Home Roasting

Coffee · Post by **Coffee** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:51 am

A few facts occured to me the other day:
* Brewing and roasting coffee are, in fact, cooking
* The more a product is processed prior to purchase, the more the final product will cost
* The fresher the roast, the better the cup

The above facts point toward home roasting as the most cost effective way to obtain the best cup of coffee. But before I step headlong into the next phase of my obsession/addiction, I wanted to get the opinions of other coffee drinkers out there, hence this poll. Please note that there is no "I don't like coffee" option. There's a reason for that.

missy · Post by **missy** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:30 am

I don't drink coffee - but since I worked in "food and beverage" for 18 years, can I answer anyway? I did volatile analysis on coffee, so I know what the "good" compounds are and the "bad" compounds are.

While roasting IS important to the final product, so is the way the green beans are stored. Moisture level is critical - too dry and they roast too fast or too dark, too wet and besides incomplete roasting, you'll also take the chance of getting mold on the beans.
When "commercially" roasted, the moisture level of the beans is taken into account, and the temperature and time of roasting is tweeked accordingly. And, of course, different variety of beans need different conditions, too. And different size of beans. AND the maturity of the beans.

What I'm basically saying is as long as you aren't expecting the "exact" same result every time, go for it. But realize that there is a lot of "pre-work" that also goes into roasting, and it may be beyound the scale of a home roaster to get a consistant end product.

The grinding step is also very important. If you like a "full" brew, the best bet is a burr-mill and not your usual Krups grinder. The grinder actually heats up the beans while grinding, releasing some of the important light volatiles. The burr-mill doesn't do this, so those tend to stay with the grind.

And then there's water temperature, paper vs. gold filter, drip vs. steam vs. pressure extraction.................

Coffee is actually an extremely complex thing (there's over 500 volatile compounds identified in a brew), and of course, there's also personal preference of what IS the best.

pipersgrip · Post by **pipersgrip** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:50 am

it sure is, it is so fun to hold a party at your house where people can crash if too drunk, and you can eat all day and night. i love it.

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:57 am

Cofaidh, check this section of Mike's site
http://www.raccoonbend.com/espresso/espresso_main.html

Denny

Coffee · Post by **Coffee** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:01 am

Denny thanks for that link. Quite a bit of reading on it no?

And thanks for the feedback all. Good point about the green bean moisture factor there Missy. I'll keep it in mind.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:32 am

I've had good results using pre-roasted Arabica beans, grinding them at home right before use, and using a French press.

Makes an awesomely good cup of coffee.

I've thought of trying home roasting, myself. If you try this, please post and let us know how it turned out.

--James

gonzo914 · Post by **gonzo914** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:36 am

Cafe au gonzo --

Find cup.

Rinse yesterday's coffee from cup.

Turn on tap water and let it run until it is as hot as it will get.

While tap water is running, shovel a couple of spoonfuls of whatever instant coffee was on sale into cup.

Once water is hot, fill cup.

Stir with handle of toothbrush.

If you like you coffee au lait, pour out coffee until there is room for cream.

Get milk from refrigerator. Sniff milk.

If milk is still liquid and doesn't smell like baby spit-up, add to coffee.

Bon appetit.

Stop at McDonald's en route work for second cup as a special treat.

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:07 am

I thought this was going to be a thread about chicken and beef and other Sunday-lunch type things.

djm · Post by **djm** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:49 am

No, the only one getting roasted here is Cofaidh.

djm

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:07 am

Grind at home - yes, definitely! Antique grider mounted on wall, adjustable grind, beauty and exercise.

Roast at home - too much time sensitive work and monetary intensity to make it worth it *to me*.

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:04 pm

Cofaidh wrote:Denny thanks for that link. Quite a bit of reading on it no?

Mike (Darwin) is...ah...kinda like that.
He may drift through again someday.

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:05 pm

An Armenian friend once showed me in her back yard how to roast coffee beans in an electric frying pan set on her picknick table. She said roasting the beans was the most important part of making coffee.

The only person in my family who drinks coffee with a passion is a brother-in-law who lives in Calif. When we visit him he grinds store bought pre-roasted beans.
If he ever visits us in the quaint, hick, fly over village of Chicago, I'll dig out my electric frying pan and try to act casual.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:15 pm

Coincidentally enough, I'm . . . home . . . roasting . . . right now. Have been since Thursday, with a fever of 102. After aspirin. It's down to 100 today.

But, you didn't want to hear about my misfortune. You wanted to know about coffee.

I've toyed with the notion of roasting coffee on occasion, but it just seems like it would be more trouble than it's worth, considering that I can't roast nuts without burning them. The fire department would have to be on call for coffee beans.

I also prefer my coffee to have a little added chicory, so I leave the roasting and mixing to the fine folks at the French Market Coffee Company in New Orleans. They put it in a nice can. All I have to do is open it up, dump some into a paper filter in a cone-shaped holder, pour the water through, and down into the cup it goes.

I can still stir it with a toothbrush, if necessary.

So, here's my question . . . does it make a difference one way or the other if I keep it in the freezer after opening the can?????

djm · Post by **djm** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:06 pm

Lambchop wrote:does it make a difference one way or the other if I keep it in the freezer after opening the can?????

In a can? I've never heard of jugged roast lamb.

djm

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:10 pm

djm wrote:
"Lambchop" wrote:does it make a difference one way or the other if I keep it in the freezer after opening the can?????
In a can? I've never heard of jugged roast lamb.

djm

Speaking of which, did you notice this sweet dear was saved in New York? Broke loose from some kind of meat market in the Bronx and is now safe in a sanctuary?

http://ewatch.prnewswire.com/rs/display ... |328215669

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