Coffee talk

This morning I had to head back down to Westport after being home for a few days. When I came home last I forgot to bring my coffee stuff home with me so my French press, grinder, scale etc were left at my Westport house. No biggie, I can get by for a few days without.

So this morning I left super early, just as my wife was leaving to work. We met up at Ampm, as it was the only place open, to grab coffee. It was my first time buying gas station coffee since I started diving a bit deeper into the coffee world a few months ago.

Ampm had just upgraded their coffee station to these fancy touch screen dispensers that had three or four reservoirs of beans on top that you can select from, then once activated they seem to grind the beans and dispense your coffee.

After months of drinking fresh beans, even with a lousy grinder, this stuff was absolutely awful. Borderline undrinkable. I drank this kind of coffee my entire life with zero complaints, but after three or four months of putting some effort into making good coffee, I just about couldn't tolerate what I have drank my whole life.

Wow. What a difference. Really showed me just how big of a difference it truly makes.
 
mtskibum16 said:
I'd say 5-10 days is the window for peak flavor. Darker roasts are ok faster because the main flavors are roast flavors and they are prevalent right away. I think origin flavors need the rest time to really pop. Give it a shot. Or if you can roast a big enough batch, try some each day for like 7 days and I'll be you notice a difference. Bitterness/roast notes fade maybe? Like I said, biggest difference on light roasts in my experience.
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My current roast is a Papua New Guinea at City+. Tasting notes describe it as a very balanced cup. The morning after I roasted it, it was good but I thought a tad bitter actually. Day 2 was better and more balanced. So there ya go.
 
Nick Clayton said:
This morning I had to head back down to Westport after being home for a few days. When I came home last I forgot to bring my coffee stuff home with me so my French press, grinder, scale etc were left at my Westport house. No biggie, I can get by for a few days without.

So this morning I left super early, just as my wife was leaving to work. We met up at Ampm, as it was the only place open, to grab coffee. It was my first time buying gas station coffee since I started diving a bit deeper into the coffee world a few months ago.

Ampm had just upgraded their coffee station to these fancy touch screen dispensers that had three or four reservoirs of beans on top that you can select from, then once activated they seem to grind the beans and dispense your coffee.

After months of drinking fresh beans, even with a lousy grinder, this stuff was absolutely awful. Borderline undrinkable. I drank this kind of coffee my entire life with zero complaints, but after three or four months of putting some effort into making good coffee, I just about couldn't tolerate what I have drank my whole life.

Wow. What a difference. Really showed me just how big of a difference it truly makes.
Click to expand...
Sorry to ruin you Nick haha
 
Nick Clayton said:
This morning I had to head back down to Westport after being home for a few days. When I came home last I forgot to bring my coffee stuff home with me so my French press, grinder, scale etc were left at my Westport house. No biggie, I can get by for a few days without.

So this morning I left super early, just as my wife was leaving to work. We met up at Ampm, as it was the only place open, to grab coffee. It was my first time buying gas station coffee since I started diving a bit deeper into the coffee world a few months ago.

Ampm had just upgraded their coffee station to these fancy touch screen dispensers that had three or four reservoirs of beans on top that you can select from, then once activated they seem to grind the beans and dispense your coffee.

After months of drinking fresh beans, even with a lousy grinder, this stuff was absolutely awful. Borderline undrinkable. I drank this kind of coffee my entire life with zero complaints, but after three or four months of putting some effort into making good coffee, I just about couldn't tolerate what I have drank my whole life.

Wow. What a difference. Really showed me just how big of a difference it truly makes.
Click to expand...
Sounds about right! Sorry we ruined you!
 
mtskibum16 said:
Been thinking about it for a while, but finally bit the bullet and got a data logging system setup. This was my first roast with the new software and hardware. Pretty fun to see what’s going on.

View attachment 12817
View attachment 12818
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@SilverFly - I may have agreed with your categorizing yourself as OCD at times.......... I'd really like to have a bread machine setup without the data logger but that's beyond my ability to modify. @mtskibum16 takes it to another level! ;-)
 
Nick Clayton said:
This morning I had to head back down to Westport after being home for a few days. When I came home last I forgot to bring my coffee stuff home with me so my French press, grinder, scale etc were left at my Westport house. No biggie, I can get by for a few days without.

So this morning I left super early, just as my wife was leaving to work. We met up at Ampm, as it was the only place open, to grab coffee. It was my first time buying gas station coffee since I started diving a bit deeper into the coffee world a few months ago.

Ampm had just upgraded their coffee station to these fancy touch screen dispensers that had three or four reservoirs of beans on top that you can select from, then once activated they seem to grind the beans and dispense your coffee.

After months of drinking fresh beans, even with a lousy grinder, this stuff was absolutely awful. Borderline undrinkable. I drank this kind of coffee my entire life with zero complaints, but after three or four months of putting some effort into making good coffee, I just about couldn't tolerate what I have drank my whole life.

Wow. What a difference. Really showed me just how big of a difference it truly makes.
Click to expand...
Welcome to the dark side. Literally.
 
Nick Clayton said:
This morning I had to head back down to Westport after being home for a few days. When I came home last I forgot to bring my coffee stuff home with me so my French press, grinder, scale etc were left at my Westport house. No biggie, I can get by for a few days without.

So this morning I left super early, just as my wife was leaving to work. We met up at Ampm, as it was the only place open, to grab coffee. It was my first time buying gas station coffee since I started diving a bit deeper into the coffee world a few months ago.

Ampm had just upgraded their coffee station to these fancy touch screen dispensers that had three or four reservoirs of beans on top that you can select from, then once activated they seem to grind the beans and dispense your coffee.

After months of drinking fresh beans, even with a lousy grinder, this stuff was absolutely awful. Borderline undrinkable. I drank this kind of coffee my entire life with zero complaints, but after three or four months of putting some effort into making good coffee, I just about couldn't tolerate what I have drank my whole life.

Wow. What a difference. Really showed me just how big of a difference it truly makes.
Click to expand...
Spoiled , now, are you ? 😜
 
Ugh, got home from work at 1am, heading back in now, and I left my coffee there... (cans of nitro cold brew)
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I’m three cups into my first batch of Kona beans. My impressions are it’s a very clean, subtle, slightly earthy brew. It doesn’t linger between sips.

I’m still working on my coffee:water ratio in my Aeropress. Today I reduced the amount of water added to the cup after pressing and liked the more intense results. Next batch I will go a little darker on the roast.
 
Doesn’t look like it to me but I’ve never roasted Kona so who knows. But the rough bean surface, sharper edges, and even the amount of chaff seems like a lighter roast than that. Did you get any second cracks? The first couple snaps of second is usually the indicator of FC+ iirc. How did the second batch go?
 
mtskibum16 said:
Doesn’t look like it to me but I’ve never roasted Kona so who knows. But the rough bean surface, sharper edges, and even the amount of chaff seems like a lighter roast than that. Did you get any second cracks? The first couple snaps of second is usually the indicator of FC+ iirc. How did the second batch go?
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These Kona beans are unique. They are large and dense. My first roast went way long to get beyond City+ (17 minutes-I have reached Vienna-French roast territory with other beans going that long). I have a hypothesis that they retained more moisture when sealed up on the island than other beans I’m used to. The roast development was better on the second roast and I stopped at 15 minutes. I was aiming for FC and the results were better. I’m using an Aeropress and the key has been adding less water after the press; this coffee tastes great as a concentrated brew.

This third roast I stopped at 16 minutes and I heard one bean pop when I stopped the roast. I’m hesitant to go beyond FC+ as these beans were $$$.
 
troutpocket said:
These Kona beans are unique. They are large and dense. My first roast went way long to get beyond City+ (17 minutes-I have reached Vienna-French roast territory with other beans going that long). I have a hypothesis that they retained more moisture when sealed up on the island than other beans I’m used to. The roast development was better on the second roast and I stopped at 15 minutes. I was aiming for FC and the results were better. I’m using an Aeropress and the key has been adding less water after the press; this coffee tastes great as a concentrated brew.

This third roast I stopped at 16 minutes and I heard one bean pop when I stopped the roast. I’m hesitant to go beyond FC+ as these beans were $$$.
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I haven't tried roasting any Kona beans but certainly used to enjoy Kona beans pre-roasted. I'm going to roast this morning - two varieties:
IMG_1016.jpg

I'm out of Columbia Fina Palmichal and Gutemala Huehuetenango beans - I roast a cup Vs. weighing the beans. I no longer time my roasts with my crude bamboo paddle, stainless steel bowl and heat gun. I get pretty consistent roasts by sound and sight. Certainly good enough for us. There are fewer things that smell better in a garage than the odors from roasting coffee beans.
 
Buzzy said:
I haven't tried roasting any Kona beans but certainly used to enjoy Kona beans pre-roasted. I'm going to roast this morning - two varieties:
View attachment 13550

I'm out of Columbia Fina Palmichal and Gutemala Huehuetenango beans - I roast a cup Vs. weighing the beans. I no longer time my roasts with my crude bamboo paddle, stainless steel bowl and heat gun. I get pretty consistent roasts by sound and sight. Certainly good enough for us. There are fewer things that smell better in a garage than the odors from roasting coffee beans.
Click to expand...
Nice collection, Pat! I recently ordered my summer beans: 2 lbs each of a couple Burundi-origin sweet and floral types and a fruit-forward Ethiopian. My plan is to use them for cold brew when summer arrives.
 
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