Coffee Roasters...

Looking at getting into coffee roasting. Who does it, where do YOU buy your beans and what roasters are preferred?

there was an interesting episode of basic brewing radio about it, September 12, 2008 Video podcast Basic Brewing™ : Home Brewing Beer Podcast and DVD - Basic Brewing Video™
I have never done it myself but they had a very simple setup that seemed to work well and provide a good entry point for beginners.

I have been roasting for 7 years and pretty much buy all my greens from Sweet Maria's. I did try a few other places on occasion, but their quality of beans was not as good as SM. I progressed through several roasters starting with a simple popcorn roaster to the Gene Cafe that I now use.

I would say that the roasters to consider would be the Hot Top, Behmor, and Gene Cafe. They all have their pro's and con's. SM sells all three of these and they do list the pro's and con's so that you can decide what is important to you.

Once you have freshly roasted coffee from the best quality beans in the world, you will never want anything else.

I go back and forth, sometimes roasting my own, sometimes buying fresh from a local roaster. Sweet Marias is where I buy when I'm in a roasting mood.

As for equipment, I'm a big fan of the HGDB method. That's a heat gun plus a stainless steel dog bowl. Fast, controllable, and gives a better roast (IMO) than a hot-air popper.

My favorite coffee? Either Yirgacheffe or Harar, full city roast, 24 hours after roasting. It's like a little black cup of heaven.

As for equipment, I'm a big fan of the HGDB method. That's a heat gun plus a stainless steel dog bowl. Fast, controllable, and gives a better roast (IMO) than a hot-air popper.

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+1 to this! I tinkered with a hot-air popcorn popper but found it roasted FAR too fast and I couldn't get the roasting level that I wanted. They were so aggressive on the roast, I couldn't get enough time between 1st and 2nd crack. They just blended together.

For me, I want to be as hands on as possible. The fluid hot-air bed roasters that are commercially available seem pretty awesome, but are too automated for my taste. I want to be in control, dammit!


For greens, Sweet Maria's. I know there are other sources out there, but I really value Tom's cupping reviews when choosing coffee.

I'm drinking Panama Boquete Lerida Estate "Miel" now, full city. Lovely.

Pol,

Any updates? Have you tried roasting yet?

I tried the whirlypop method and that was a disaster but I could definitely tell the freshly roasted beans are infinitely more flavorful. My brother got me a FreshRoast for xmas but I haven't tried it out yet. Hopefully I can try it out in the next couple of days.

flyangler18 said:

Pol,

Any updates? Have you tried roasting yet?

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Been consumed with brewing beer this weekend... hopefully soon I will get a roaster. I am still stocked with KROGER beans

Try the heat gun and dog bowl method of roasting; chances are you already have the stuff on hand and just need the green beans.

I'm heading down into the basement to roast some right now!

Heat gun and a metal bowl???

Does the whirley pop method produce any decent results?