Anybody tried roasting your own coffee?
 

I love the local coffee roaster's beans, they make Starbucks' taste like dirty oil, but I am spending $50 a month on it! I foung lots of sites on home roasting and the beans are as cheap as $2/# but the time involved may offset the savings. Any others tried this?

TIA,
-Tom

P.S. for any coffee lovers, try to find a shop that roasts their own - you won't believe the difference!

Heck, I don't even boil my own coffee! :D

I've been roasting my own coffee for about two years now, and there is no comparison to any coffee you can buy.

Freshness is the key. While I think Starbucks is okay coffee, you have no idea how long it has been since it came out of the roaster. Once you get the hang of it, you will be absolutely amazed at the quality of coffee you can roast in your own kitchen at half the cost of Starbies.

Check out Sweetmarias.com, it has plenty of info, and excellent green beans.

I typically roast twice a month for the two coffee drinkers in our house. The problem with homeroasting is that i have yet to find a reliable electric roaster that can do a half a pound at a time.
I use an old manual popcorn popper (whirley pop). Sweet marias sells these, and it does a good job, but its a little more work.

You might also check out coffeegeek.com, and alt.coffee.

any questions let me know.

thornton

I am a barista and coffee enthusiast, and I have a little to say about roasting...

Do it! Roasting is something that can be fun and rewarding. I have had a couple customers bring in some beans they roasted and we made a pot. One was superb, the others were so-so. Regardless, you can experiment and find what you like. This is one of those things I have been itching to try.

I also agree most corporate coffee joints make pretty bad espresso. I believe freshness and quality are the two points missing.

I suggest someone try Peter James. The coffee shop I worked for just switched to this micro-roaster supplier and the beans are fantastic. They even have some kick ass proprietary roasts.

I've been looking into a few models for purchase.
A Nesco coffee roaster from Sears for around $150.
A Fresh Roast +8 for roughly $80.
And a IRoast2 for roughly $189 W/4 lbs of coffee beans.

I'm leaning towards the IRoast 2 because it can be programmed for different roasting profiles where the Fresh Roast +8 just goes all out high heat as fast as it can and stays there till it's shut off.:eek:

Soon, very soon....

Danny

The grind/grinder is equally as important as the roaster, especially for espresso.

I have a Rancilio S27 plumbed in at home and a seperate commercial burr type grinder/doser.

For consistencies sake, Peets takes care of the roasting.

Having seen how they roast coffee in Costa Rica at the plantations surrounding the capitol city of San Jose, all this talk of gadgets is kind of amusing:D

I only go as far as grinding mine. I love Mayorga coffee. It's a little company over in Silver Spring, MD, and they have the best coffee I've ever had. Costco was selling it for a while, but I haven't seen it over there lately. JR Tobacco in NC sells it. The beans come out of the bag slightly oily and the freshest I've ever seen.

Around here, Costco sells the local bean: Ruta Maya. We go to Austin about once every three weeks, hit Costco and buy something like 10# of Ruta Maya dark coz SWMBO and I do like our coffee...

For grins, I would like to roast my own sometime.

Take it one step further
 

and grow your own coffee...

http://logees.com/prodinfo.asp?number=L1180-6E

http://logees.com/images/L1180-6E-Large.jpg I had four of these when I lived in NJ. Once they get about 3 feet tall they make beans like nobody's business:D

Did you grow any other plants? :cool:

then finish off with a french press and its the best

Masks the smell of other medicinal plants....

I have got to try growing my own.

They won't ship to Hawaii or Guam. A shame since I'm in that magical region where coffee will grow. And nobody grows it here, though we all guzzle it.

Can you spare a couple seeds? :D

I haven't had it in years, but Mayorga made awesome coffee when I had it last.

Pretty funny seeing a post from 03 that I commented in. I'm still roasting my own, but I have a better set up with a combination convection oven and the bottom of a popcorn popper. Google it, its a great set up that will run you about $80.

Everything I've read about the dedicated roasting machines is that they don't hold up over time, usually breaking beyond repair after 18 months.

I agree. Mayorga is pretty darn good. I have purchased from it here:

http://www.jrcigars.com/index.cfm?page=coffee_mayorga

Danny

How much beans and what's the investment? You know, in grow lights and stuff?

I just treated them like any other houseplant during the winter, sunny location and watered every other day, and put them outside in semi shade during the summer (that is when they really grow) They are pretty easy to grow. I am thinking of getting another few plants as I left mine behind when I moved a few years ago.

They can produce a lot of beans per plant (about 2 pounds). I had enough to last me the year drinking one to two pots a day. They produce beans throughout the year if the conditions are right. They are also a great looking houseplant with shiny dark green leaves and white flowers.

Use lots of fertilizer and water.

I grew tobacco (not wacky tobbacky) a few times. It was pretty easy to grow, you just have to start it indoors in Feb. and then transfer to the ground in April after the last frost. I also built a rig to dry it using a house hold oil heater and humidifier. I was going to make my own cigars! Making the stogey is the hardest part. (I needed to recruit some virgins to roll the cigars on their thighs):D

Tried bananas indoors but they plants died:(

Logees is a great place for strange plants.
http://www.logees.com/

Here is where you can get baccy
http://www.organicaseedco.com/tobaccoseeds.html

I planted the Havana #608, Orinoco, and Walker's broadleaf seeds.
They worked well at the Jersey shore

Here is the rig I copied
http://www.coffinails.com/curing_tobacco.html

It is fun growing your own. Plus if you get the burley and Virgina gold varieties you can make your own cigarettes.