☕ Coffee ☕: Ingredients, Roasting, Grinding, Brewing, and Tasting

[HarborTownBrewing]

@Trickydick I'd add that for storage, if you order from Sweet Marias in the future, you can get some of these options: https://www.sweetmarias.com/store/roast-coffee/roasting-supplies/bags.html I got the $5 tin, and a bunch of plastic valve bags that I can give to people and take coffee in to work. Not bad for the money.

I don't believe the chaff will harm the flavor, but I may not be correct.

I'm still trying to figure out how long to rest certain beans, but I'm finding more and more that they tend to be best after resting for 3+++ days.

 

[TrickyDick]

Hmm. Interesting. I roasted more today, different variety. I have only two varieties of green beans (Kenya & Sidamo). Both came out of the roaster very similar in appearance as best as my inexperienced eye can tell. After I cooled them off I'm left wondering where to store. I have one small CO2 venting cannister. Can I put them both in there (once cooled) with a little divider to separate them? Roasted the others yesterday. So far no oily looking beans in either batch - this takes a few days to develop? Less chaff on the second group. I roasted it about 8 minutes. I set the popcorn popper next to a sink outside with water running, and it caught the chaff very very well.
No smoke. I read someone used an extension cord to increase resistance to their air popper - I did this too and it seemed to prolong the roasting time, but as far as I can tell, not much else (this coming from a guy who has now roasted less than half a pound....).

It seems that in order to make this convenient, that I need to be able to roast 1 pound at a time, since that's about what I would drink in a week.

Still need to also figure out how to setup the perfect ratio of coffee to water to get my pot to complete extraction in 4 minutes. Do you start the timing when the first water sprinkles out of the dripper, or once the grounds are saturated? Do you stop timing after water has drained from basket or has stopped exiting the dripper?

In the meantime, think I need to order some vent-bags.

Thanks.

TD

 

[jammin]

my beans go straight from the cooling tray to the hopper on my grinder. it's not airtight but the lid is snug. works great for me

 

[jammin]

whoot! got a new toy today

Bonavita BV1800SS 8 cup coffeemaker. It's one of the few SCAA approved rigs on the market. I hadu eye on the Technivorm, but this was half the price.

Brewing my first pot in the morning

 

[Chuginator]

whoot! got a new toy today

Bonavita BV1800SS 8 cup coffeemaker. It's one of the few SCAA approved rigs on the market. I hadu eye on the Technivorm, but this was half the price.

Brewing my first pot in the morning

Good choice! I love mine lots.

 

[passedpawn]

whoot! got a new toy today

Bonavita BV1800SS 8 cup coffeemaker. It's one of the few SCAA approved rigs on the market. I hadu eye on the Technivorm, but this was half the price.

Brewing my first pot in the morning

I'm more jealous of the grinder. I see one of those in my near future.

 

[Chuginator]

Agreed, that's a cool grinder too.

 

[TrickyDick]

Can the air poppers produce a roast that has the oil flecked beans? Im not seeing any of that oily residue.

TD

 

[TallDan]

Can the air poppers produce a roast that has the oil flecked beans? Im not seeing any of that oily residue.

TD

It takes a few days to come out. The decaf beans i roasted Thursday just started getting some oily spots this morning. You also have to roast fairly dark for that to happen, I have been roasting most of my coffee lighter than that.

 

[passedpawn]

Can the air poppers produce a roast that has the oil flecked beans? Im not seeing any of that oily residue.

TD

Depends how far into the 2nd crack you go. Light roast might never get oily. A darker roast will get oily after a few days of resting. If you overdo it, the oils will be present when you cool the bean. It's that middle ground that I shoot for.

 

[jammin]

Can the air poppers produce a roast that has the oil flecked beans? Im not seeing any of that oily residue.

TD

Why would you want this? Sorry - can't help myself

Short answer, yes! Just roast into 2nd crack and you'll get oil sweat.


Don't bother buying quality beans though

 

[passedpawn]

I ran into a guy last night with a really sweet Ambex roaster that was mounted in a custom trailer. This trailer was seriously badass, with a chaff collection system, propane tanks, electricity from batteries and multiple inverters. He was roasting beans on the spot, grinding, brewing and selling right from that truck.

He said he owns a coffee plantation in Costa Rica, but I got the feeling it's some sort of cooperative where he has bought into it and gets some percentage of the beans and profit (he said 5000 pounds).

Anyway, super cool. I bought a few pounds of his green beans.

 

[TrickyDick]

Why would you want this? Sorry - can't help myself



Short answer, yes! Just roast into 2nd crack and you'll get oil sweat.





Don't bother buying quality beans though

My roasted beans look different than the ones I normally buy roasted. Mine are not oily or glossy and not as dark. I was wondering if lack of the oil was an indication I was doing something wrong. That was my only concern.

I have a hard time discerning the crack noises. I can usually hear a few of the first cracks I think. But haven't heard any second crack. I have the poppery II west bend air popper 1200watt. How long to hit the first and second crack should I expect roughly?

I'm guessing the don't bother buying quality beans though was snarky? How can you tell if you have quality green beans or not? I bought two pounds so far, one from Amazon, and the other from morebeer.com. Seems I should check out that sweet Maria's site.

My second batch of roasted beans ( Kenya )was three days old since roasting this morning, so I made a pot of coffee. 46g beans to 750g water. 4 minute extraction. Frankly, it didn't taste quite right to me. Had a dunkin donuts quality to it with a bitter aftertaste. Not what I was expecting. I wonder if there are unevenly roasted beans which escaped my attention or immature beans in there that didn't roast evenly because of their immaturity? I think they called these Quakers? I used a 1/2cup of beans into the roaster for that, which is the maximum amount of popcorn that can be popped, but popcorn kernels are smaller than coffee beans. I wonder if it was overloaded during roasting... That 1/2 cup turned out to be about 72g after roasting.

Any suggestions?

 

[passedpawn]

My roasted beans look different than the ones I normally buy roasted. Mine are not oily or glossy and not as dark. I was wondering if lack of the oil was an indication I was doing something wrong. That was my only concern.

I have a hard time discerning the crack noises. I can usually hear a few of the first cracks I think. But haven't heard any second crack. I have the poppery II west bend air popper 1200watt. How long to hit the first and second crack should I expect roughly?

I'm guessing the don't bother buying quality beans though was snarky? How can you tell if you have quality green beans or not? I bought two pounds so far, one from Amazon, and the other from morebeer.com. Seems I should check out that sweet Maria's site.

My second batch of roasted beans ( Kenya )was three days old since roasting this morning, so I made a pot of coffee. 46g beans to 750g water. 4 minute extraction. Frankly, it didn't taste quite right to me. Had a dunkin donuts quality to it with a bitter aftertaste. Not what I was expecting. I wonder if there are unevenly roasted beans which escaped my attention or immature beans in there that didn't roast evenly because of their immaturity? I think they called these Quakers? I used a 1/2cup of beans into the roaster for that, which is the maximum amount of popcorn that can be popped, but popcorn kernels are smaller than coffee beans. I wonder if it was overloaded during roasting... That 1/2 cup turned out to be about 72g after roasting.

Any suggestions?

I under-roasted a batch last week. Lots of tan beans, not many with the nice dark chocolate color. This resulted in a weak flavor, and an acidity that was annoying.

I re-roasted them a few days ago. They are fairly uniform and dark, exactly the color I like. Now I get full flavor from the coffee, and that acidity is gone.

If you get oil from the bean during or immediately after the roasting, it's overdone. That is my experience anyway. The resulting coffee will then have that over-roasted burnt flavor.

I've had beans develop a little oil after storage for a few days. I think that's normal.

 

[TrickyDick]

Thanks. Maybe I try re roasting them then to see what results I get. I don't think there is enough left to brew a whole pot, maybe just a couple of cups.

 

[passedpawn]

Thanks. Maybe I try re roasting them then to see what results I get. I don't think there is enough left to brew a whole pot, maybe just a couple of cups.

I had about 3# that I re-roasted. Made all the diff. Good luck.

 

[jammin]

@ Tricky - poppers are srs handful to run, especially for the novice roaster.

They are very noisy and roast extremely fast. When you don't have a lot of experience with roasting and the signs/sense of development - you're gonna be fighting an uphill battle.

Some folks like to add a long extension cord to their popper in hopes of slowing it down, others use a variac. You can also play with batch weight, just be sure the beans are moving adequately to promote even air flow.

Re: quality beans. Sorry to sound like a jerk - what I meant was that there are a lot of highly sought after beans. These beans are valued for their acidity, aromatics and delicate flavors in the cup. These characteristics (aka "terroir") are extremely challenging even for the best roasters to coax out in the roast; or lack there of.

By roasting dark, you are assured to wash all these flavors out.

In short; expensive, quality beans can be a rough go for the novice and in some ways a waste for those who like their coffee roasted dark. Stick to user friendly Central Americans and good Yemeni if you have the chance. These will be the most rewarding at the novice stage IMHO.

 

[TrickyDick]

Thanks.

Well I've learned a few things. For one, in brewing, I had been using too little coffee to water, and my extraction time was too long. With a bit of experimentation, I think I've found the ideal ratio and volume to brew such that my pot extracts at four minutes, but no longer. This improved the flavor immediately, even with slightly stale coffee.

I've also learned that my recurring Peet's order of two pounds every 25 days (which kept me in constant supply using the low coffee to water brewing I'd been doing) means that about half the time I'm drinking coffee that's stale!

I have adjusted my order and now I'll get one pound at a time, with 2 day shipping. With the proper brewing ratio, I should be getting one pot a day for a week before going through that one pound, possibly with some extra coffee - time will tell. Regardless, I'll be inside the fifteen day window (though I read on sweet Maria's that it's best between 4-24 hours after roasting?? I think I'll let my palate be my guide).

The shipping costs will be higher than I had been paying ($7/week = $365/ year). Enough so that I could justify buying a drum roaster. The Behmor style would pay for itself in about a year, in shipping savings, the Gene in less than two years, and the HotTop in three to four years, assuming that they are reliable enough for twice weekly half pound roasts for that period of time. Peet's pays half the shipping costs I'll mention, which turns out to in most cases to be more money than the actual coffee itself costs.

For now, I think that I will see how much I am able to appreciate the fresher coffee and brewing practice improves the taste and flavor of my coffee, and tinker with the popcorn roaster and the green beans a while longer. If I'm blown away with the fresher roast, either with the popper, or more likely what I'm buying through Peet's, I may not wait too long to buy a roaster and reap the shipping savings and green bean vs roasted bean costs. I suppose there is a learning curve as in all things- that's where you guys fit in!!

TD

 

[jammin]

A Hottop is well worth the money and will run circles around a behmor (as it should).

They are extremely well built and hottop stands behind them quite well (so does behmor).

Contact Michael at Hottop USA for a deal on a refurb

 

[Bensiff]

whoot! got a new toy today

Bonavita BV1800SS 8 cup coffeemaker. It's one of the few SCAA approved rigs on the market. I hadu eye on the Technivorm, but this was half the price.

Brewing my first pot in the morning

Ha. You may as well have broken into my house and taken that picture. Except of course job made us move so we are renting and the kitchen is no where near that nice. But same coffee equipment.

I will say this though. While the Bonavita makes a very nice cup of coffee I find that the coffee filter housing really annoys me as it has no home while not in use. At the very least they could have made it hang off the machine so it has some reasonable place to call home. The other annoyance is that when I use the carafe to fill the reservoir it dribbles all over the place. But the filter housing alone bugs me enough to want a technoverm now.

 

[TrickyDick]

A Hottop is well worth the money and will run circles around a behmor (as it should).

They are extremely well built and hottop stands behind them quite well (so does behmor).

Contact Michael at Hottop USA for a deal on a refurb

I sent an email to their generic address and received this response:

Sorry, Richard, but we do not offer refurbished roasters. Most users refurbish their own roasters and keep them going or sell them used.

- - - from Randy G.
Hottop USA Customer Service
​

Any suggestions?

TD

 

[TrickyDick]

Ha. You may as well have broken into my house and taken that picture. Except of course job made us move so we are renting and the kitchen is no where near that nice. But same coffee equipment.

I will say this though. While the Bonavita makes a very nice cup of coffee I find that the coffee filter housing really annoys me as it has no home while not in use. At the very least they could have made it hang off the machine so it has some reasonable place to call home. The other annoyance is that when I use the carafe to fill the reservoir it dribbles all over the place. But the filter housing alone bugs me enough to want a technoverm now.

I hadn't heard of the Bonavita until recently. SWMBO bought me a Technivorm several years ago, and while I like it, I find that to brew a full pot that it takes longer to finish the brew cycle and the extraction lasts over 5 minutes with an appropriate amount of coffee grounds. I only recently discovered this and now I brew a smaller volume of coffee so that it completes the cycle in 4 minutes. Not sure this is a limitation of the filter basket design common to both units or something else like the water delivery rate. Seems that the base of the plastic basket has a flow limiter which I wonder if it could be adjusted.

What is the filter basket on the Bonavita made of? China or plastic?

Not looking to replace mine as long as its still working of course, but like I said its at least 7 years old at this point.

The next year she bought me a Baratza grinder, mine is the Vario model though. Its been very reliable. Don't really know what the differences are. I don't make espresso though, only drip coffee and occasionally vac pot (but mine broke recently) or french press from time to time. I suppose I could possible adjust the grind consistency such that a full reservoir/pot of water and an appropriate amount of coffee grounds would complete the brew/extraction process in 4 minutes. Maybe slowly increase the gap size for larger particles and faster flow rates I assume?? Frankly, when I brew a full pot I only rarely finish it all, so the 1L mark would probably work just as well without waste. Occasionally will drink that first cup however.

TD

TD

TD

 

[jammin]

I'll try and dig up his personal email. In the mean time, try calling during business hours and asking for him. It's worth it, Michael is good guy and will go the distance to take care of you.


I hate how much hottops have gone up in price over the years. It's makes them a very tough pill to swallow. I've researched roasters to the end and back, and the hottop is still the best bargain around w/o question - not that it takes away any of the sting. The new ones have a very useful bean temp monitoring port which is a seriously awesome feature. I had to install one on my old one by hand - not terribly challenging, but a factory install is smooth.

Monitoring bean temp is a huge advantage and I personally couldn't live w/o it. No doubt it will advance your roast quality VERY far forward.



Not to push the budget envelope even farther, but thenQuest M3, isn't a huge step $$$ further anymore. It's what I use and it's simply fantastic. It embodies everything a boutique shop roaster has in terms of control and is built to last multiple lifetimes. It's a little trickier to master than the hottop or behmor, but gives you infinite potential to grow.


Keep the questions flowing fellas - I really enjoy chatting about roasting. We all love coffee and roasting your own is the way to go

 

[Bensiff]

I hadn't heard of the Bonavita until recently. SWMBO bought me a Technivorm several years ago, and while I like it, I find that to brew a full pot that it takes longer to finish the brew cycle and the extraction lasts over 5 minutes with an appropriate amount of coffee grounds. I only recently discovered this and now I brew a smaller volume of coffee so that it completes the cycle in 4 minutes. Not sure this is a limitation of the filter basket design common to both units or something else like the water delivery rate. Seems that the base of the plastic basket has a flow limiter which I wonder if it could be adjusted.

What is the filter basket on the Bonavita made of? China or plastic?

Not looking to replace mine as long as its still working of course, but like I said its at least 7 years old at this point.

The next year she bought me a Baratza grinder, mine is the Vario model though. Its been very reliable. Don't really know what the differences are. I don't make espresso though, only drip coffee and occasionally vac pot (but mine broke recently) or french press from time to time. I suppose I could possible adjust the grind consistency such that a full reservoir/pot of water and an appropriate amount of coffee grounds would complete the brew/extraction process in 4 minutes. Maybe slowly increase the gap size for larger particles and faster flow rates I assume?? Frankly, when I brew a full pot I only rarely finish it all, so the 1L mark would probably work just as well without waste. Occasionally will drink that first cup however.

TD

TD

TD

The Bonavita has a plastic filter basket that fits #4 filters. There is no adjustment to limit the flow nor would I want one as I would inevitably screw up and end up with coffee all over my counter. I imagine they are designed to flow at a rate equal to how fast the hot water gets sprinkled ontop of the beans while accounting for extraction time. My understanding is that the Technoverm is a tank, I wouldn't desire to replace one if I owned one and would expect at least a decade of service from it as my Capresso MT600 gave me around 7 years before it started showing signs of needing replaced.

I have the Vario as well, it is a reliable beast (and they are local for me and have awesome customer service as I got lucky and bought a refurb direct from them and they forgot a part, had it in my hands two days later no questions asked). The Vario can give you any grind from French press to Turkish, it is one of the best on the market IMO. Your wife clearly did her homework and bought you the best, that is good wifin in my book. Anyway, you want to grind the coffee to the brewing method, not use grind as a flow regulator. IIRC I have my Vario's coarse grind is set to 6 and fine grind set to 17 for my Bonavita, which would want pretty much the same grind as a Technoverm.

Don't stress about always making a full pot. I make four cup pots all the time...although I doubt I would go smaller than that with a #4 filter, the bed of grounds would be way too shallow.

 

[Bensiff]

I hate how much hottops have gone up in price over the years. It's makes them a very tough pill to swallow. I've researched roasters to the end and back, and the hottop is still the best bargain around w/o question - not that it takes away any of the sting. The new ones have a very useful bean temp monitoring port which is a seriously awesome feature. I had to install one on my old one by hand - not terribly challenging, but a factory install is smooth.

That is how I feel about Big Green Eggs, when I bought mine 10 years ago it was half the price they go for now. My Gene Cafe keeps chugging along like a champ, as long as I preheat it it has no problem topping out at 482. It has paid for itself many times over compared to buying quality roasted coffee. But, since I will never stop roasting my own coffee I know when it comes time to replace the Gene Cafe I will be dumping some serious coin into the device. Any thoughts on roasters that can manage 1 lb per roast (I'm still lazy, would rather do my weekly roasting in fewer batches)? Someone should make one and take advantage of all us homebrewers who have ventilation systems and 220 plugins .

 

[passedpawn]

Anyone used a perc? I've been making coffee with a Clever Dripper for a while, but it's only 1 cup and I drink at least 3 or 4 (or more) every day. I have a Farberware percolator.

 

[jammin]

The 1lb roaster has been the holy grail for a long time now.

Here's what people won't tell you or acknowledge - 15amps/120 volts is not enough juice to effectively roast 1lb+.

Don't buy into the hype or marketing - the leap from the 1/2 lb to the lb+ is a BIG one. At that point in time the market takes a steep curve in price.

If youre willing to find a broker and import from China, the Mini-500/yang chia 800n are both impressive options. To buy stateside - the USRC 1lb is an absolute beauty and best in class for price. My dreams however is the San Franciscan 1lb sample roaster

 

[TrickyDick]

I'll try and dig up his personal email. In the mean time, try calling during business hours and asking for him. It's worth it, Michael is good guy and will go the distance to take care of you.


I hate how much hottops have gone up in price over the years. It's makes them a very tough pill to swallow. I've researched roasters to the end and back, and the hottop is still the best bargain around w/o question - not that it takes away any of the sting. The new ones have a very useful bean temp monitoring port which is a seriously awesome feature. I had to install one on my old one by hand - not terribly challenging, but a factory install is smooth.

Monitoring bean temp is a huge advantage and I personally couldn't live w/o it. No doubt it will advance your roast quality VERY far forward.



Not to push the budget envelope even farther, but thenQuest M3, isn't a huge step $$$ further anymore. It's what I use and it's simply fantastic. It embodies everything a boutique shop roaster has in terms of control and is built to last multiple lifetimes. It's a little trickier to master than the hottop or behmor, but gives you infinite potential to grow.


Keep the questions flowing fellas - I really enjoy chatting about roasting. We all love coffee and roasting your own is the way to go

Thanks.

The M3 seems a bit overkill for a NooB home roaster. The HotTop looks like a well built machine and according to my consumption patterns, and apparently a new obsession with fresh coffee - will definitely pay for itself in a few years. I think in comparison to the competing products - Behmor and Gene - it is 2-3x the price but offers unrivaled flexibility in use. It also seems that the newest version has a swap out control panel so you can have the automated programs or the more direct manual control. The footprint doesn't seem much larger than either the B or G roasters either. Living in FL I can probably roast outside most of the year, and tough it out on the really cold days. the price is nothing to sneeze at though.

Appreciate the inside tip on getting a re-furb model. Sounds like exactly what I need!

TD

 

[Bensiff]

The 1lb roaster has been the holy grail for a long time now.

Here's what people won't tell you or acknowledge - 15amps/120 volts is not enough juice to effectively roast 1lb+.

Don't buy into the hype or marketing - the leap from the 1/2 lb to the lb+ is a BIG one. At that point in time the market takes a steep curve in price.

If youre willing to find a broker and import from China, the Mini-500/yang chia 800n are both impressive options. To buy stateside - the USRC 1lb is an absolute beauty and best in class for price. My dreams however is the San Franciscan 1lb sample roaster

I can tell that 110 maxes at a 1/2 lb. Even a small draw on the same circuit drops the temp on my roaster as it fights for amperage. However I could throw 30-50 amps at a toaster it if it had some big boy elements . That San Franciscan is nice though and twice the btu of the USRC. What are your thoughts on the best roaster that is like a mini pro roaster that one could learn to be a professional roaster on but is still affordable? Say under $2-3k? I always have people wanting to get coffee from me but don't want to drive a Gene Cafe like that. Might be an idea to learn in a mini pro machine to hook them up while learning a new craft at the same time. The home roasters are pretty fool proof which means two things to me, reliably consistent but rarely great...like the difference between extract kit brewing and all grain.

 

[Bensiff]

@jammin. My wife insists a bar towel live under the pot and grinder for some reason. Idk why and figure it's better not to ask.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1424883115.542374.jpg

 

[TallDan]

@jammin. My wife insists a bar towel live under the pot and grinder for some reason. Idk why and figure it's better not to ask.

Ha! Given the amount of ground coffee and hot water that gets spilled, then dries on my countertops, that's probably a good idea.

I could post some pics of my stuff, but I'd have to clean my countertops first. Yeah, they're messy!

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I had bought 5 lbs of Guatemala SHB Santo Dominigo from Roastmasters to play around with the Behmor on manual and try to stick to the same coffee to learn how the various changes effect flavor. For a while I was really struggling with it, because it turns out I was pulling the beans too early and they tasted pretty green. With the Guatemela I have, I found a really nice flavor by taking it as far as the first couple pops of 2C, then killing the power. Tastes great that way, and I started getting really familiar with the bean.

So I got excited last night and tried roasting a Yirgacheffe I had stored for a few months. Followed the same roast pattern as I had been with the Guatemala lately, and planned to kill power a tad before 2C. Got a very nice long 2.5 min 1C with fantastic smoke smells. But then somehow 2C really snuck up on me and I rolled into it about a minute after 1C ended - by the time I stopped the roast it was still popping while cooling; definitely took it further than a Yirga should have gone.

Moral of the story: don't get too used to a single bean and how it roasts. It still does smell fantastic, and I still think it will be good.

 

[jammin]

@jammin. My wife insists a bar towel live under the pot and grinder for some reason. Idk why and figure it's better not to ask.

View attachment 259170

Haha - mine is just happy to have a fresh pot of coffee waiting for her every morning.

Have you installed the steel burrs in your Vario yet? HUGE improvement in drip grind quality. Very easy to install yourself.


Edit:

Here they are. These are literally world class burrs that are machined by Ditting (think $1k+ Used in high end cafes)

http://www.baratza.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=8170

 

[Bensiff]

Nope, didn't know they exist. The stock burrs are holding up excellently and remain extremely consistent. I don't know if I would change over to those as they say they are for course grind...I want to keep the ability to grind for espresso too.

 

[TrickyDick]

so what's the deal with these steel burrs? They promote the ceramic burrs which come withe the grinders as lasting twice as long as steel burrs...
other than than you'll need to forgive my ignorance. Whats the big difference? My grinder is at least 5 years old. I run less than 45 seconds per day and typically 25 seconds for most of those years.

TD

 

[jammin]

as Ben pointed out, the cermanic burr's geometry and inherent qualities make them preferable for espresso duty. Baratza initially marketed the Vario as a dual purpose grinder that excels at espresso (very consistent fine grind capability).

The ceramic burrs are actually fairly dull and produce a decent "dust" when grinding in the espresso range. This is actually preferable to a certain degree when pulling shots.

It turns out that the "dull" ceramic burrs don't function that well at coarse settings, especially press pot range.

Baratza teamed up with the highly esteemed Ditting grinder manufacturer to design and machine a high end SS burr set for the Vario for drip/press enthusiasts. This was a natural fit as Baratza initially launched the Vario's with ceramic burrs made by Mahlkonig (another very elite grinder corp). Mahlkonig was absorbed into the Ditting house sometime after this... so little brother (baratza) went to daddy to get help and the new SS burr set was born.

Ditting has very sophisticated equipment for burr development and world class machining equipment for machining them.



If you do get a set, be ready to burn through 15-20 lbs of coffee before they start to break in and really shine.


PS - you can send in your ceramic burr grinder Vario and swap it out for a refurb (or new) Vario-W with factory installed SS burrs

 

[TrickyDick]

Dangerous information.

I have a digital scale. I have begun weighing the water and beans (pre grind) for my coffee. The volume marker on the reservoir is fairly accurate but not to the precision as the scale of course. Probably not a big enough difference that I would notice however.
The W unit might save some time. Is it as easy to use as the regular Vario? Instead of setting time to grind, you set mass in grams you want? Seems really slick. I assume it is accurate enough for brewing coffee purposes.
Not totally sure that I want to give up the ceramic burrs in case I want to make espresso someday and buy a machine. I gave away my old espresso machine years ago and haven't bought a replacement ... Yet.

TD

 

[jammin]

^the W is very accurate. I had the same accuracy concerns but baratza nailed it.

You have 3 different weights you can very easily program (instead of time). Just hit the one you want and grind.


Scooping or eye-balling coffee is not that accurate and I believing weighing delivers a much better cup. All the high-end cafes use this practice.

Dose is even more critical for espresso, like really critical.


Dosing by time is good, but can vary with degree of roast and density of beans. Switching from a Kenyan to an Ethiopian will probably show some noticeable variance.

Maybe throw a couple doses on the scale over the next few weekends to get an idea of the accuracy is acceptable to you

 

[TrickyDick]

I emailed Baratza about a trade up. Would certainly be more convenient and time saver to be able to grind for grams of ground coffee desired than manually weigh on scale before adding beans to hopper everyday. I would rather just swap for the W and buy a separate set of steel burrs and hang onto the ceramic in case I every get an espresso machine.

Let me know if you ever track down Michael's email at HotTop.

TD

 

[Bensiff]

I emailed Baratza about a trade up. Would certainly be more convenient and time saver to be able to grind for grams of ground coffee desired than manually weigh on scale before adding beans to hopper everyday. I would rather just swap for the W and buy a separate set of steel burrs and hang onto the ceramic in case I every get an espresso machine.

Let me know if you ever track down Michael's email at HotTop.

TD

Let me know what you hear...I got mine right when the W came out so it was untested and really expensive. But, now I would be interested in trading up depending on the cost.