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

[MaxStout]

I was looking at some coffees from a Roast Master’s email.
I really enjoy roasting coffee and drinking it, but $30+/pound seems a bit steep to me.
I seem to find most people rarely splurge on such a purchase because beans a fraction of the price tend to be just as good. Any thoughts or comments on this from others? Has anyone purchased this bean before in previous years?

I've never tried that one, so unfortunately, cannot comment specifically.

With my method of roasting and my not-so-particular taste buds I hit the point of diminishing returns at around $8 or $9 a pound. I roast to make my morning pressed coffee, or *gasp!* load it into a reusable K-cup.

Same kind of story with wine. If you serve me a bottle that cost more than about $25, I won't know the difference. Pearls before swine.

I'm a cultural infidel who buys 3 Buck Chuck.

Beer and whisk(e)y, OTOH...

 

[pshankstar]

Last night I decided to make my first purchase from Royal Coffee. These are their 22 pound bags (edited originally had it listed as 11 pounds). It averages out to about $8/lbs so the price point seems in line with what I’ve bought. My plan is to really get serious about learning some nuisance of these beans and see what I can tell with different roast profiles and what not. They offer free shipping too which is nice.

Anyhow I wanted to share this and I look forward to reporting back some of my experience and notes/thoughts on it. Cheers!

 

[redrocker652002]

My coffee has been in the 7 to 9 dollar a pound range simply because I don't think my tastes are all that refined to justify such a big purchase. Plus, my roasting abilities are still very raw, so I could see my screwing up big with something like that. My wife seems to be happy with what I am doing, and she will occasionally find a bean on Coffee Bean Corral for sale prices around 5 bucks a pound. Love to hear what you think about the beans you bought.

 

[pshankstar]

My coffee has been in the 7 to 9 dollar a pound range simply because I don't think my tastes are all that refined to justify such a big purchase. Plus, my roasting abilities are still very raw, so I could see my screwing up big with something like that. My wife seems to be happy with what I am doing, and she will occasionally find a bean on Coffee Bean Corral for sale prices around 5 bucks a pound. Love to hear what you think about the beans you bought.

I agree I normally like to keep my bean cost under $10 per pound. I like that Royal Coffee shares their roasting profile so I can duplicate it with my bullet roaster, roast it my way and then compare them.
I feel like I continue to learn and no matter what I’m doing it’s always better than store bought coffee.

 

[MaxStout]

I just picked up 10 lbs. of Papua New Guinea Wahgi Valley Kunjin (washed), for $4.95/lb. from Mill City. Haven't roasted any yet, but if it turns out well, that's a bargain.

They had some Chiapas Mexico coffee that I really enjoyed, but no longer have it. It was around $5-$6/lb., IIRC. Wish I had bought more at the time. I asked their sales mgr. and he said they get it a few times a year when it's in season, so I'll keep an eye out for that.

 

[passedpawn]

9# of this arabica bean roasted last night. Drinking it now and it's wonderful. I think I nailed the roast profile perfectly on my italian LeGhetto roasting apparatus.

 

[jwill911]

I buy all my beans from Sweet Maria’s, they always have a wide selection to choose from, seldom pay more than 8.00 /lb. My go tos are Kenya, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Colombia. I roast with a Behmor, would love to move up to an Aillio Bullet to roast more consistent. But I do a pretty good job with the Behmor

 

[pshankstar]

I saw this post on Reddit today and thought I would share it here. I think it’s a bit of fear showing but I don’t think it will make a difference (Although I’m no expert).

I don’t plan on buying anymore coffee for a while but it was interesting to see people concerned about buying beans next year.
Although I do need some things for my bullet so I might buy some beans too if there’s something that catches my eye at Sweet Maria’s.

 

[MaxStout]

I saw this post on Reddit today and thought I would share it here. I think it’s a bit of fear showing but I don’t think it will make a difference (Although I’m no expert).

I don’t plan on buying anymore coffee for a while but it was interesting to see people concerned about buying beans next year.
Although I do need some things for my bullet so I might buy some beans too if there’s something that catches my eye at Sweet Maria’s.

Guess I'll order a few 10# bags from Mill City. I keep my greens bagged, in 5 gallon buckets with Gamma lids.

 

[mashpaddled]

I just picked up 10 lbs. of Papua New Guinea Wahgi Valley Kunjin (washed), for $4.95/lb. from Mill City. Haven't roasted any yet, but if it turns out well, that's a bargain.

They had some Chiapas Mexico coffee that I really enjoyed, but no longer have it. It was around $5-$6/lb., IIRC. Wish I had bought more at the time. I asked their sales mgr. and he said they get it a few times a year when it's in season, so I'll keep an eye out for that.

I really like the coffee that comes out of the wahgi valley. They showcase a lot of island type character with soft floral character at lighter roasts but they are very affordable (as you see) because there isn't a lot of hype out of PNG and especially not that processing area. I always liked it a bit more out of my air roaster (FR700) than my drum roaster (bullet) but great coffee either way.

 

[mashpaddled]

I saw this post on Reddit today and thought I would share it here. I think it’s a bit of fear showing but I don’t think it will make a difference (Although I’m no expert).

I don’t plan on buying anymore coffee for a while but it was interesting to see people concerned about buying beans next year.
Although I do need some things for my bullet so I might buy some beans too if there’s something that catches my eye at Sweet Maria’s.

Can't go wrong with SM but depending on your willingness to commit to a larger batch, I like picking up the 22lb crown jewels from Royal Crown. I've gotten some coffees from them at $5-8/lb (shipped) that are simply incredible for that price. They are primarily sold for small batch commercial producers but if you're whipping up 1-2 lb bullet batches it's incredible value for quality. The best thing about the bullet and its volume is that you can afford to buy in larger volumes and bring those prices down.

 

[MaxStout]

I really like the coffee that comes out of the wahgi valley. They showcase a lot of island type character with soft floral character at lighter roasts but they are very affordable (as you see) because there isn't a lot of hype out of PNG and especially not that processing area. I always liked it a bit more out of my air roaster (FR700) than my drum roaster (bullet) but great coffee either way.

I'm with you on that. I just roasted my first batch of it a few days ago (med roast) and have had several cups so far. I get a delicate, floral character with a bit of nuttiness. I do like it. I might push the next batch to the first edge of 2nd crack to bring out some more spiciness and a touch of roast.

 

[MaxStout]

For anyone interesting, Mill City has the Chiapas, Mexico beans back in stock. Makes a nice, warm cuppa, one of my favorites. I ordered two 10lb bags.

 

[leedspointbrew]

For anyone interesting, Mill City has the Chiapas, Mexico beans back in stock. Makes a nice, warm cuppa, one of my favorites. I ordered two 10lb bags.

I don't classify myself as interesting, but I may buy a bag and learn to roast

 

[MaxStout]

I don't classify myself as interesting, but I may buy a bag and learn to roast

That's the spirit!

 

[MaxStout]

Picked up my order of greens from Mill City. Two 10lb bags of Chiapas, Mexico. I've had this before and really enjoyed it, so when they had it back in stock I pounced. After I finish the last few pounds of PNG, it's on to this.

 

[MaxStout]

I buy a lot of green from Mill City Roasters. They carry good coffee at reasonable costs, it's local to me and I can pick it up at their dock. They do ship, too. They've always sold in minimum lots of 10 pounds. Recently, they started selling in 40 lb. boxes--for the same per pound rate as before. The ten-pounders are still available, but for $1.00/lb more. I realize coffee has gone up in price recently, and there's an expense for them to bag up green in small bags, so it makes sense for them to give their best price on larger lots. If you like a certain variety they carry, maybe the 40 lb option is better. Save 40 bucks.

 

[pshankstar]

@MaxStout turned me on to Mill City Roasters last year. I had a great experience buying from them and will continue to purchase from them as I tend to rotate where I buy my next batch from. I did see they now offer bigger boxes although even 40lbs of one bean is a lot for me. These two 22lbs boxes from Royal are a lot but maybe the sweet spot too, so I can dial in my roasting habits.

I hear prices of beans are going up, I haven't looked lately as I placed a large order back in October and will probably be good until the spring. I'm kind of scared to see what the prices will look like then!

Cheers everyone!

 

[NeilMac]

Well my old Supplier have been out of stock for more then half their products for over two years. The new one I have has been good but prices creeping up so grabbing what I can. Last year I think it was a 15% price increase overall.

 

[MaxStout]

Coffee prices have spiked recently, due in large part to last year's drought in Brazil (the largest producer), and some geo-political forces I won't get into here.

Just a few years ago I was paying ~$4/lb. for decent Latin American and SE Asian green in 10 lb. lots. Now it's almost doubled. Mill City's "seasoning greens," their mix of leftovers and floor-sweepings, is now fetching $4.

 

[leedspointbrew]

Don't know if this counts, but I fixed my Vienna Superautomatica coffee machine. Makes good coffee from whole bean Sumatran. I aspire to use my own roast at some point in the future.

 

[jwill911]

I have not purchased greens from Mill City yet. I usually only buy from Sweet Maria’s. I’ve been roasting with a Behmor for years and just spring for a Aillio Bullet R2. I’m pretty excited about it, but still trying to get comfortable with. It’s a whole different level.

 

[pshankstar]

I have not purchased greens from Mill City yet. I usually only buy from Sweet Maria’s. I’ve been roasting with a Behmor for years and just spring for a Aillio Bullet R2. I’m pretty excited about it, but still trying to get comfortable with. It’s a whole different level.

You won’t regret it! I upgraded from a Behmor to a bullet two years ago and love it! Cheers and don’t hesitate to ask questions here. There’s a few of us who have the bullet too.

 

[pshankstar]

Well the old Encore grinder I bought used from @HarborTownBrewing back in 2018 has finally bit the dust. I have done plenty of repairs on it over the years and Baratza’s support was amazing to send out replacement parts free of charge too. With that I bought a new Encore grinder that arrived tonight and I installed the upgraded burr in it from my old unit. While keeping some other parts just in case.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Dammit @pshankstar ! I'm sorry to hear that. That grinder had a great run though. I just looked, and I had bought that on March 18, 2015, so it had a ten year run.

Thanks for the tag, I have neglected this site for months for no good reason. Once work blocked HBT I've struggled to get on here. Will make a point to post more though.

Hope your new Encore is even better than the last!

 

[pshankstar]

I figured I would put it out there and ask. I’ll be buying some more coffee in the next month or two. My wife asked me to look for any chocolate forward beans if possible. If anyone comes across some they think hits the mark for a chocolate bomb please share it here.

Thanks in advance!

 

[NeilMac]

Stock up!
25% increase in price last month

 

[ba-brewer]

Cant give specifics but look at some of the Ethiopian coffees, they can give chocolate when roasting a little darker. I get chocolate from some of Central American coffees, like Nicaragua and Honduras.

 

[pshankstar]

Stock up!
25% increase in price last month

I know. I might buy larger quantities to get better price per pound. I’m on the fence if I should buy sooner rather than later with the prices going up. Ugh!

 

[NeilMac]

I grab 10lb at a time, makes a differance. Prices keep going up, I was lucky I stocked up before the 25% jump.