Try roasting your coffee just once

[Abom]

The recent thread about how we brew our coffee makes me want to get on a soap box. I've been trying to resist, but heck with it.

Try roasting your own coffee sometime just to see what real coffee is supposed to taste like. It doesn't take any fancy equipment₁, it's cheaper, and the taste difference is amazing.

Did you know that:

1. the ALL the coffee you buy in the supermarket is already stale before you bought it?
2. dark roasting coffee removes most of the things that distinguish one variety of beans from another, so it's easier for the manufacturer to use whatever they want and get the same "flavor"
3. Starbucks isn't even close to gourmet coffee or even "good" coffee. I'm not the only one that calls them "Charbucks".

There are a lot of home roasting web sites out there that have all the info you need. If you love coffee, you should check this out!

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1. but if you want to, you can spend an awful lot of money on it.

[RonB]

I have been thinking about this for a long time - you may have nudged me over the edge...

[Jerod Broussard]

Never thought about it, but kudos to those who do it. I drink so little an 8 oz. roast would definitely go stale on me.

[Huskee]

What if a person enjoys Starbucks? I hear a lot of people downgrading them saying it's burnt, over-priced, over-hyped, & so on, but I find two of their roasts (Anniversary Dark blend & Caffe Verona) to be very good. I've tried home-roasted beans and have never found it to be as good as some dark roasts I can buy. To me it's kinda like brewing beer....not worth it when I can just buy it.

[RonB]

Huskee - (just yankin' your chain... ) But a lot of people would say the same thing about ribs or pulled pork or brisket, or ....

[carolts]

Anniversary and last year's Christmas Blend were both quite good...and I do roast my own coffee. I find home roasting to be a really enjoyable hobby and the only way I do some of the more exotic coffees.

[Abom]

Huskee If you like it, that's all that matters really. YRMV. I used to like very dark roasts, and drank that kind of stuff for most of my life, but eventually came to realize that I was really mostly tasting carbon, not coffee.

In any case I was just suggesting that people try it once. You did!

[carolts]

I see you also have a GeneCafe...they're really a great home roaster!

[Abom]

Yes, I bought that at time we were "rich" Couldn't do it now. IMHO it's the cheapest you can buy and still get good results.

[carolts]

I bought mine used from somebody moving up to a bigger roaster. He also sent along a full set of spare electronics which I haven't had to use yet.

[RonB]

Huskee - To expand on my chain yankin" - I would not smoke whatever, or reverse sear a steak often if I could buy something just as good down the road at Bubba's BBQ, or wherever. If you are perfectly happy with Starbucks, that's great. Some people are not, or, like me, are always looking for something better. AND it's fun to play around with something new.

[Huskee]

Touche on home roasting coffee being like home bbq. I guess I'm happy with the "Sonny's" of coffee, lol

[Santostfm]

Yep! +1 for roasting your own coffee. I have been roasting coffee for over 10 year's commercially and i have been home roasting for about 15 years. I roast roughly 1.5 tons of coffee a week at work.

It's very similar to BBQ and heaps of fun. The coffee goes through the same chemical reactions (like the Millard reaction) and by understanding and controlling these reactions you can completely change the flavour of your coffee. By roasting light and drawing out the caramlisation phase of your roast you can bring out the flavours of the actual bean (like putting a Salt and pepper rub on your top quality brisket). Starbucks generally roast quite Dark which masks the flavours of cheap beans (like putting sauce on a low quality cut).

Anyway I'm from Australia and we don't have any Starbucks in my city so I can't really bag them out too much.

If anyone wants any tips on roasting or buying beans let me know.

[Abom]

I read a news article that said that Australia had become so into coffee that they also became more educated about it, and Starbucks lost so much money there, they withdrew from the country completely.

[carolts]

I'd love to hear what your favorite beans are and why.

[Mosca]

An alternative is to order freshly roasted coffee from https://www.sweetmarias.com. Their main business is green coffee, but they offer a roasted coffee bi-weekly subscription plan, 2lbs for $35. They roast it, package it, and ship it, and by the time it gets to you it is out-gassed and ready to use. This week's offering is Ethiopiques blend roasted espresso.

Myself, I can't drink anything but decaf any more. Yuck. But I used the Sweet Maria subscription plan for several years, and it's great.

[Abom]

interesting trivia: Decaf coffee has half the caffeine of regular coffee, but it's not actually decaff!

[mountainjim]

Back when I was into roasting my own, I used that website to buy the green beans and can recommend it. Oh, and I still duck into an occassional Starbucks...lol.

[carolts]

I get green beans from them. I've also roasted decaf beans for my dad and, while not quite the same, is much better than any other decaf I can get commercially. I even make him K-cups (foil cap is heat-sealed to the plastic cup with an iron, coffee and paper filter inside).

[Santostfm]

Yeah there are not many Starbucks left here in Oz.

If you are after a coffee subscription go with either of these two:

https://baristahustle.com/coffee-subscription/

http://micrology.com.au/product-category/subscriptions

You will be sent literally the best coffees in the world.

[Karon Adams]

HWMO tells me that his coffee is best three days after roasting and stale by 7. so he only roasts a week's worth at a time and stores it in canning jars, grinding a cup at a time. If you would like any suggestions, I'm happy to offer them. His suggestion is to play with green beans (which, BTW, can be stored nearly indefinitely before going off. they only begin to stale once roasted).

Know the origin. He tells me that regionals definitely are easily distinguished. he, personally prefers the African rather than central or South american or Hawaiian. so, try them all, then decide what you like.

MY suggestion is, start small. you may or may not like roasting your own. don't go whole hog on the biggest, bestest roaster money can buy until you know you're gonna do this. I started by buying him a small air roaster (rather like an airpop popcorn machine. actually, some people do that before investing anything) and he now has a small, countertop drum roaster which I force him to keep in the garage as this stuff is NASTY smelling (to me) when roasting. he likes it. whatever.

Also, coffeegeek.com. knowing nothing about coffee roasting (and only caring because HWMO did) this was an excellent source of info for me. reviews and starting info there, rather like this site is for BBQ.

plan on spending $6-$9/pound for green beans. this is a good price. crop success will cause variations in prices just like grapes. the same things that effect the type of wine you get good one season from a particular region and other years the crop does not so well or tastes not so great. watch the markets. hoard when you get a good year.

the equivalent to our BBQ competitions or tastings is 'cupping' in this way, everyone gets a small cup and a certain amount of coffee. each cup poured and made, right there, the grounds in the cup and you break the crust of grounds as you sip.

Different types of roast from light to dark will change the flavor more and differently than you would expect.

OK, I'm going to post this and put him on it.

[Abom]

Fresh time depends on the bean, and maybe the roast? Anyway, there's one I've bought that isn't any good until 5 days after roasting, and there's others that I can brew even 1 hour after roasting.

[Mosca]

I second the "know your region" advice. Kona has the reputation, but it is really mild. South American is what we typically drink. African and Southeast Asian are wonderfully exotic. All are beautiful, but very different!

[billg71]

I just don't have the time or energy for another pastime, guess I'm stuck with Charbucks. Over the last 25 years I've kind of gotten used to their product.

But I do like to try beans from local suppliers, they're sometimes pretty good.

[EdF]

I'm lucky - got a couple who have a small roasting shop a few blocks away in our town. They'll even tell you which are at exactly the right stage after roasting. Nice!

[Abom]

Something that I find amusing is the descriptions of the beans on the coffee seller's site, especially Sweet Maria's who I mainly buy from. The owner will talk about all these different flavours in the bean and it sounds more high faloot'n than listening to a wine taster. Personally, I can't taste all those fruit and floral notes, and that could be a good thing, because I don't have to obsess over all the different possible roasting profiles. I find something that works for me. It's still way better than anything I've had from a store or shop, and it's cheaper to boot!

[Huskee]

I don't doubt wine (or coffee) tasters' abilities far surpass my own. But when nearly any wine, cheap or pricey, says nearly the same thing it kinda degrades the whole thing to me. 'Notes of cassis and leather, ripe citrus and tabacco with subdued tannins...' yada yada yada.

[Karon Adams]

It is very like wine tasting. you really have to learn to find those notes and they ARE there. you can pick up a taster training kit that has small bottles of the individual notes as conetrated oils and learn to taste them. just as a BBQ judge learns how to judge Q

[Yno]

There are some people known as supertasters. They appear to have a genetic difference and probably more taste buds than average people. I have known a few, and sometimes (but not always) wish I were one. There is one, a Master of Wine (only 318 people in the entire world have qualified) and he could actually taste all those notes in wine. I have a good idea of what I like, and I can tell if a wine is bad, meaning it is corked or oxidized, etc., not just that I don't like it, but I am no supertaster. I have heard that coffee actually has more flavor compounds than wine. Anyway, you can learn a whole lot by tasting lots of coffees or lots of wine, but there are some of those people that really have the advantage.

PS My coffee this morning tastes like Bailey's Irish Cream. I wonder why?

[Karon Adams]

and those people who have that ability and take the time to train it so that not only do they taste the differences but can also verbalize what they are and to what degree, are the most highly prized and well paid people in all the food industry. they generally have their pick of jobs as tasters.

[Karon Adams]

the guy who does the tasting for Breyer's ice cream has a golden spoon. so no metal taste enters the ice cream

[Yno]

I could have a diamond spoon and I wouldn't be as good as those guys!

[richinlbrg]

Yno , here is a slightly different take. I bought some fresh roasted coffe and put some in bottle of sambucca. It imparts a wonderful flavor and color.

Dried the beans in the oven and saved them until I had enough, ground them and made a great pot of coffee.