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

[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.

 

[NeilMac]

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.

Peruvian, Java Pipp can give nice chocolate aftertaste, their are a few, its just getting that specific roast.

 

[MaxStout]

I decided to stock up on some green, what with the prices going up. Ordered 10lbs washed Peruvian and 10lbs natural Honduran from Mill City.

Prices are already heading upward and I didn't see anything on their site under $7/lb in 10lb lots. However they knock a buck a lb off some varieties if you order 40lb lots, but I don't want to commit to THAT MUCH of any one variety. But those of you who roast a lot of coffee might want to consider the big boxes of green.

 

[pshankstar]

Has anyone bought green beans from Primos? If so, please share some feedback and thoughts.

I’m thinking about giving it a shot. Price seems reasonable.

 

[MaxStout]

Has anyone bought green beans from Primos? If so, please share some feedback and thoughts.

I’m thinking about giving it a shot. Price seems reasonable.

10 lbs for $78 with free shipping. That's a steal--if it's decent green.

 

[pshankstar]

10 lbs for $78 with free shipping. That's a steal--if it's decent green.

That’s exactly what I was thinking.

 

[jammin]

Hey all. It's been while since I've checked in. Anybody still roasting these days?


Royal Coffee has posted 2 new Crown Jewel 22lb boxes. I'm curious if anyone if is interested in splitting some?

The 2 that caught my eye are a Kenyan & a Columbian. They are $9.60 and $11.03 per pound, respectively. In my experience these Crown Jewels are a nice step up from the usual retailers.

Priority Mail shipping for a padded envelope is $12 & can fit 5lbs. A medium box is $21 & can fit close 15lbs Im guessing.

Please tag me here if you're interested & PM me.


Cheers,
~j

 

[NeilMac]

Yup, unfortunately price increase 132% and 152% locally.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Well howdy fake friends, it's been a while! (especially since my post in March where I said I'd try to be better about logging on...).

More of the same over here. The Bullet has been running smoothly after a few upgrades (including a much needed replaced drum bearing). I finally got around to trying 2lb batches and it's been a game changer on days I roast a bunch.

Like you guys, I ordered about 100 lbs of beans before the price hikes. Unfortunately I'm going to need more in the next couple months.

 

[jwill911]

I’m loving my R2, took me a while to get it figured out. But now I’m roasting some pretty good coffee. And really love being able to replicated roasts, creating a recipe from a previous roast and making tweaks to it.

 

[rich1walkden]

Lovely to hear, I thought I was alone in my coffee roasting adventure. I tried beans from all over the world from my supplier Hormozi, who have been very accommodating and settled on Brazilian Santos at the moment. My roasting process is, I first dry the beans at a low heat until they turn yellowish. Then I turn them up to 240C until I get the second crack, remove them from the heat, spread them out on a metal tray to cool. Leave them out for 24 hrs and then bottle them in a corked container. Any thoughts on my process or improvements?

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Lovely to hear, I thought I was alone in my coffee roasting adventure. I tried beans from all over the world from my supplier Hormozi, who have been very accommodating and settled on Brazilian Santos at the moment. My roasting process is, I first dry the beans at a low heat until they turn yellowish. Then I turn them up to 240C until I get the second crack, remove them from the heat, spread them out on a metal tray to cool. Leave them out for 24 hrs and then bottle them in a corked container. Any thoughts on my process or improvements?

Hey there! Without knowing what sorts of times you're hitting various parts of the roast, I can't contribute too much at this point. BUT for what it's worth I'll share my general process: I also pull back heat a bit towards the beginning which I have found adds sweetness. I get back on the heat hard at yellowing which is usually around 4:15 and 145C. Then gradually pull back on the heat until 1st Crack begins, ideally around the 7:30-8:30 mark. Typically I drop my beans at 13-20% development, and my roaster uses an air cooled bowl.

 

[pshankstar]

Hey there! Without knowing what sorts of times you're hitting various parts of the roast, I can't contribute too much at this point. BUT for what it's worth I'll share my general process: I also pull back heat a bit towards the beginning which I have found adds sweetness. I get back on the heat hard at yellowing which is usually around 4:15 and 145C. Then gradually pull back on the heat until 1st Crack begins, ideally around the 7:30-8:30 mark. Typically I drop my beans at 13-20% development, and my roaster uses an air cooled bowl.

I’ve got some questions as I’m looking to try new things with my bullet. I’m usually going in hot and dialing back the heat.

What’s your starting weight of green beans? What’s your target preheat temperature? I’m usually doing batches of 800g green beans and starting temperature around 500 Fahrenheit or 260 Celsius.

 

[pshankstar]

Hey all. It's been while since I've checked in. Anybody still roasting these days?


Royal Coffee has posted 2 new Crown Jewel 22lb boxes. I'm curious if anyone if is interested in splitting some?

The 2 that caught my eye are a Kenyan & a Columbian. They are $9.60 and $11.03 per pound, respectively. In my experience these Crown Jewels are a nice step up from the usual retailers.

Priority Mail shipping for a padded envelope is $12 & can fit 5lbs. A medium box is $21 & can fit close 15lbs Im guessing.

Please tag me here if you're interested & PM me.


Cheers,
~j

PM sent… ️

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I’ve got some questions as I’m looking to try new things with my bullet. I’m usually going in hot and dialing back the heat.

What’s your starting weight of green beans? What’s your target preheat temperature? I’m usually doing batches of 800g green beans and starting temperature around 500 Fahrenheit or 260 Celsius.

Here are my go to starting weights and charge temps:
-450g = 240 C
-680g = 280 C
-900g = 310 C

So I'm charging quite a bit higher than you. Depending on the beans and my weight I'll usually start at P6, then at yellowing I go to P8. After two min I go to P7, then after a min P6, then after a min P5. Right around here is when 1st Crack usually begins and I'll go to P3 for 30 seconds, then P8 to pull it to the finish line of the roast. I tried to grab a screen shot on my phone from Roadworld but the graph isn't working. If I remember I'll try to grab on one my roasting computer next time I'm down there for a roast. Hopefully this makes some sense. I know there are lots of ways to do it, but it's just one way that I eventually settled on

 

[pshankstar]

These came in recently with some other stuff ordered from Sweet Maria’s.
I’m looking forward to roasting some this weekend and trying the steps from @HarborTownBrewing with the bullet.

 

[rich1walkden]

Wow, you guys have got a handle on this! I have been roasting for years, blissfully ignorant of the nuances. Steep learning curve ahead... thanks for sharing total bonus.