As you who follow these blogs know by now, I have been experimenting with home coffee roasting using an eight dollar heat gun from Harbor Freight along with a metal bowl and a wooden salad fork to stir with (I think I forgot to mention the wooden salad fork last time). This experiment has produced som surprisingly good results for so simple a process.
I was stoked by the results from my heat gun and metal bowl roasting experiment with some Kenyan beans. So stoked that I went to my stash and found another favorite for some more fun. I scooped out 228g (1/2 of a pound) of green beans and headed out to the deck for some fun. These are above average beans - in fact they are what I would call awesome beans. I do not say this because they are a Cup of Excellence offering - I have tried a lot of these COE coffee beans from different participating countries. These earn their accolades honestly.
Read more I like the look of the Baratza Vario, and the grinds I have enjoyed from it seemed to be great. Now these were fine grinds for espresso though, not coarse grinds for press or metal filter brewing. Let me start off by saying I do not own one of these machines (never say never, right?) but I do have a bit of envy for those who do. Now, I have grinders for espresso so even though I appreciate the Vario, I am not envious of it for that application.
Read more A while back Chamie posted about a neat looking new coffee maker from Bodum. I got offered the chance to play with one of these and didn't want to pass up on that opportunity. The Bodum Bistro brewer came in the mail today - since I am off from work and it's rainy here in my part of North Carolina the timing couldn't be better. Also, my wife just received a visitor so I have been dismissed to the coffee den while she catches up with her friend Christine - it's good time for me to play with this new toy!
Read more Chamie asked "What's your favorite roaster up to?" recently. I don't know to be honest. I do know what I have been up to recently - roasting with a heat gun and a metal bowl. I saw this method being discussed for a while but never gave it much thought till a heat gun went on sale at Harbor Freight for only $8.99. I pay up to three bucks for a popcorn popper at Goodwill so adding a few bucks to that wouldn't be that bad.
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I have been paying attention to Stoha brand grinders for a while now since a model similar to the Hario Skerton was discovered for less than $20 at Marshall's and TJ Maxx before Christmas. I dug a little deeper to find the source. I figured since the burrs are ceramic, the origin is likely found in Asia somewhere. My guess is Ningbo Fukang Electric Co., Ltd. or some company similar to them makes this mill for Stoha, and probably they made the mill I picked up recently on eBay too.
One of the fun things about going to CoffeeCon 2012 over the weekend was getting to try coffee from Buzz Artisanal Coffee located in Wicker Park (home to C.M. Punk and Colt Cabana), a neat Chicago neighborhood. The shop has a clean layout with a nice display area for geek gear and comfortable and cozy surroundings for it's patrons. The Roaster, Stefan Hersch, is very passionate about coffee that tastes great and is highly skilled in creating it too.
I had a chance to play with the Bunn Trifecta MB over the weekend. The brewer's finish looks nice with a solid appearance and feel. For $499 you get a couple brew chambers (one for tea and one for coffee) and a clear cup that looks like it comes from a science lab. The brewer gives a science experiment element to brewing with the dial adjustments for time and intensity of agitation so the beaker style cup fits right in. The top dial adjusts 5 levels of agitation - both intensity, length, and frequency are changed as you move up the settings.
Read more According to the Mahogany Roasters web site the bag that showed up today is 100% Sumatra Mandheling coffee roasted with their secret Mahogany process. We think this will be the best Sumatran you ever have! A bold claim but if you are going to roast, bag, and sell coffee you should aim high. This one was roasted to what I would call a Vienna roast - not super dark but the roast definitely went into second crack and has an oily sheen to prove it.
Heads up if you are using a Tassimo capsule coffee brewer - there is a safety recall going on so you should head over to the Tassimo web site to see if your product is affect by this.
From the Boston Globe.com:
"Home-brewed coffee lovers, take note: More than a million coffee makers are being recalled after dozens of reports of the brewers spraying hot liquid, coffee grounds or tea leaves onto people.
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A lot of rumors have been swirling around in spite of NDA's about a new home brewing system coming soon from Bunn. It is almost here and for only $500 the same type of cup their multi-thousands of dollars Commercial Trifecta brewer makes can be yours too. From Bunn's blog announcing their participation at CoffeeCon 2012 we find the Bunn Trifecta Home discussed:
What are you doing Saturday, February 25th this year? I am going to CoffeeCon 2012. CoffeeCon will offer attendees many special guests, surprises and live entertainment planned for the First Consumer Coffee Event – Ever. The main focus will be that wonderful beverage we all love. And how we love it. Coffee is the World’s second biggest commodity and Specialty Coffee that’s brewed to perfection gives us even more to enjoy according to the organizer, Kevin Sinnott.
Read more This blog started as an answer to the question asked in a blog here on ROASTe. In short, the blogger asks if someone is ever satisfied with their espresso gear – is enough ever enough? Is enough ever enough? It depends on what you consider enough I suppose. He has what many would consider enough with a Gaggia Classic espresso machine and a practically step less conical burr Baratza Preciso coffee grinder . He could stop right there and be happy like many people do - if what you make tastes good to you then what else matters?
I ordered this coffee (using e-beans so thanks ROASTe) as a present for my brother. I posted about this coffee in another earlier blog back on December 15th and finally ordered it on December 25th. The beans arrived on the 29th so I expect they roasted and shipped on the 26th of December.
This is as fast as one would expect an this did give the beans a couple days to rest. I waited till after Christmas to order because I feared these pricey beans would sit aging past their prime next to Aunt Edna's fruit cake is some USPS sorting bin.
Read more I have been following a thread discussing barley espresso. The thread has devolved into some mean spirited commentary but the original poster did expand my horizons. I never had a clue this even existed as a beverage let alone a coffee alternative. After a fair amount of bickering if it even deserved to be called espresso of any kind (which never was fully resolved) most agree this is not really espresso. A beverage, yes, but not true espresso.
Read more My mother visited yesterday and wanted to go to Whole Foods since her town does not have a grocer with a similar theme. I enjoy going there so I was looking forward to the excursion too. While in the coffee isle she asked for recommendations and I explained to look for a freshness date on the bag. She picked up a bag of 365 Brazilian something (store brand for Whole Foods) and asked where the date was on the bag. I could not find one. I picked up a bag from the Counter Culture selections to show her an example.
What would a coffee lover want to open most
of all this holiday season? How about one of the most sought after coffees in the world - Kona coffee from Hawaii?
I enjoyed shots from a bag of these beans today and found
them to be very fresh tasting at ten days out from roast. The flavor is smooth
with a caramel and nut type subtlety along with a velvety mouth feel - very
balanced tasting espresso from sip to finish even after it cools.
Here is what the roaster says when describing this coffee:
I thought long and hard before posting this thread since I am aware of how fragile street credibility can be and how easily it can be lost in the highly critical world of coffee connoisseurs. I understand I may never be able to wax poetic over the rose hip acidity kissed by jasmine sprinkled graham cracker that I might find in the latest high grown honey prepped hidden region of the month if I continue with this blog. How can someone describe angel's nectar in one post and then commit heresy in the next?
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