Coffee talk

Matt B said:
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PhilR said:
Ok, so what’s a good first purchase of beans for someone too lazy to do his own research? I already have a heat gun, a bowl, and a stick.
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That was my first order way back when I think. The upside is you get to sample some variety pretty quick. The downside is it's harder to find consistency and patterns between roasts because the beans are changing like every batch. Not insurmountable, but I might suggest something easy to roast, approachable flavor, and get enough of the same kind to reduce one of the many variables you will be trying to figure out as a new roaster. Maybe something like this https://happymugcoffee.com/products/uganda-bugisu
 
mtskibum16 said:
That was my first order way back when I think. The upside is you get to sample some variety pretty quick. The downside is it's harder to find consistency and patterns between roasts because the beans are changing like every batch. Not insurmountable, but I might suggest something easy to roast, approachable flavor, and get enough of the same kind to reduce one of the many variables you will be trying to figure out as a new roaster. Maybe something like this https://happymugcoffee.com/products/uganda-bugisu
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Valid points to consider when starting up. I'll just say that one of my favorite things about home roasting, right from the get-go, has been the seemingly infinite variety of flavors I can get from all the small batches of single origin beans I order. It doesn't bother me too much that I'll probably never be able to repeat it. I like the "exploration."
 
I’m a coffee explorer too. The sweet spot for my process is 2lbs. I try different roasts with the first pound and fine tune my experiments with the rest.

I do occasionally order 4-5 pounds of roasted beans when I get a hankering for a quality dark roast. And because I roast outside I usually take a break in the winter.
 
JudyM said:
Have y'all coffee roasters heard of Mercon Coffee Corp.? "Netherlands-based global coffee bean supplier Mercon Coffee Corp. on Dec. 7 filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to seek a sale of its assets, wind down its operations and pursue a liquidation plan, according to court filings. The debtor in court papers reported less than $11.8 million in cash on hand and $363.3 million in funded debt obligations, including $7.5 million owed to Starbucks."

Here is where I found the questionable information: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/com...1&cvid=8a1cf911d8c24f7e8bb0a9ed19924adc&ei=81
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Never heard of Mercon or any of those brands. Probably so small they didn't generate enough traffic to justify staying in business
 
Matt B said:
Valid points to consider when starting up. I'll just say that one of my favorite things about home roasting, right from the get-go, has been the seemingly infinite variety of flavors I can get from all the small batches of single origin beans I order. It doesn't bother me too much that I'll probably never be able to repeat it. I like the "exploration."
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I get that for sure. I guess my main thing would be there is a chance the first few roasts don't go super good. Having something cheap to burn through isn't a bad idea (not like the sample pack is super expensive). Plus you know what it's "supposed" to taste like so you get that feedback loop a bit quicker. I can see value in either choice and ultimately you will get to the same place eventually anyways. Hard to go wrong so pick your poison.
 
I under roasted one of my early roasts. The brew from it tasted gross. I roasted the beans some more and it turned out okay, pretty light bodied and a little boring but much better than before.
 
troutpocket said:
I’m a coffee explorer too. The sweet spot for my process is 2lbs. I try different roasts with the first pound and fine tune my experiments with the rest.

I do occasionally order 4-5 pounds of roasted beans when I get a hankering for a quality dark roast. And because I roast outside I usually take a break in the winter.
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IIRC you are roasting like 1/4 lb at a time? Or how many roasts do you get out of 1 lb? The sweet spot for my setup is 1 lb/roast, so I'm going through quite a bit to figure things out. I have to roast about 600 g/week to supply our household.

I'd like to do more experimenting though. I have pretty well settled into the groove of my roaster, but sometimes question if I have played around with the extremes of its capabilities enough.
 
Matt B said:
I under roasted one of my early roasts. The brew from it tasted gross. I roasted the beans some more and it turned out okay, pretty light bodied and a little boring but much better than before.
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I had the power go out mid roast very early on. Re-roasted later on and it came out drinkable.
 
mtskibum16 said:
IIRC you are roasting like 1/4 lb at a time? Or how many roasts do you get out of 1 lb? The sweet spot for my setup is 1 lb/roast, so I'm going through quite a bit to figure things out. I have to roast about 600 g/week to supply our household.

I'd like to do more experimenting though. I have pretty well settled into the groove of my roaster, but sometimes question if I have played around with the extremes of its capabilities enough.
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I guess there are advantages to being the only one in the house who drinks coffee :)

Yes, my roasts are 4oz.
 
troutpocket said:
I guess there are advantages to being the only one in the house who drinks coffee :)

Yes, my roasts are 4oz.
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Yes. I like roasting but there are many times where it feels like more of a chore than anything. But hard to go back to off the shelf coffee or justify the expense of specialty roasts for everything. Plenty of evenings where it's "oh $hit we're out of coffee for tomorrow" and I have to go down and roast at the end of the day. ha
 
mtskibum16 said:
Yes. I like roasting but there are many times where it feels like more of a chore than anything. But hard to go back to off the shelf coffee or justify the expense of specialty roasts for everything. Plenty of evenings where it's "oh $hit we're out of coffee for tomorrow" and I have to go down and roast at the end of the day. ha
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Still, this is far better than waking up and only then realizing you're out of coffee. Or still worse, realizing in the morning that you knew you were supposed to do something else last night but you went to bed anyway and now you know what it was you were supposed to do.
 
Matt B said:
Still, this is far better than waking up and only then realizing you're out of coffee. Or still worse, realizing in the morning that you knew you were supposed to do something else last night but you went to bed anyway and now you know what it was you were supposed to do.
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Oh that’s happened a couple times for sure!
 
New toy!
B601B490-BD50-4622-8CDB-9FDA4095D857.jpeg
After almost three years with my second red Nostalgia popper I am trying SM’s latest offering in the air popper category. The marketing copy says it works fast; 3-4 minutes for a 4oz batch to hit medium roasts and dark roast in 5 minutes. They sell a sleeve that seats in the roasting chamber and keeps the beans from launching out. My current machine takes 11-15 minutes for medium roasts. I’ll give it a shakedown this weekend.
 
troutpocket said:
New toy!
View attachment 127451
After almost three years with my second red Nostalgia popper I am trying SM’s latest offering in the air popper category. The marketing copy says it works fast; 3-4 minutes for a 4oz batch to hit medium roasts and dark roast in 5 minutes. They sell a sleeve that seats in the roasting chamber and keeps the beans from launching out. My current machine takes 11-15 minutes for medium roasts. I’ll give it a shakedown this weekend.
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This is good timing, because I just ordered one of these with my sample set. I'm looking forward to trying it out.
 
First Poppo roast report. It works!

The suggested time was low, but once I hit the first crack at ~4min, it went fast. I ended up overshooting my goal of a City+ roast for a light and fruity Kenyan and probably ended up at FC+. Total roasting time 6min 15 sec. Next time I’ll stop it at 5min 30 sec.

I love that the sleeve adapter provides enough deflection/circulation that I don’t have to hold and shake the popper throughout the roast.IMG_0524.jpeg
 
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troutpocket said:
First Poppo roast report. It works!

The suggested time was low, but once I hit the first crack at ~4min, it went fast. I ended up overshooting my goal of a City+ roast for a light and fruity Kenyan and probably ended up at FC+. Total roasting time 6min 15 sec. Next time I’ll stop it at 5min 30 sec.

I love that the sleeve adapter provides enough deflection/circulation that I don’t have to hold and shake the popper throughout the roast.View attachment 127720
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Wow, that’s fast! Yeah that’ll take some getting used to. You might have to coast into your final roasts. The FreshRoast is like that compared to my old system; I have to stop roasting and begin cooling before it gets to what I want.

Last night I knew I was going to be out of home roast in the morning but I was too tired to do anything about it. I had a third of a scoop of mine and 2/3 some stale commercial stuff. It was better than nothing, and better than the charbucks in a box that some fellow soccer parents brought to todays 9:30 game. Not that I didn’t drink it and I do appreciate them doing that.
 
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