Coffee Catch-All

complexmath wrote:

I'm using the same method and I think even the same popper. I'm already seeing some bubbles in the butter melter thingy from heat generated by extended use, so I think poppers really just aren't built to run continuously for such long amounts of time. If this one dies and I'm still roasting I'll probably just grab a low-end coffee roaster instead.

I've been roasting for about five or six years now, and I'm still doing it in a pretty low-tech fashion -- using a heat gun, a wooden spoon, and a stainless steel dog food bowl. There's plenty of info online about it, but the basic idea is that you just dump the beans in the bowl and blast them with a heat gun, stirring constantly to ensure even roasting. The main advantage over the popper method is that you can roast much larger quantities -- roasting a pound of coffee in one go is no problem at all.

A less manual alternative is the bread machine/heat gun method, where the bread machine takes care of stirring the beans while the heat gun blasts them:

http://www.coffeecrone.com/roasting/...

I knew there was a reason pneuman's coffee tasted like dog food!

I know it's probably heresy of some sort but that blonde blend fr starbucks is available in those k-cups now.

I'll see your heresy and raise you:

I buy Boyer's "Denver Blend" in a very large bag, whole beans. It sits on my counter where I take it, 4 tablespoons at a time, and grind it. I drip brew it with a Mr. Coffee 20 oz coffee maker, and drink it black.

It takes me at least 2 months to go through a bag the size that we have. Although I do close the bag up each time, I take no other efforts.

I really like reading this thread because I like seeing people so passionate about something, but I feel like the PBR drinker in a room of microbrew hipsters. Every time you guys talk about having to buy new beans each week, and roasting them at home, I feel half guilty, half prideful.

InspectorFowler wrote:

It takes me at least 2 months to go through a bag the size that we have. Although I do close the bag up each time, I take no other efforts.

Don't feel bad. While I like fresh beans, and can tell the difference, I don't make coffee enough to go through it in a week, and I'm totally happy to grind month-old beans. My own fresh-ground is still a million times better than the coffee I can get at most places, and I enjoy it.

I love me a good filet, but every once in a while, a Taco Bell taco really hits the spot.

InspectorFowler wrote:

It takes me at least 2 months to go through a bag the size that we have. Although I do close the bag up each time, I take no other efforts.

The thing is, assuming you're not storing it some weird place where it's going to get much hotter / colder than room temperature, there really isn't much else you CAN do in terms of storage or preparation.

I don't know Boyer's, but if it's like most places, they probably don't put a "roasted on" date on the bag, meaning that you have no idea how long it was sitting on the shelf before you bought it. So in practical terms, those two months it sits on your shelf may or may not make any difference in freshness.

I know of exactly one roaster local to me (Tucson, AZ) that properly marks their coffee with the date it was roasted, and buying from them would be prohibitively expensive compared to roasting my own. For me, home roasting is at least as much about saving money (compared to buying coffee of comparable quality pre-roasted) as it is about being a hippy-dippy microbrew artisan whatever. At the same time, I fully realize that the lengths I go to are going to be prohibitively labor-intensive for most other people. Roasting up a tiny batch of premium coffee every three days or so is very much NOT convenient, and for a lot of people, there just plain isn't any convenient way to get a hold of coffee of similar quality.

TL;DR version: Don't feel bad. Just because I'm a batsh*t crazy coffee snob doesn't mean I look down on anyone who just wants to get a reasonably decent-tasting cup of joe as conveniently as possible.

Tried a little self-roasting place in Little Italy yesterday for brunch with friends after church. It wasn't bad, but it was the first time I've had locally-roasted coffee that didn't taste exciting in some way. Still at least as good as Starbucks' Fair Trade blend.

I took another step towards the deep end. I got the Hario Mini-Mill. The grind is less consistent than I would look. I'm already looking into modifications.

"Hi, could I have an extra hot skinny flat white please?"

NO YOU BLOODY WELL CAN'T! PISS OFF!

I'm beginning to think the Flat White should be taken from London until they understand how to use it properly.

Flat white?

That's racist. And misogynistic.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Flat white?

It's an Australian coffee that's become popular over here. Problem is they can't make it. Basically it's a cappucino with microfoam instead of macrofoam, so you get a very velvety texture and no foam cap.

Of course if you order it with extra hot skim milk the milk will scald, the proteins denature and the foam collapses.

I'm yet to find an English barista who's got the faintest clue how to make one. Basically they think it's all about the latte art on the top and fail to master the very tricky art of steaming the milk correctly to get the microfoam.

Maq wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

Flat white?

It's an Australian coffee that's become popular over here. Problem is they can't make it. Basically it's a cappucino with microfoam instead of macrofoam, so you get a very velvety texture and no foam cap.

Of course if you order it with extra hot skim milk the milk will scald, the proteins denature and the foam collapses.

I'm yet to find an English barista who's got the faintest clue how to make one. Basically they think it's all about the latte art on the top and fail to master the very tricky art of steaming the milk correctly to get the microfoam.

I know you can get them around here, but I haven't tried one yet - I have no basis for comparison, either

Maq wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

Flat white?

It's an Australian coffee that's become popular over here. Problem is they can't make it. Basically it's a cappucino with microfoam instead of macrofoam, so you get a very velvety texture and no foam cap.

Of course if you order it with extra hot skim milk the milk will scald, the proteins denature and the foam collapses.

I'm yet to find an English barista who's got the faintest clue how to make one. Basically they think it's all about the latte art on the top and fail to master the very tricky art of steaming the milk correctly to get the microfoam.

Have you tried Monmouth's in Seven Dials? They do a good flat white. And there's a Antipodean barista at the Fleet River Bakery off Holborn that makes a true flat white and they serve Monmouth coffee, so that's a plus, but you have to fight through LSE students and lawyers from Lincoln's Inn, so that's a negative.

Maq wrote:

Basically it's a cappucino with microfoam instead of macrofoam, so you get a very velvety texture and no foam cap.

Of course if you order it with extra hot skim milk the milk will scald, the proteins denature and the foam collapses.

{raises one eyebrow, slowly backs out of the room of crazy people}

No, just kidding.

If I weren't trying pretty hard to eat right, I would love to try all kinds of things like this.

Maq wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

Flat white?

It's an Australian coffee that's become popular over here. Problem is they can't make it. Basically it's a cappucino with microfoam instead of macrofoam, so you get a very velvety texture and no foam cap.

Of course if you order it with extra hot skim milk the milk will scald, the proteins denature and the foam collapses.

I'm yet to find an English barista who's got the faintest clue how to make one. Basically they think it's all about the latte art on the top and fail to master the very tricky art of steaming the milk correctly to get the microfoam.

Was it invented to circumvent the raised eyebrows from coffee snobs when you order a cappuccino after 11am?

Concave wrote:

Was it invented to circumvent the raised eyebrows from coffee snobs when you order a cappuccino after 11am?

That's the kind of "rule" that makes me foam (badum-tish). I'll drink whatever coffe I like when I want it.

spider_j wrote:
Concave wrote:

Was it invented to circumvent the raised eyebrows from coffee snobs when you order a cappuccino after 11am?

That's the kind of "rule" that makes me foam (badum-tish). I'll drink whatever coffe I like when I want it.

I don't often put milk in my coffee, but when I do, I don't worry about how it will effect my digestion. (Dairy and milk tend to sit better in my stomach than most things. I attribute this to my barbarian blood and intense, lifelong training.)

wordsmythe wrote:
spider_j wrote:
Concave wrote:

Was it invented to circumvent the raised eyebrows from coffee snobs when you order a cappuccino after 11am?

That's the kind of "rule" that makes me foam (badum-tish). I'll drink whatever coffe I like when I want it.

I don't often put milk in my coffee, but when I do, I don't worry about how it will effect my digestion. (Dairy and milk tend to sit better in my stomach than most things. I attribute this to my barbarian blood and intense, lifelong training.)

That would be farmer blood. Barbarian blood would require raping, pillaging, and raw meat or barely cooked meats.

boogle wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
spider_j wrote:
Concave wrote:

Was it invented to circumvent the raised eyebrows from coffee snobs when you order a cappuccino after 11am?

That's the kind of "rule" that makes me foam (badum-tish). I'll drink whatever coffe I like when I want it.

I don't often put milk in my coffee, but when I do, I don't worry about how it will effect my digestion. (Dairy and milk tend to sit better in my stomach than most things. I attribute this to my barbarian blood and intense, lifelong training.)

That would be farmer blood. Barbarian blood would require raping, pillaging, and raw meat or barely cooked meats.

Those are higher up the food pyramid, though, and much more expensive.

Also, I view more things in terms of Roman v. Barbarian than I once did. I blame the History of Rome podcasts, and probably Skyrim.

Have you listened to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, the Death Throes of the Republic episodes?

Yeah, they make things worse. The last one had me thinking that the 'stache needs to come back.

wordsmythe wrote:

Yeah, they make things worse. The last one had me thinking that the 'stache needs to come back.

I switched from shampoo to nopoo based on those episodes.

I switched from nopoo to rancid butter based on that episode.

necroyeti wrote:

I switched from nopoo to rancid butter based on that episode.

Really, it's either that or lime.

Annnnd coffee. If your only place to buy coffee is a grocery store I reccomend Gevalia. Their dark roasts are pretty tasty at least.

Swedish. Who knew?

I choose to believe that the Swedish vikings had maps as far south as Ethiopia because of the coffee. This belief girds my understanding of myself.

What, you think you're a viking?

Quintin_Stone wrote:

What, you think you're a viking?

He's at least girded like one.

We're getting some Zimbabwe coffee in on Thursday's load. I haven't heard the estate yet, but I'm excited. :p