Coffee questions

[spork]

I once went to a book signing event, and there was a fragrant table serving coffee. One person was grinding and pressing individual cups. The other person was hand-cranking a small bingo cage, filled with beans, attached to a small propane burner (cans are readily available at camping equipment stores). A home coffee bean roaster! I had never seen anything like it before.

My local Safeway grocery store has a fresh roast station, so I often simply ask the barrista, not for a particular bean, but "which bin is still hot?" and buy a pound to try. Along with a tub of Folgers, the darker the better.

Does anyone have experience roasting their own beans?

 

[Bigjim68]

I've experimented with roasting beans. The most critical element is temperature control. Beans can be roasted in a cast iron dutch oven, but the temperature is difficult to control. Sweet Maria web site has home roasters, and a very good selection of green beans. Sweet Maria is an interesting site for a coffee lover. Also sell some of the rarer and best coffees roasted.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

There is nothing quite perc'd coffee made with spring water from a well. We used to have the every weekend in the summers up at the lake.. back when I was young. Ah... memories....

I found a replacement Pyrex coffee pot for on top of the stove...I love it and use it on lazy days.

 

[Robo410]

love New Guinea Pea Berry ... 1/8 cup is a standard coffee measure, and I think 6 oz water is the standard coffee cup. But I know lots of folks like it much gentler than that.

 

[x7anooonah]

There are so many coffees so its hard to say. I actually live in The Middle East. I like Arabic/Turkish coffee but it is strong. I do not drink it all the time. I drink it for a pick me up though when needed, your not supposed to drink the muddy part at the bottom though.

Where I live the coffee is different. It is made with ground green beans (not roasted) with water and cardamom, its nice. They also make a coffee here in the south with the muddy part and it has a thick texture and distinct taste.

 

[mollyanne]

Mollyanne.......I'm heading out to TJmax. Thanks for the tip!!
Kona coffee is only surpassed by "Blue Mountain Jamaican." in my opinion.

As Scooby-doo would say, "Ruh-Ro".
I messed up. I acted like The Grand Poo-bah of Coffee here and posted that the best coffee is ground Hawaiian Kona purchased at TJ Maxx and that they also had ground Blue Mountain Jamaican. Well, the other day I was in TJMaxx and purchased the ground Blue Mt Jamaican, brought it home, opened it, noticed my daughter's bag of Whole Food's 365 on the counter that she ground herself, opened her's to compare aroma, and Holy Coffeebeans, Batman!...365 won hands down! My daughter says it's because she grinds it herself on the spot in the store but, but, but,...i wanted to argue with her and say that the expiration date is good for a year on the one I got at TJMaxx...but the difference was just wayyy too huge to even bother to argue!

So now I'm backpeddling here and saying that "Whole Food's 365" brand that you grind yourself is the best coffee....and it's organic.


But I humbly admit, I'm still not The Grand Poo-bah of Coffee

.

 

[megamark]

good coffee is so difficult to find because everyone mass produces it now. about 2 years ago i found a roaster close by and have been a loyal customer since.
i do believe that there is a large advantage in fresh stuff. keep whole beans in an air tight container in the pantry and grind just before brewing. also the way it is roasted is important, barrel roasters seem to be the best. i believe most whole foods do an air roast, which can crisp a bean too fast. dont forget to make it in a french press too.

 

[Robo410]

I've gotten to like New Guinea whole bean (pea berry) and when Cosco or Trader Joes has it, I'm happy. Otherwise I like Columbian (Cosco). I have a friend who keeps me stocked from time to time with his own roasted coffee, usually very good.

 

[Bigjim68]

good coffee is so difficult to find because everyone mass produces it now. about 2 years ago i found a roaster close by and have been a loyal customer since.
i do believe that there is a large advantage in fresh stuff. keep whole beans in an air tight container in the pantry and grind just before brewing. also the way it is roasted is important, barrel roasters seem to be the best. i believe most whole foods do an air roast, which can crisp a bean too fast. dont forget to make it in a french press too.

I don't believe that good coffee is hard to find. Good coffee is not cheap. Good quality Blue Mountain will cost over $30/pound. Kona $15 +. Anything else is probably a blend. That may not be bad, but it will not be Kona or Blue Mountain. Most medium to large cities have retail roasters, if not, there is the internet. IMO, grinding immediately prior to using, and using a french press or something similar is your best bet. My current favorites are coffees grown around Boquete, Panama. Janson Family, Finca Lareda, and Esmerelda are my favorites, but they are almost impossible to find. For my taste, Costco Columbia Supremo is among the best lower cost coffees.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

We have a couple of roasters here and they make excellent coffee. I get it locally and grind it in-store. I can't seem to get the right grind when I do it at home, so I turned my coffee grinder into a spice grinder.

 

[Bigjim68]

We have a couple of roasters here and they make excellent coffee. I get it locally and grind it in-store. I can't seem to get the right grind when I do it at home, so I turned my coffee grinder into a spice grinder.

If you get a burr grinder, I think you will have better luck. I use Cuisinart. They can often be found on sale for around $30. One button operation.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

If you get a burr grinder, I think you will have better luck. I use Cuisinart. They can often be found on sale for around $30. One button operation.

Thanks, I'll take a look. I do love fresh ground, consequently I don't get any but every two weeks, as I only get enough to last one day.

 

[mollyanne]

I'm becoming a believer now in buying the beans and grinding fresh so I'm going to check out this Cuisinart too. It smells so amazing in the store when you smell coffee beans being ground...i can only imagine the ecstasy of the aroma at home...talk about aromatherapy

Which reminds me...you know you can put coffee in chocolate and it enhances the flavor of the chocolate tremedously...just thought I'd mention that...

.

 

[CharlieD]

I prefer Cuban or Brazilian coffee.

But then if you spend say half a year somewhere in Italy and do what Romans do, that is start morning with a tiny-tiny cup of black coffee, I suppose it is called expresso, when you come back home, I pretty much gurantee you are not going to go to Starbucks ot Duns Brothers for that matter. What most Americans drink is just a brown water and not really a coffee.

 

[Wyogal]

My daughter spent the winter working at a coffee farm in Hawaii... mmmmmmm....kona..... french press....

 

[Bigjim68]

I'm becoming a believer now in buying the beans and grinding fresh so I'm going to check out this Cuisinart too. It smells so amazing in the store when you smell coffee beans being ground...i can only imagine the ecstasy of the aroma at home...talk about aromatherapy

Which reminds me...you know you can put coffee in chocolate and it enhances the flavor of the chocolate tremedously...just thought I'd mention that...

.

The last Cuisinart I bought was at Costco. $30. It replaced another Costco that had been used daily for several years. BB&B, Target, etc, have them, and I always have a 20% off coupon, I think the typical price is around $50. Only complaint I have heard is they
are noisy. For a number of reasons, I prefer a burr grinder for a variety or reasons. Ease of operation, eveness of grind, does not heat up beans when grinding.

 

[roadfix]

As far as coffee, I'm easy to please. I'm fine with instant. Black.

 

[Rachel Keeth]

As Scooby-doo would say, "Ruh-Ro".
I messed up. I acted like The Grand Poo-bah of Coffee here and posted that the best coffee is ground Hawaiian Kona purchased at TJ Maxx and that they also had ground Blue Mountain Jamaican. Well, the other day I was in TJMaxx and purchased the ground Blue Mt Jamaican, brought it home, opened it, noticed my daughter's bag of Whole Food's 365 on the counter that she ground herself, opened her's to compare aroma, and Holy Coffeebeans, Batman!...365 won hands down! My daughter says it's because she grinds it herself on the spot in the store but, but, but,...i wanted to argue with her and say that the expiration date is good for a year on the one I got at TJMaxx...but the difference was just wayyy too huge to even bother to argue!

So now I'm backpeddling here and saying that "Whole Food's 365" brand that you grind yourself is the best coffee....and it's organic.


But I humbly admit, I'm still not The Grand Poo-bah of Coffee

.

I don't like coffee yet (I am trying to like it) but I know a lot about it since my brother-in-law has done tons of experiments with coffee and buys whole coffee beans on-line so they will be fresh. He said that the Kona coffee is some of the best but the reason the other coffee was much better was because it was freshly ground. If you want the Kona to be as good as it could be you would buy green beans (that means it is not roasted) and then you would roast them right before you used them then you would grind them. But if you can't get a roaster for them you would still want to grind them yourself. You can get a coffee grinder at Wal-Mart for $15.

Oh and let me know if anybody would like to know how my sister and
brother-in-law makes his coffee, he has got it down to a science since he is an engineer. He really dose know a lot about it, he knows the perfect temperature to boil to water to, what temperature to drink to coffee at so it won't be bitter, what coffee to use, and all about it!

 

[GB]

As far as roasting you own, I have heard (but have no first had experience) that you get you best results if you let the roasted beans sit for a day before using them. I believe it has something to do with letting some gasses out after the roasting process. I would be curious for someone who roasts their own to do a test and see if the wait makes a difference.

 

[Rachel Keeth]

As far as roasting you own, I have heard (but have no first had experience) that you get you best results if you let the roasted beans sit for a day before using them. I believe it has something to do with letting some gasses out after the roasting process. I would be curious for someone who roasts their own to do a test and see if the wait makes a difference.

My brother-in-law (Ryan) might of already, I will ask my sister and let you know.