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

[applescrap]

@jammin that looks super nice. Wow.

@inkleg I use the ubiquitous 80 dollar delonghi with pressurized filter removed. Baratza virtuoso set on finest internally and 4 externally with the upgraded paddle set and pull 30 second shots now after much use. I know its not going to win any awards and can't wait to upgrade but I (and swmbo) happily drink esspresso drinks every weekend.

Those with encores have you upgraded to the virtuoso burrs. I heard it grinds faster. Same motor, everything between the two, justvthe burrs. I called them and confirmed that.

 

[jimyson]

@jimyson - nice looking stuff, esp the kettle. I just got a V60 recently and I must say it’s the best dripper I’ve used. Can’t believe it took me so long to get on the band wagon. Grinder looks nice too - gear drive is really catching on lately it seems. I took my Orphan Espresso Lido 2 to Mexico recently and it worked great with the home roast I brought with it. i entered with your link to help your odds out!

@harbortownbrewing - baratza wrote me back today and said the full on drip focused Sette 30 is a good year out but it’s something they definitely want to do. I volunteered myself for field testing if needed

My new grinder came in the mail today - Kafatek’s Monolith Flat; it’s been on preorder for months. It features features 75mm Titanium Nitride coated burrs - the same ones used in Nuova Simonelli’s Mythos One grinder. I put my portafilter in the forks so you can how it looks in operation.

Awesome in many ways!

If this giveaway is anything like HBT, the number of entries wouldn’t matter anyway.

Man o man does that grinder look SAHWEEET!

 

[applescrap]

Picture of said espresso shots.

Edit-2nd shot not so good, 3rd same, 4th good. Thats the problem with cheap machines.

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[TallDan]

Picture of said espresso shots.

Edit-2nd shot not so good, 3rd same, 4th good. Thats the problem with cheap machines.

It's not limited to cheap machines. There are a lot of variables with good espresso. With expensive machines you can better control more of those variables, but no matter what you cannot completely control all of them. In the best case, you manipulate some of them to compensate for others that you can not control as well if at all.

 

[TallDan]

Double post

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

It's not limited to cheap machines. There are a lot of variables with good espresso. With expensive machines you can better control more of those variables, but no matter what you cannot completely control all of them. In the best case, you manipulate some of them to compensate for others that you can not control as well if at all.

Yep. Also depends on the coffee. I LOVE single origin Kenya espresso, but it's foamy as heck as a shot.

 

[TallDan]

Yep. Also depends on the coffee. I LOVE single origin Kenya espresso, but it's foamy as heck as a shot.

The coffee, the roast level, the rest time for the coffee, the phase of the moon, the feng shui of the room you're brewing in.

Ok, maybe exaggerating slightly, but only slightly.

I can have my espresso locked in on Saturday morning, change nothing, and it will be off on Sunday morning even if i haven't touched anything and thoroughly warmed up the machine.

And this on a machine with PID controlled temperature.

 

[jammin]

Wow, a 9.8 on flavor? Haven’t seen Tom rate that ever I don’t think. Hmmm

https://www.sweetmarias.com/product/ethiopia-gr-1-dry-process-yirg-dumerso

 

[jimyson]

Roasted up a little Narino Fiesta tonight. Working to get a profile together for 10 lbs that will be sold to raise money for my Nieces foundation.

I roast in my basement on my brew table. Just take the kettle down and BAM, I have a roastery.

I’m looking forward to tasting this tomorrow.

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[Ruint]

I posted these pics in another thread on here, but there was a recommendation that I post them on this one...so here they are...these were done 3 days ago...I didn't take any pictures of the roasts I just finished this evening, but the outcome is so very similar to these, I thought I could slouch on by...long day...but needed to get a little more bean stocked up because I am bringing a bunch of coffee to the "Learn How to Brew" event my brew club is doing tomorrow. I get to brew...and then brew!!! I have 2 starters whirling away as I'm typing and a boat load of gear to load up in the a.m. Already looking forward to the coffee that's only a few hours away...

 

[passedpawn]

I got some coffee from Jammin in the mail yesterday. Thanks!

When you see how much beans he can get into a flat-rate envelope, you'll know how he got his name.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Wow, a 9.8 on flavor? Haven’t seen Tom rate that ever I don’t think. Hmmm

https://www.sweetmarias.com/product/ethiopia-gr-1-dry-process-yirg-dumerso

Definitely have never seen one rated that high for flavor! Nice find. I just ordered 30 lbs from them, but that was for my Xmas blend. Guess I'll order a few more pounds.

Did you see anything else that looked good?

 

[jimyson]

Wow, a 9.8 on flavor? Haven’t seen Tom rate that ever I don’t think. Hmmm

https://www.sweetmarias.com/product/ethiopia-gr-1-dry-process-yirg-dumerso

The description is amazing. 10 lbs on the way.

 

[Inkleg]

Wow, a 9.8 on flavor? Haven’t seen Tom rate that ever I don’t think. Hmmm

https://www.sweetmarias.com/product/ethiopia-gr-1-dry-process-yirg-dumerso

Count me in on this 5 pounds on the way. As always a big thanks to @jammin

 

[jimyson]

Since I’m pretty new at roasting coffee, I find it difficult to see how good my roasts really are. Would some of you be interested in all getting the same bean and sending a small roasted sample to each person taking part so we can then do comparisons and provide feedback and ask questions about people’s process to gain their profile.

It’d be cool to get a half dozen or so on it and relatively cheap to send out <50g to each of the people.

 

[Ruint]

Hope you are getting a commission or a sale price for the Sweet Maria's you get Jammin!! Count me in on the "orders placed" list for the Dumerso...also I had to reorder the Guatemala proyecto-xinabajul-hoja-blanca. I previously acquired some of these beans and they have impressed quite a few people that have tried it...not to mention myself!!! Sweet Maria's is spot on in the description. and since I was shopping... figured that I would get Costa Rica Helsar as well, since I have not had a nice nutty coffee in quite some time.

 

[zpack]

Well after paying $32 a month for a coffee subscription I decided to start roasting my own beans. I bought a popcorn popper from ebay and ordered beans from sweetmarias. I'm hoping it's not a steep learning curve.

 

[ba-brewer]

Well after paying $32 a month for a coffee subscription I decided to start roasting my own beans. I bought a popcorn popper from ebay and ordered beans from sweetmarias. I'm hoping it's not a steep learning curve.

Like most things do it as often as you can in the beginning and you should get the hang of it. Most coffee only needs a day or two of aging to hit their peak and because of the short time between roasting and brewing, roasting coffee is fairly easy to learn how to do.

 

[TallDan]

Wow, a 9.8 on flavor? Haven’t seen Tom rate that ever I don’t think. Hmmm

https://www.sweetmarias.com/product/ethiopia-gr-1-dry-process-yirg-dumerso

So much coffee...

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Since I’m pretty new at roasting coffee, I find it difficult to see how good my roasts really are. Would some of you be interested in all getting the same bean and sending a small roasted sample to each person taking part so we can then do comparisons and provide feedback and ask questions about people’s process to gain their profile.

It’d be cool to get a half dozen or so on it and relatively cheap to send out <50g to each of the people.

If you ever want to do a swap, not necessarily the same coffee, just let me know. Happy to provide feedback on your roasts.

I only buy beans every few months so trying to coordinate purchasing the same beans is tough for me.

 

[jimyson]

Yes, I would be interested in some feedback. PM me your address and once I get my SM order, I’ll roast some up and send it out.

 

[Kealia]

Well after paying $32 a month for a coffee subscription I decided to start roasting my own beans. I bought a popcorn popper from ebay and ordered beans from sweetmarias. I'm hoping it's not a steep learning curve.

This is where I was just a couple of months ago. Made great coffee with the air popper and bought my wife a Behmor roaster last month for her birthday.
Did I *need* to? No. She was blown away by the coffee being made with the air popper but I wanted to invest in this as I see her sticking with it for quite a while.

As with anything, read as much as you can but don't overthink it. The guys here were great with my first questions - and it helped that a good friend was starting this just before me so I got to pick his brain a bit, too.

 

[Kealia]

P.S. I also ordered 5lbs of that Ethiopian from SM based on how good the last Ethiopian was!

 

[applescrap]

I am not sure on the timeliness of coffee picking but it would seem a lot of really high quality coffee has popped up. I have bailed on the sm yc so far as I cant stay away from the konga. Hope someone can compare them for me for next order.

 

[ba-brewer]

This is a table which shows harvest and shipping time from most popular coffee countries. I am thinking the shipping time is from country of origin so maybe add some time for a slow boat trip to figure when it would be ready for consumer purchase.

https://legacy.sweetmarias.com/coffee.prod.timetable.php

 

[jammin]

big drop at Sweet Maria's today. An unusually high amount of double speak from ol' Tom Tom in his descriptions though.

 

[Kealia]

Now to find time to roast this - or stash it away for a later gift for my wife.

 

[zpack]

popcorn popper arrived today and SM Ethiopian gets here Monday. Can't wait to roast my first batch. I am almost out of beans so I hope I don't mess it up. I don't brew espresso but have almost every other brewer. I am planning on going just past the first crack on the first attempt and go from there.

 

[psubrewer]

On a whim I decided to give a hg/db roast a try rather than pull out the Behmor and I must say I'm very impressed with the control this roast method allows. I brought 8oz of a Rwandan gashongo from bodhi leaf to 1c in about 9 minutes. The only downside is chaffe goes all over the place so next time I'll do it outside. I used a cheap 2 speed harbor freight heat gun. Picture of roast..

Edit: the other cool thing about this method is that you can easily hear 1c. More so than any other method I've tried.

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[ba-brewer]

The only downside is chaffe goes all over the place so next time I'll do it outside.

Edit: the other cool thing about this method is that you can easily hear 1c. More so than any other method I've tried.

Another down side is you end up smelling like roast coffee.

I did a modified version of HG/DG for a few year and it does give a lot of control over your roast. Easy to see the color change to judge how to control the roast. With a little practice it is easy to speed up a roast or slow it down by controlling the distance to the beans. Easiest roaster clean up too, just jump in the shower.