @ $16.19/lb,
    French Roast Colombian Supremo @ $13.95/lb.

    Has anyone tried them before?
     
  6. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Do any of you guys make Turkish Cafe? Or in my culture background, we just call it cafe.

    I make it at home in order to balance something sweet that I'm eating. Of course you have to add cardamom in the cafe mix to make it taste right.
     
  7. Smitty

    Smitty Too good for bad vodka - Friend

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    Never tried adding Cardamon to mine, but I usually use a lighter roast when I make Turkish. I think cardamon would complement a darker roast a bit better.
     
  8. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    I agree, cardamon would be better for a darker roast. However, I add it on any roast of cafe (not regular coffee) that I find at my local middle eastern food mart.
     
  9. gaspasser

    gaspasser Flatulence Maestro

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    Do you make yours in an Ibrik or do you make Israeli mud coffee? I use a Elite regular or Aladin coffee to make both.
     
  10. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Ibrik. Shocking that half my family isn't a fan of "mud." Like I don't mind it, but I always get Cafe Najjar from Lebanon over Elite or Aladin every day of the week. It is also convenient that I'm walking distance from a halal middle eastern shop that I can pick up cheap Ibriks (which I do give away at times) and food stuff (good luck on kosher in North Florida).
     
  11. Gruss Gott

    Gruss Gott Almost "Made"

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    I used to be way into espresso and that got me away from dark roasts altogether and now I'm solely Northern Italian roasts. I don't do espresso anymore as I just didn't have the time (it's a whole big stupid thing with me) but I still have all the gear so I use my Compak K8 on it's coarsest setting for cold brew since it's so easy to make and really creates chocolate bombs. Occasionally I'll do pour over, but cold brew is so much easier.

    Anyway, all this is getting to the fact that since I make gallons of CB at a time, I can buy my bean in 5lb bags - I still have to freeze half but I've found it actually keeps for a long time if left in the bag it comes in. I actually found a pound in our deep freeze that was two years old and believe it or not, it wasn't bad ... about 30% of normal CB but not ruined at all.

    I get my beans via mail from Red Bird and have for years - he's never gotten me a batch more than 3 days post-roast and it's almost always 2, which is fine because I wouldn't use anything < 3 anyway. He's mostly espresso, but he's got a dark roast, black bird I think ... personally I stick to ethiopian coffee due to low pesticides (they don't need them there and even if they did they're too poor to buy them), and Red Bird has never given me a batch without something awesome: chocolate, lemon cookie, floral, whatever. Highly recommended.
     
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2018
  12. Kernel Kurtz

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    I don't think there is a style of coffee I don't like. Ibrik, moka pot, aeropress, old fashioned percolator over the campfire. It all works. I do espresso and cappuccino regularly, but mostly from coffee bars not so much at home now. As @Gruss Gott says it is time consuming if you are obsessive about it. I've also been relying mainly on cold brew the last few years. I have several cold brew makers I picked up on Amazon and I just keep them rotating in the fridge. I change up the beans regularly to keep it interesting. My favorite thing lately is cold brew latte with about 1/2 CB, 1/4 chocolate milk and 1/4 coconut milk over ice. Yes, I drink them all winter long. Mmmmm
     
  13. Gruss Gott

    Gruss Gott Almost "Made"

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    Decadent! I'm normally a straight-up kinda guy, but I do admit to occasionally mixing 50/50 with oat milk, which is fantastic!
     
  14. winterfog

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    I recently home-roasted ~16 lbs of a "Holiday Mocha-Java blend" that I then divided into 8oz kraft paper bags and distributed to family, work colleagues, and friends as Christmas stocking stuffers. I'd say it was a huge success. Everybody was impressed with the effort & smell of fresh-roasted coffee, and the flavor of the blend ended up being pretty decent; or at least noticeably distinct from average store-bought beans. The blend was composed of about 1/3 Ethopian natural-process beans, mostly Harrar & Sidamo; 1/3 Sumatra; and 1/3 Aged Sumatra.

    Aged Sumatra is a main component of Starbucks' and others' "holiday blend" coffees. It sits in climate controlled warehouses for 3-5 years before it hits the market. Most of the production tends to get consumed for the aforementioned mass-market holiday blends, so it can be a little hard to find for home-roasters and smaller coffeeshops. It has a unique flavor. I sampled a few cups of it on its own, both same-day and after resting the beans a couple days after the roast, and the experience was unlike any other coffee I've tasted: A tobacco-like oily spice that coats your tongue and lingers for hours after you finish the cup. The spice actually increases in intensity as the coffee cools. The sensation is similar to the whole-mouth tingle after smoking a cigar. I highly recommend trying some aged Sumatra if you can find it.

    If you've thought about trying home roasting, I really recommend jumping in. It's really not hard to get decent results. I roast 1 pound at a time in a slapdash Heat Gun / Breadmaker (aka "Corretto") setup on my balcony that (a) probably violates my apartment's rules, and (b) will be completely impossible for most of the rest of winter. Each roast takes about 7-10 min, plus heat-up and cool-down time on either side. I don't mess around with temperature settings or try to match a profile; I just blast the heat gun and dump the beans as soon as I hear second crack starting. The results certainly aren't impressive for their subtlety or nuance, but they're consistent. You still get the distinct flavor of the bean varietal and you still get all the attendant benefits of fresh coffee, like that amazing buttery smell that coffee gives off in the first week after roasting. Of course, YMMV. I'm not as picky about my coffee as I am about sound, and I imagine there's plenty of people who would think my roasts are trash.
     
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2019
  15. Syzygy

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    My current favorite bean, 3 years running, Ethiopia Sidamo Ardi. I can only get it during the winter months at 1 coffee shop I know of in the Dallas metro.

    Fresh Sumatra is amazing.

    I'm lazy for espresso; quite awhile ago I decided I didn't want to deal with the grounds, so I use Nespresso at home and office. There's a few roasts I like.

    But for coffee, I hand grind and use a French press. I guess I'm dealing with the grounds after all, just not quite as frequently. For me, making a cup the slow way (hand grinder and press) gives me a break from the pace I've been working at for the last couple of years, and helps turn a cup into an experience.

    Someday maybe a roaster for me, but not quite yet.
     
  16. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    @winterfog I love a well done mocha java as long as It retains the fruitiness of the Ethiopian in the blend and I have roasted and blended them myself back in my heavy roasting days. One of my faves of this blend that is available from a retail roaster is counter culture's Hologram blend.

    @Syzygy I enjoy the typical Ardi too along with a number of other fruit-forward natural Ethiopians. Which DFW coffee shop are you referring to?. There are probably many great coffee shops these days but before I moved to Asia in Dallas my go-to was Ascension and in FW Avoca.

    BTW - I used to order beans from Topeka Coffee in Tulsa a lot and they often had Ardi available.
     
  17. Syzygy

    Syzygy Friend

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    Pearl Cup in Richardson used to conveniently be about 2 miles from work until I changed jobs. Now it's between home & work, so a special trip off US75. It's always rated as one of the top 3 coffee shops in the area, and often #1.

    Bonus points at lunch: Shady's Burgers right next door. Awesome El Shady burger with chorizo, fried egg, and grilled jalapeño (order with a side of pico to top it off). But now I digress.
     
  18. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    I've heard of it but never made it over there.
     
  19. loki993

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    I usually roll into work with a Tervis full of whatevers cheap at Costco, usually their brand which isn't bad, but I also do cream and sugar in it so that covers up anything bad tasting about it by design.

    for my good coffee , black, we have a few pretty good roasters locally my favorite being Chanzanno http://www.chazzanocoffee.com/ and I dont get there as much as I would like.

    The pot I use is a Bonavita BV1800..it does the job well and it made a difference between that and my old 20 dollar pot, but did not fix the main issues I was having with my good coffee.

    Here is my problem and I've had it with everything, not just this pot. My coffee always has a slight sour taste at the end and it seems to happen regardless of what I try to do to fix it. My next step is to get a grinder and mess with the grind until I can get it to go away, though when I get my coffee I do have the grind it a bit different every time to see if I can fix the issue. Usually finer because I originally thought I was over extracting and the coffee was bitter, but it's not bitter, its sour at the end...which could be under extraction?

    I also use tap water which I know is generally a no no...could that be causing the off flavor? I've tried filtered water before though, maybe not in this pot, and it didn't seem to really help with that. Its entirely possible I could have been under extracting at that point, its entirely possible Im under extracting now but aside from the sour off flavor the coffee tastes fine otherwise, so Im not sure I'm actually under extracting.

    Myu ultimate goal is to obviously get a cup that tastes as close as possible to what I can get at the shop and I to this point have struggled to achieve that.
     
  20. HAL9000

    HAL9000 Almost "Made"

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    Underextracted=Sour
    Overextracted=Bitter
    Extracted just right=Sweet

    If your brew is too sour you can increase extraction by upping temperature and/or brew time.

    As with audio, when it comes to coffee, nothing is easy... Here is a chart that explains everything:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2019

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