Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Home Coffee Roasters
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Before You Look At Home Coffee Roasters...
I soon learned that the most important factor in achieving the espresso "god shot" is fresh coffee. Coffee roasted less than 5-7 days ago is best.
The main problem I found was that the coffee I could buy from commercial coffee roasters was very expensive. Here in Australia, it would cost anywhere from $40 to $60 per kilo. On the other hand, I noticed that green beans were as inexpensive as $10 per kilo.
So I decide to become an expert home coffee roaster! And that's how my journey began.
As I mentioned, my key motivations for home coffee roasting were:
1. To have the freshest possible coffee necessary to create the perfect pour - a "god shot" on my domestic espresso machine.
2. To save money on buying beans from a local Coffee Bean Roaster.
And because money was an issue, my first experience with Coffee Roasting Equipment was with a modified popcorn popper. A very inexpensive machine at less than $30 AUD.
You must know this BEFORE you start researching home coffee roasters:
Are you a coffee enthusiast with lots of time on your hands? If you are, then by all means, go ahead and get yourself an inexpensive popcorn popper! Or modify you BBQ! Go crazy. Learn everything you can about roasting... about temperature, roasting profiles, cooling techniques.OR do you simply want fresh coffee - without worrying how it gets to you? Most people fit into this category. And if that sounds like you, then you are definitely in for a treat! Today's home coffee roasters are superb. They're easy-to-use, fuss-free, mess-free and automatic.
So which kind of coffee-lover are you?
1. Are you a raving mad, build-your own-roaster, "learn from the burn" (i.e. burning your beans!) coffee addict?OR are you a coffee lover whose taste buds are educated enough to adore fresh roasted coffee - and despise anything less!
If you're Type 1, get building! Get burning. Get researching. You'll love it.
If you're Type 2, your new home coffee roaster could be arriving on your doorstep in just a couple of days. And I recommend buying online for the best value. You're only a few clicks away from fresh roasted aroma in your home!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Home Coffee Roasters to Make Your Life Interesting or Easy
I've created this hubpage to help you if you're looking into inexpensive home coffee roasters - or if you're just starting out on the journey of roasting your own coffee. Personally, I spent way too long in the "thinking about it" stage. When I finally made the leap into home coffee roasting, I couldn't believe how simple it was.
So how do YOU get started with Home Coffee Roasters?
Firstly, decide on your level of commitment (or insanity!)...
Are you a "hands-on" coffee enthusiast or would you rather be a totally "hands-off" coffee bean roaster?PART ONE: THE 'HANDS-ON' APPROACH
If you are a hands-on person, then I'd recommend exactly as I did. Go out and get yourself a cheap popcorn popper. There is plenty of free information and articles on the internet about how you can roast with a popcorn popper.
A popper is the ultimate in hands-on, DIY coffee roasting equipment. As such, you will need to know a fair bit about the roasting process. I suggest you do the following:
Educate yourself about the coffee roasting process.Learn about the different degrees and styles of roast - from light cinnamon to dark French.Find a good green beans supplier.Buy a cheap popcorn popper.Make a START!Popcorn Popper WARNINGS
There may be a bit of trial and error involved for you to find the perfect roast to suit you. And you should also be aware that - with popcorn poppers - the roasting process changes often. It is especially affected by the weather - temperature and humidity.There will be mess! Chaff will fly everywhere... and beans may spill.There will be smoke. The smoke smells. It starts out smelling good - but it lingers and turns stale.Moral of the story - use your popcorn popper in your garage. :-)
PART TWO: THE RELAXED, PUSH-BUTTON APPROACH
Now, if you'd like something a little more sophisticated - and can afford to spend a little money, then I'd recommend buying a dedicated, purpose-built home coffee roaster, such as the Hearthware IRoast2.
These machines are small enough for the home and flexible enough to suit everyone from the total greenhorn to the experienced roaster. It can be as simple as pressing the preset button, or as complex as programming your own roasting profiles. In that sense, these machines grow with you.
Other big advantages of purpose-built home coffee roasters over the popcorn popper:
No mess. Excellent little chaff collectors mean it's safe for you to roast indoors.The lovely fresh-roasted aroma, without the smoke... so no lingering stale smell 2 weeks later!Perfectly sized for a few days' portion.The main disadvantage of these machines then, is price. That said, when you consider how much you'll save by roasting your own beans, the machine will pay for itself. Depending on how much coffee you drink, it could pay for itself in as little as six months.
GET STARTED
So what are you waiting for? Popcorn popper, or yuppy home coffee roaster... it's all terrific fun... get started today!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
What's the difference between Fluid Bed and Drum Home Coffee Roasters?
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Bird Rock Coffee Roasters
Category: cafe, California, Rating 4, roaster, San Diego, United States
Tags: Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, coffee, coffee review, espresso, La Jolla coffee, La Marzocco GB/5, rating coffee, San Diego coffee, Yemen Coffee, Yemen Haraz
Name: Bird Rock Coffee Roasters
Location: 5627 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla CA
Roaster: Bird Rock Coffee Roasters
Rating: 4-
As I pointed out in my Caffe Calabria review, San Diego doesn’t seem to have a whole lot to offer in terms of world class cafes. Caffe Calabria is a good start but falls short of destination coffee in my book, and the other cafes I’ve reported on since fell short of Calabria. While I believe you can still find coffee roasted by Barefoot at Perks on the UC San Diego campus, Barefoot is a Bay Area roaster and La Jolla isn’t exactly in San Diego. Since then, I discovered you can find Intelligentsia coffee at The Linkery. While well worth a visit, this restaurant, not cafe, uses coffee from Intelligentsia in LA. Which brings me back to La Jolla, where I found Bird Rock Coffee Roasters.
Bird Rock is a local roaster, which has all the trappings of a top notch cafe. They own a La Marzocco GB/5, offer multiple coffees with brew to order options on a V60 pour over bar, serve only freshly roasted coffee, have several high marks from Coffee Review, and appear to be sourcing some pretty good green coffee.
When I visited over the summer (yes, I’m playing catch up here), Bird Rock’s filter coffee options consisted of a Fetco-brewed, rotating single origin coffee and a decaf as well four coffees via a V60 pourover. I opted for their naturally processed Yemen Haraz coffee on the V60, which was one of their more expensive coffees, but I wasn’t disappointed. The coffee was a fruit bomb – intense strawberry up front with a full spectrum behind it – with a red-wine acidity and super syrupy mouthfeel. My coffee grew less smooth as it cooled but was otherwise quite good, if a little overwhelming, as a naturally process coffee can be (4-). It was good enough though to inspire me to purchase a bag of this reasonably pricey coffee (which served me quite well on the road in the days immediately following).
The espresso was a little less impressive with a thinnish crema (my photo, taken several minutes after getting this espresso, is not a good portrayal of the initial crema) and slightly tart moving into sour acidity. Otherwise, though, it was a nice shot with lots of dark chocolate notes and deeper profile which nicely contrasted this shot’s brighter notes (3+). It was served it with a little cookie. A nice, but unnecessary touch since it was at least comparable if not better than any other shot I had while in the area.
Bird Rock has all the makings for an excellent cafe and seems to mostly live up to the potential. While my espresso wasn’t quite as good as I would have liked it to be, it was still good and I think my barista my have even still been training. Besides, the filter coffee was by far the best I had in the area. The worst news was simply that Bird Rock had yet to land a local wholesale account so, at least at the time, couldn’t find it closer to San Diego. Unless things have changed since last summer – which they very well may have – you may need to work in a detour to La Jolla during your next San Diego trip if you want to satisfy your jonesing for good coffee.