Anyone here roast their own coffee?

[preslove]

So, I've been on a major coffee kick since getting a burr grinder and a Chemex pour over maker. I now make it daily and take a thermos to work.

So, the only local coffee roaster is expensive as hell. $10+ for half a pound and $18 for a full pound. At my old city, the local roaster is <$7 for half a pound of ethiopian yirgacheffe (my favorite varietal), which is what I'd probably drink most of the time. With the local places high prices, I can only really justify getting them once a month and then getting good supermarket beans.

So, I've been thinking about getting either an air roaster for $150: http://www.sweetmarias.com/sweetmarias/coffee-roasters/air-roasters/nesco.html

or a drum roaster for $300: http://www.sweetmarias.com/sweetmarias/coffee-roasters/drum-roasters/behmor.html

Anybody have any experience?

 

[Pray To Jesus]

Get expensive roaster, good beans, and then sell extras for $$$.

 

[quikah]

You can roast in a hot air popcorn popper if cost is an issue. My ex-boss did this routinely.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Anyone feed their own beans to a civet?

 

[Crusty]

Lucky for me, I can get local roasted beans for $12/lb. All sorts of single origins, as well as a good blend for espresso.

 

[Cuular]

Drum roaster for best flavor.

The air roasters roast the beans, but let a lot of the flavor out into the air.

They are best used as quickly as possible, after the air roast.

 

[Mixolydian]

ain't nobody got time for that

 

[Ksyder]

I roast my own beans. I just buy the espresso sampler from Sweet Maria's, 8 lbs. at a time. I started with a popcorn popper, but I went through several of them. The problem with them is that the chaff blows out of the popper and is messy, and alot of times you have to get the popper hotter than what it was meant to so they can get burned up or melted easily. Also you don't have much control over the roast and you can't do much at a time (like maybe a third of a cup or something)

There is a popper (West Bend Air Crazy) that is easily available and you can rewire it so that the thermostat is bypassed, and then the power switch can control the heat, when its plugged in the power will be on and the switch will control whether the heat is on or not. Probably the best bet for diy popcorn popper method on the cheap.

I am a manager of a hotel restaurant so I have access to a commercial stovetop with exhaust hood so I've been pan roasting coffee. Its not ideal but I make it work, and I can do a pound at a time, and then I'll put it in mason jars and throw it in the deep freeze so I can reduce the frequency of roasting sessions. I roast to city roast level.

Eventually I'll get a Hottop roaster but probably not for a couple years.

 

[Ksyder]

Also don't expect good results right away, you can't just roast some beans in a popper and then grind them up and make coffee.

Coffee need to de-gas co2, and this requires a 'rest period' of 1-2 days before the coffee is any good. The coffee will peak in flavor between 3 days and several weeks. It should be stored in an airtight container, out of direct sunlight, and ground right before brewing.

Also to address the question in the first post about which roaster to get, I think if you want to do smaller batches get the nesco, which is like a popcorn popper design meant for coffee. Also if you don't want to roast too dark it would be good. I think you could do a larger batch in the behmor and probably have more control over the roast profile, but both would do the job. I think it comes down to whether cost is an issue and how much coffee you need. The smaller your batch size, the more often you will need to roast.

 

[Miramonti]

Where to buy unroasted beans?

 

[Ksyder]

Where to buy unroasted beans?

I buy them from http://www.sweetmarias.com/index.php

 

[Cheesemoo]

I pulled up to the drive-thru of a fast-food restaurant and ordered coffee. I asked the clerk to put some ice cubes into the cup so that I could drink the cool coffee quickly. At the window, there was a delay.

Finally, a teen-aged girl came to the window looking frustrated. "I'm having a problem," she announced. "The ice keeps melting."

 

[Crusty]

I pulled up to the drive-thru of a fast-food restaurant and ordered coffee. I asked the clerk to put some ice cubes into the cup so that I could drink the cool coffee quickly. At the window, there was a delay.

Finally, a teen-aged girl came to the window looking frustrated. "I'm having a problem," she announced. "The ice keeps melting."

Sounds like she's perfect for that management promotion.

 

[Oyeve]

I just buy grounded bustelo coffee at stop and shop. I have no time for roasting the crap. Its good enough for me.

 

[ManBearPig]

deleted

 

[momeNt]

Please make sure you are following your coffee with water to cut down on the staining and to give your toothpaste less work to do when you brush that evening.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Way too much trouble. I just use this:

and this:

 

[Ksyder]

Thanks for making this thread, I was wondering the same thing. Is it expensive to roast your own coffee?

It works out to be very economical but it does take some work to get it right. I've definitely spent some money on several popcorn poppers that either didn't work, stopped working, or I ruined by taking it apart and putting it back together wrong.

It definitely should be done outdoors or in garage unless you have some sort of excellent ventilation.

Most inexpensive roasters don't roast much coffee at once either so you'll have to roast often, or have a long roasting session and freeze the coffee.

Including shipping my coffee has averaged out to about $6.50/ lb of green coffee, so after roasting it's probably a little over $7/lb accounting for loss of bean mass due to moisture and smoke, etc.

This is still much cheaper than fresh roasted coffee from the supermarket generally. I would buy it at Whole Foods before and it was $12-15, and I was making trips there for just that, so factor in probably a half gallon of gas as well.

 

[Ksyder]

Way too much trouble. I just use this:

and this:

I roast my own coffee for the same reasons people here build computers. Sure its alot easier to go to a store and buy a pc, but you lose control over your psu, motherboard, memory, etc. You take what the mfr. gives you based on cost.

It is the same with coffee. There is no incentive for the coffee producers to promote coffee freshness, they'd rather you believe freshness doesn't matter and then the coffee can sit on the shelf until someone buys it. Not only that, but many coffees are arabica/robusta blend with the robusta being cheap filler coffee where good coffee is pure arabica.

This is why there are coffee expiration dates on the bag, and not roasted on dates. Rarely will you find roast dates on coffee unless it is from a specialty coffee roaster. Most people don't care about freshness because they don't know that it matters. And in most cases, it doesn't unless you prepare it properly.

To address k-cups, I think they are fine... they don't taste too bad but they are lacking body compared the cafe americanos I drink which is espresso + hot water. Also it is an expensive way to drink coffee. However you can't beat the convenience especially in a house where different people drink different things.

But I can't knock k-cups for being expensive considering I've spent probably $2500 on several espresso machines and about 6 nice coffee grinders, including 3 Baratza Varios which are over $400 bucks each.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

If any of you want to send me a fresh batch of home roasted coffee PM me. No pregrinding required. Will recompense for your expenses.

 

[Jeraden]

I use this to roast mine:
http://www.amazon.com/FreshRoast-SR5...eywords=iroast
Pretty easy, works well, easy to adjust from light to dark roast. Easy to clean. No complaints.

That said, am totally spoiled by the convenience of Kcups and often times just end up using those and don't roast as much as I used to.

 

[FelixDeCat]

I roast my own coffee for the same reasons people here build computers. Sure its alot easier to go to a store and buy a pc, but you lose control over your psu, motherboard, memory, etc. You take what the mfr. gives you based on cost.

It is the same with coffee. There is no incentive for the coffee producers to promote coffee freshness, they'd rather you believe freshness doesn't matter and then the coffee can sit on the shelf until someone buys it. Not only that, but many coffees are arabica/robusta blend with the robusta being cheap filler coffee where good coffee is pure arabica.

This is why there are coffee expiration dates on the bag, and not roasted on dates. Rarely will you find roast dates on coffee unless it is from a specialty coffee roaster. Most people don't care about freshness because they don't know that it matters. And in most cases, it doesn't unless you prepare it properly.

To address k-cups, I think they are fine... they don't taste too bad but they are lacking body compared the cafe americanos I drink which is espresso + hot water. Also it is an expensive way to drink coffee. However you can't beat the convenience especially in a house where different people drink different things.

But I can't knock k-cups for being expensive considering I've spent probably $2500 on several espresso machines and about 6 nice coffee grinders, including 3 Baratza Varios which are over $400 bucks each.

Useful input from a coffee snob. I understand your take about doing things they way you like to for the sheer pleasure of it, no matter the trouble. But I doubt Ill every spend four figures on a good cup of coffee.

More power to you though.

 

[jaedaliu]

Useful input from a coffee snob. I understand your take about doing things they way you like to for the sheer pleasure of it, no matter the trouble. But I doubt Ill every spend four figures on a good cup of coffee.

More power to you though.

That $2500 is over many years. (I'm guessing that was over 25 years or more)

I just bought a superautomatic off of Woot. I love it. but, am now wishing I spent more money to get a real steam wand. Maybe when this thing breaks down and isn't worth repairing, I'll upgrade.

From what I can tell, green coffee beans cost about half that of roasted coffee beans. So it's a good deal if you can get consistent quality out of your roast. I just get starbucks light roast coffee because that's what my wife likes.

 

[Ksyder]

That $2500 is over many years. (I'm guessing that was over 25 years or more)

Actually it was over just a few years , trying to perfect the espresso setup... a few of the grinders I've since sold, gave one to my dad, took one to work, etc.

 

[preslove]

I use this to roast mine:
http://www.amazon.com/FreshRoast-SR5...eywords=iroast
Pretty easy, works well, easy to adjust from light to dark roast. Easy to clean. No complaints.

That said, am totally spoiled by the convenience of Kcups and often times just end up using those and don't roast as much as I used to.

How much does it roast at a time? The review on sweet mariahs said that it doesn't move the beans enough during the beginning of roasting sessions. Have you noticed this?

Also don't expect good results right away, you can't just roast some beans in a popper and then grind them up and make coffee.

Coffee need to de-gas co2, and this requires a 'rest period' of 1-2 days before the coffee is any good. The coffee will peak in flavor between 3 days and several weeks. It should be stored in an airtight container, out of direct sunlight, and ground right before brewing.

Also to address the question in the first post about which roaster to get, I think if you want to do smaller batches get the nesco, which is like a popcorn popper design meant for coffee. Also if you don't want to roast too dark it would be good. I think you could do a larger batch in the behmor and probably have more control over the roast profile, but both would do the job. I think it comes down to whether cost is an issue and how much coffee you need. The smaller your batch size, the more often you will need to roast.

Thanks for all the info. I am more into lighter roasts, a la the ethopian yirga.



re. coffee making: Heh, I believe in simplicity in creating my hot drinks. The only two methods I use are pour over with a chemex (daily) and a french press (weekends). I'm thinking about getting a stove top espresso maker, though.

I have a cafe at the first floor of my work that sells $1 refills, so if I don't have time to make my own, I'll just take the refill cup downstairs. If I were to get a single serving machine I'd go with a cheap nespresso.