BeerBorg

I have been roasting my own beans for about a year now I think. The past few years I have had a grind and brew coffee maker. It was nice for making coffee but it was a pain on the other end. Stripping it down to clean it every day. I wasn't looking forward to that after my surgery. Well the thing started to die. It would simply shut off in the middle of brewing coffee. So I decided to buy what I need to get the very best from my coffee beans. I took a 15% off coupon to Bed Bath and Beyond.

First thing I picked out was a burr grinder. I have read for years now that those are superior to blade grinders because they don't heat up and burn the beans. This thing is really quite amazing. It has a hopper that holds a half a pound of beans. Then I set a switch on it for the amount of cups I am going to brew and turn it on. It measures out the amount of coffee beans I need for the amount of cups I set it for and automatically grinds just that amount.

For my coffee maker I found a nice Croisenart maker that has a built in charcoal filter, permanant filter, and a thermal stainless steel carafe. With the thermal carafe there is no need for a hot plate. Now my second mug of coffee won't be sitting there cooking while I am enjoying my first one.

This morning I tried my new system out. And WOW! I must say the difference is like night and day. I don't know if it is because of that burr grinder, cleaner water due to the built in filter, or a combination of the two. But this really brought out the flavor of the beans I have been roasting. And cleanup was a snap! Rinse the carafe and rinse the filter, done.

I am really looking forward to my morning coffee

I have always wanted to try roasting my own coffee but 99% of the time I get coffee it's always on the run and I need it quick. I feel like it would be a waste to roast my own then have it preground and run it through a keurig the next morning.

Maybe now that I am going back to school I will have more time at home and can do it for studying.

Where do you get your beans from? Is there a big difference in beans or is it more about how you roast it? How long do roasted beans store?

I buy my beans here http://www.burmancoffee.com/
There is absolutely a difference in beans. Huge. There is also a difference in the way you roast them. Lighter roasts showcase the character of the bean, dark roasts give you the flavor of the roast. And there is a large spectrum of flavor differences in between. It is as much fun experimenting with different roasts and different beans as it is experimenting with different styles of beers and different hop schedules etc.

I have the SR500 home roaster. It takes 9 minutes or less to roast and cool a batch of beans. My roaster does 4oz batches. So I roast twice a week. The house smells wonderful after I do.

When I was very young, my grandmother was a secretary at a coffee company (40+ years ago). They had bags of coffee everywhere, roasting coffee, and cocoa. Smelled wonderful.

Never roasted but had one of the coffee makers u have. Now we have one of those instant in a cup makers. Really like it, but the cups are spendy. We buy in bulk when we catch them on sale.

FrozenInTime wrote:Never roasted but had one of the coffee makers u have. Now we have one of those instant in a cup makers. Really like it, but the cups are spendy. We buy in bulk when we catch them on sale.

If you are talking about the krueg or kruck, I saw a burr grinder for one of those. It fills the little cartridge so you can stock yourself. It was $49.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond.

FrozenInTime wrote:Never roasted but had one of the coffee makers u have. Now we have one of those instant in a cup makers. Really like it, but the cups are spendy. We buy in bulk when we catch them on sale.

You can buy a refillable cup that you put your own coffee in.

Gymrat wrote:

FrozenInTime wrote:Never roasted but had one of the coffee makers u have. Now we have one of those instant in a cup makers. Really like it, but the cups are spendy. We buy in bulk when we catch them on sale.

If you are talking about the krueg or kruck, I saw a burr grinder for one of those. It fills the little cartridge so you can stock yourself. It was $49.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond.

I'll have to check this out. I have a blade grinder, been happy with that and we do have the cups to put your own in. Where my wife works, they (and I don't know why) gave everyone a 10 pound bag of coffee beans the other day.

FrozenInTime wrote:Never roasted but had one of the coffee makers u have. Now we have one of those instant in a cup makers. Really like it, but the cups are spendy. We buy in bulk when we catch them on sale.

If you have an Aldi by you check out their K-cups. they run around 5 bucks there. Amazon is another good place to get them look for their sales We got a 120 cup variety pack for $30 worked out great we had a family get together a few days later. You can always go with the refillable K-cups

Hoping to get started with roasting around Christmas time.

I never even thought of coffee roasting nor really heard of it till this topic was posted and it got me thinking. Finally today I ordered some beans from MoreBeer since I was going to get beer ingredients anyway. They have some on sale, a couple of which are even half price, one being only $3 a pound. I went ahead and got 4 different types, a few pounds of the $3 and a pound or 2 of the other 3. I don't have the money for a nice electric roaster so I'll try my hand at experimenting with stove top on a small batch or 2 and see how it goes. Saving up for an electric one in the meantime, preferably the SR500 as my research has shown it's about the best for the money.

I have read about people roasting them on everything from the oven to outside on the grill. Google is full of how tos.

Gymrat wrote:I have the SR500 home roaster. It takes 9 minutes or less to roast and cool a batch of beans. My roaster does 4oz batches. So I roast twice a week. The house smells wonderful after I do.

Yep. I got one of these recently. Very happy with it. I use a burr grinder, and I’ve been using either an aeropress, french press, or vacuum brewer. I have a bit of a thing for coffee brewing equipment. They each give me a different cup of coffee from the same beans.

My favorite coffee type is Columbian, but I haven't been able to get that sweet, wine-type character in mine yet. Any tips for me? I’ve been getting my beans from http://www.sweetmarias.com

I've spent some time the last few days surfing the net for different hands-on/stove-top roasting methods and saw a few about using an electric wok, which I just so happened to find in a rarely searched cupboard today. I plan on getting a burr grinder in the next day or 2 and sometime soon a french press. I've got the traditional coffee maker and a refillable k-cup for the Keurig machine but my best tasting coffe, and therefore favorite device to use, comes from a simple over-the-mug style ceramic thing that you place a filter in, put the grounds in, and pour hot water through (not sure what it is technically called).

Its called a "pour over" and it is considered one of the best methods for a good cup of coffee. Amy the winey flavor comes from a combination of roast and bean. You need a light to medium roast. The best beans I have found for that are Kenya AA.
Maries is a great source but I like http://www.burmancoffee.com better. They have news letter specials that offer incredible deals.

I used to buy good coffee, in fact many years ago I discovered Green Mountain Coffee Roasters back when it was one little micro-roaster in Waitsfield, Vermont while driving Route 100. Used to order from them back when Doug and Jamie owned the company. However, SWMBO doesn't like strong coffee, and this was before all today's fancy coffeemakers, so it was a hassle to brew something for me and something for her. Over the years we ended up compromising on Maxwell House French Roast. And then years later when I was having acid stomach problems, the doctor asked me how much caffeine I drank a day. I told him maybe 2 cups. Well, then I counted - breakfast cups, mid-morning cups, soda at lunch, afternoon cup, ... I went from 4-6 cups of caffeine a day to 1 - and my stomach problems went away. Getting old sucks.

I still like a great cup of coffee.