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

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I ground some of the test coffee (about full city or so) and brewed a couple cups this morning. A far-from-scientific test.

First, cleaned up the burr grinder, so as to not get residue from previous grinds. I ground some and loaded up a couple Keurig inserts (not optimal, but it's what I use a lot, so the comparison would be using same gear).

I brewed 8 oz. cups. Didn't weigh the coffee, but I loaded about the same as I always do. I didn't do any blind testing, just back and forth tasting between a cup of the previous batch and the new test batch. The test coffee turned out much less astringent and some of the warmth returned. Not perfect, but certainly an improvement. Probably some confirmation bias due to this not being a blind triangle test, but the difference was clear to me.

I had my wife try a few sips. Her taste is very sensitive to astringency, and she always thought my coffee left a dry taste. She liked the new cup better.

Later I'll try some of the test batch in a French press.

Next test batch I'll use the same variety and keep the heat backed off all the way to the start of 1C, just to see if that improves it more. Then, try some other varieties (I have a bunch of Guatemala).
 
If it tastes off, tart, green the astringency could be from roasting too quickly a fresher bean. The heat is developing the bean outside at too quick a pace, also the method of stirring could leave some more cooked then others leaving green. I am sensitive to it, some coffees are more sour than others. Stop buying less expensive beans would help. You cant screw up the good beans, it's not like a hack wood worker sawing on cherry. The bread machine will hold the heat and stir better. I go 30 seconds past first crack. Light fruit flavors, darker chocolate. Longer drying phase as you are working on, and better heat dispersion, retention during roast, my 2 cents. I dont know s... sontake that with a grain of salt.
 
That aricha I had was killer, have seen it popping up here and there and want to grab some .Drinking burmans kayon mountain shakiso, this years crop. Its gonna be a good year I hope. This ones ok. Going to enter bodhi banko competition, my wife talked me into it. Lol.
 
Would like a baratza for the camper. We do moka, pour over, and cold brew. Also we have a small 4 cup pot, we take that car camping, sure. Cold brew will always be easy.
20210903_191041.jpg
 
If it tastes off, tart, green the astringency could be from roasting too quickly a fresher bean. The heat is developing the bean outside at too quick a pace, also the method of stirring could leave some more cooked then others leaving green. I am sensitive to it, some coffees are more sour than others. Stop buying less expensive beans would help. You cant screw up the good beans, it's not like a hack wood worker sawing on cherry. The bread machine will hold the heat and stir better. I go 30 seconds past first crack. Light fruit flavors, darker chocolate. Longer drying phase as you are working on, and better heat dispersion, retention during roast, my 2 cents. I dont know s... sontake that with a grain of salt.

Thanks, Scrappy.

Your suggestion about roasting too fast concurs with what a couple others here mentioned. Slowing down the drying phase of the roast seemed to have helped and I turned out a decent test batch by doing that. I had a couple more cups of the test batch this morning, and they were still better than before. I then brewed a cup with the old batch and it was markedly more astringent, reminding me that the new method is better. I still have 1/2 lb or so old roast and I might just toss it. Life's too short for shiatty coffee.

But you had me up until the "stop buying less expensive beans" thing. The wholesaler I buy greens from (Mill City) distributes those same beans to half the indie coffee shops in town, and those places turn out an excellent cup on a daily basis. I do not believe I need to buy expensive beans to make good coffee. There's no reason I can't make good roast from $4.00/lb greens from MC. No, the problem with my roast has been me, not the beans. However, I will try some better beans from time to time, if only to appreciate their origin characteristics (since I'm now less prone to ruining them). ;)

Once I find $500 burning a hole in my pocket I believe a Behmor is in my future. Maybe need to put that on my Xmas list. :)
 
@MaxStout You might want to try not roasting as dark and also giving the coffee more rest as well. I often rush to drink my fresh batches of coffee and have off flavors that go away with a week of rest.

For anyone who would be interested in a natural process ethiopian that's a little on the wild side, try this one out:

https://www.klatchroasting.com/coll...s/green-unroasted-ethiopia-super-wush-natural
Roastmasters has a "toned down" version as well, but i haven't tried it. The one from klatch is one of the most intensely flavored natural Ethiopians I've had. I get different flavors with different brew methods.
 
@MaxStout You might want to try not roasting as dark and also giving the coffee more rest as well. I often rush to drink my fresh batches of coffee and have off flavors that go away with a week of rest.

For anyone who would be interested in a natural process ethiopian that's a little on the wild side, try this one out:

https://www.klatchroasting.com/coll...s/green-unroasted-ethiopia-super-wush-natural
Roastmasters has a "toned down" version as well, but i haven't tried it. The one from klatch is one of the most intensely flavored natural Ethiopians I've had. I get different flavors with different brew methods.

I've been doing about full city or so, but maybe I'll shoot for a bit lighter next time. Perhaps stop the roast near the middle of 1c?
The longer rest makes sense. I just ground and brewed the last of the test beans I roasted last week and I thought the cup tasted better.
 
I roasted some more Colombian today. Did some 7 oz batches. Roasted with the gun 3" away from the start up to 1C, then moved it closer for the remainder. 1C started around 9:00-10:00, then I stopped roasting part way through 1C, about 2:00 into it--about 11:00-12:00 total. Cooled with the downdraft box. Should be more of a light roast.

I'll have tasting notes in a day or two. And I roasted enough that I'll be able to see how the beans are after they have rested several days more.
 
@MaxStout

https://www.klatchroasting.com/coll...s/green-unroasted-ethiopia-super-wush-natural
Roastmasters has a "toned down" version as well, but i haven't tried it. The one from klatch is one of the most intensely flavored natural Ethiopians I've had. I get different flavors with different brew methods.


Like ten pounds good!?

Update I bought ten pounds of it. Hope it's good. I notice they want quite a bit more for the kayon mtn organic. I wonder if these coffees are the same as burmans. It is much cheaper at burmans? Those brothers are good importers. Roastmasters, that's it, I like them too. Super excited these small farm collabs make for some amazing coffee. I like to roast it real light and make espresso. You know what a sad cup of coffee is....a depresso. Thanks for the tip, they clearly like good coffee.
 
Last edited:
Thanks, Scrappy.

Your suggestion about roasting too fast concurs with what a couple others here mentioned. Slowing down the drying phase of the roast seemed to have helped and I turned out a decent test batch by doing that. I had a couple more cups of the test batch this morning, and they were still better than before. I then brewed a cup with the old batch and it was markedly more astringent, reminding me that the new method is better. I still have 1/2 lb or so old roast and I might just toss it. Life's too short for shiatty coffee.

But you had me up until the "stop buying less expensive beans" thing. The wholesaler I buy greens from (Mill City) distributes those same beans to half the indie coffee shops in town, and those places turn out an excellent cup on a daily basis. I do not believe I need to buy expensive beans to make good coffee. There's no reason I can't make good roast from $4.00/lb greens from MC. No, the problem with my roast has been me, not the beans. However, I will try some better beans from time to time, if only to appreciate their origin characteristics (since I'm now less prone to ruining them). ;)

Once I find $500 burning a hole in my pocket I believe a Behmor is in my future. Maybe need to put that on my Xmas list. :)

Lots of happy behmor roasters here! Sounds like the test batches are going well. The beans can be baked on the opposite end of problems.

Regardless of flavor, origin or quality knowing one type or a specific coffee, like having a lot of it, is extremely useful. That way as you experiment you learn what these different aspects do to the coffee. Quicker, hotter, closer, further, longer, shorter, all these factors and you find the sweet spot for your rig and a specific coffee or type(jeesh it's like a dirty movie). From there working out to different types. Rambling on, water, moisture, drying this is the central factor. Thus you were leaving to much moisture in the bean potentially. Happy cups!
 
Like ten pounds good!?

Update I bought ten pounds of it. Hope it's good. I notice they want quite a bit more for the kayon mtn organic. I wonder if these coffees are the same as burmans. It is much cheaper at burmans? Those brothers are good importers. Roastmasters, that's it, I like them too. Super excited these small farm collabs make for some amazing coffee. I like to roast it real light and make espresso. You know what a sad cup of coffee is....a depresso. Thanks for the tip, they clearly like good coffee.
I bought 10lb green plus 12oz of it roasted by klatch.

No regrets from me. I think you’ll really like it as a light roast espresso.
 
Fruit flavors?
I had fruit from the espresso, but pour over was more floral. Klatch says chocolate blueberry and basil for their roast. To me, the ground coffee smelled like blueberry, but I didn’t get much blueberry in the espresso. I’ve thought orange and cranberry.
Pretty complex and intense coffee though. I think you can highlight different flavors by tweaking some parameters with the espresso.
 
Ground some of yesterday's batch of Colombian and brewed a couple cups. Light roast this time. I was a bit apprehensive going light, as the times I tried that in the past gave me grassy-tasting coffee. Probably due to the short roasting times I was doing then.

But this light roast turned out very nice. Probably my best cup yet. Slightly acidic, warm, nutty flavor, no roast taste. Just how I like a light roast.

I still have 2 lbs of Colombian beans left, and may play around with the timing a bit, though I may be close to the sweet spot already. I don't want to stretch the roasting time too much. As @applescrap noted, that can bake it out.

Next up I have 10 lbs Guatemala to try.
 
Just got this email this morning from klatch:

View attachment 744205
With this code I may pull the trigger on that 10lbs bag of beans you shared earlier! Thanks for sharing!
UPDATE:
I bought a 10lbs bag of the Ethiopian beans and some Mexican beans with that discount code. Thanks @TallDan again for sharing!
88738984-7822-4DAE-9BF2-2D25900B13E1.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Sorry I don't have a recommendation. My last purchase of Guatemala was several months ago and pretty sure it would not still be for sale.

The last time I bought coffee was from sweet marias a few weeks back and the picking were still pretty slim. I did buy Ethiopia Organic Dry Process Refisa, Nicaragua Buenos Aires Los Pinos and Honduras Productores de Lempira. That was the only ethiopian coffee they had when I bought it. I roasted the Ethiopian and Nicaraguan coffee the other day but i have not try them yet.
 
The reason these coffees taste so good is their height. They are grown high in the mountains in their birthplace Ethiopia. They are picked by hand and sorted so only the best cherries get through, often put in water so the unripe and bad float.

They mature long and slow, soaking the wild flavors of the cherry. Unlike lower grown coffee which matures fast. Then they are put on raised beds and turned over 20 days or so. Their love, tradition and skill is bar none imho.
Just got this email this morning from klatch:

View attachment 744205
Sure after I ordered, why o why😂
 
has anyone had a good Peaberry or Guatemalan they enjoyed recently? craving something different
I bought some of this one, roasted a batch, but haven’t tried it yet. I’ll try to remember to report back in a few days.
https://www.klatchroasting.com/coll...oasted-guatemala-organic-huehuetenango-guayab
Sure after I ordered, why o why😂
Same thing happened to me when I ordered. A 20% sale started the day my order was delivered. D’oh!
 
So this is the coffee maker I bought. I cant believe a 230 dollar maker from, gulp, ninja. The ninja blender didnt work for me, so scared on this one. I wanted the oxo 8 cup brewer, but the frothing wand and tea, pulled me in. The oxo was 150 but jumped up to 177. It was CNET's winner. Both are on the sca certified list. The oxo is also sleek and small, but the frothing wand and separate tea basket peaked my interest and tipped the scales. Apparently its biggest problem according to cnet was that it got too hot on large pots. I dont make large pots and here at a mile high it wont boil that hot anyways. Comes with it's own filter which I will still use the paper for convenience. Hoping for the best. It claims to make cold brew with a 15 minute warm water steep, iced coffee, which is concentrated just right and flash cools as it drops, and a strong latte type cup whatever that means.
Screenshot_20211003-091109_Samsung Internet.jpg
Screenshot_20211003-091024_Samsung Internet.jpg
 
Last edited:
@applescrap - so you got the Ninja Coffee Brewer & that arm on it is a frother? I saw someone making iced coffee & adding frothed milk to it. Seemed to be a strong cold brew & they used a wand style frother for whipping up the cold milk. Been wanting to try it ever since. You'll have to let us know how it goes.
 
If anyone is in the market for a Bullet, I see Sweet Marias has them in stock.

Or, if anyone needs a new Chaff Filter Basket for their Bullet, they FINALLY have those in stock for $20. I've been checking for about 6 months and no luck so that was a pleasant surprise. I have one on the way and am pretty excited because mine was so gunked up it was requiring cleaning every couple roasts.
 
I roasted some of the Ethiopian Wush from Klatch tonight that @TallDan shared the link from the other week. Damn straight out of the roaster I could smell chocolate and blueberries! Never had such a fragrant bean like that out of the roaster. The odd thing is the beans were different shades of color not as consistent as other beans I’ve roasted. No biggie to me but it was apparent.
I’ll give it some time to rest and try to remember to report back when I brew with it.
 
I roasted some of the Ethiopian Wush from Klatch tonight that @TallDan shared the link from the other week. Damn straight out of the roaster I could smell chocolate and blueberries! Never had such a fragrant bean like that out of the roaster. The odd thing is the beans were different shades of color not as consistent as other beans I’ve roasted. No biggie to me but it was apparent.
I’ll give it some time to rest and try to remember to report back when I brew with it.
The color inconsistency is definitely the coffee, not the roaster. I've had that coffee roasted by Klatch, roasted by me, and roasted by two other home roasters. All of them were like that.
 
Dan the man! Wowza, an awesome awesome bean. Hmm where to start, thanks for sharing the find! The packaging, now when I see something like this I get suspicious, but nevertheless bar none finest packaging I ever saw in gb, from this company. Like the thick weed bags they use. Super impressed.

Yep, different size beans, so roasts uneven. Them itty bitty ones are the blueberry I think. A bag of those little ones I perhaps could prefer more, but not getting lost it smelt like a waffle cone out of the roaster. Took a little while to get cracking on high, but 20 seconds after a good couple cracks I cooled it.

The chocolate smell is intoxicating. I found, by eating those yellow ones, they taste like berry in these coffees. Used to throw them out but I leave them. If I didnt know better I would say this was a mix of the finest coffees one could find, as in, if the bean is good, it's in. These coffees where all the farmers get together are the best I think. I am going to order another 10 pounds. Not sure I am even going to look else where. Then get some other to fill ins to keep the palate hungry. Thanks again TallDan so good.
20211007_193339.jpg
20211010_144645.jpg
20211007_181219.jpg
 
@applescrap - so you got the Ninja Coffee Brewer & that arm on it is a frother? I saw someone making iced coffee & adding frothed milk to it. Seemed to be a strong cold brew & they used a wand style frother for whipping up the cold milk. Been wanting to try it ever since. You'll have to let us know how it goes.
So good to hear from you. Yeah researched my a.. off and went with it. Came tonight. First thought, here we go something overbuilt from ninja. Sturdy, overbuilt, nice, heavy enough. Was impressed quickly.

It's got a reservoir on the side that makes the full carafe, it's a solid carafe, not the worlds finest but nice, was cold to touch on outside after brewing. Quickly fell in love with it and bizarrely so did my daughter. She wanted tea. It gets crazy hot fast. The two baskets each have filters and the tea one made clean up a snap. It has this little arm that flips down and is cleverly sticky and holds cups.

It can brew cups at a time. Made some tea and sure enough, it drops hot water on the tea and somehow infused and pre I dont know and it drops out tea. Super good. It knows which basket is which and it gives options of sizes with a dial. The scoop sits on the side and seems very smartly designed making portions of coffee easy. When you are not in mood for scale.

The frother wand flips out on the side and I bet it works well. Didnt try it. It sounds like the basket screws in. It makes a mechanical locking sound. You can hear something twisting into place and iirc it wont open and pot wont come out. It was a fun bright display and i Iike it has a timer. I honestly think it could make great ice tea and the cold brew will be good enough. Super glad I chose it and highly recommend downside is at 250 with tax brings a lot of players in. I really love the idea of making just a cup with a couple scoops, could just make small drinks when I want them.
20211014_203227.jpg
20211014_210920.jpg
20211014_210548.jpg
 
Been inactive for quite a while.

my Behmor coffee pot/brewer died. It keeps beeping and turning itself on or off, and when brewing it started to prematurely open the water valve that is supposed to open once the programmed water temp is reached. I had a pot of crap coffee yesterday because of this. Was un-drinkable.

hauled my technivorm out of the mothballs, and ran a dry load of water through it. Still works. Brewed coffee this morning and realized why I replaced it.

I had been using a metal reuseable water bottle to measure my brewing water because it was easy and convenient and when brewing on the Behmor, the resultant carafe of coffee would perfectly fill my to-go thermos I carry with me to work. I always measure the coffee on a scale and have dialed in the coffee to my liking on the Behmor.

using same volume of water and same brewing ratio, when I brewed on my technivorm, I got less coffee in the carafe, by at least an estimated 1-2 “cups”. I think my thermos Holds about 6 “cups” worth and was only 3/4 full out of the Technivorm compared to fully filled thermos brewed with same amount of water and coffee out of the Behmor.

I had posted long ago that the technivorm retains a variable volume of water in the reservoir, such that it makes inconsistent coffee, by a considerable and measureable degree.

I need a new, preferrably drip type coffee brewer.
any recommendations?

TD

ooh, forgot to mention, the coffee today tastes OK, but is definitely not a good brewing ratio, and seems like it is rich on the coffee side of the ratio because of the retained water in the reservoir. At least it is drinkable however.
 
Behmor Jake - yes, though its launch has been delayed about 8 times in the last two years. I don't think it's actually available yet.

I have many thoughts on the roaster (and I'll say I absolutely loved my Behmor roaster, I love my Behmor brewer, and I like the company), but my main beef is it's a 2000 watt roaster. That equates to an 18 amp draw; you really shouldn't be running that on 110 v at home, it's above the 80% recommended threshold for 20A outlets (and concerning for most who have 15 amp outlets, or don't know what they have).

I don't understand why they didn't make it induction like the Bullet - it would have been more efficient and you could run it on a standard 110 (15 or 20amp outlets). The price was also just a hair below the Bullet (at least that was what they announced a year or two ago). I wouldn't chose the Jake over the Bullet, especially just to save a couple hundred. A thousand dollars? Yes, but not a couple hundred.
 
Good to know. I‘m roasting on my bullet, but I wish I had my HotTop back but with 1lb capacity. Still learning on the Bullet and been some years…..

back to the drip brewer question. Anybody have a favorite? I’m leaning to the new Behmor Brazen. Hoping they give me a discount cause my older brazen is broken.
 
Good to know. I‘m roasting on my bullet, but I wish I had my HotTop back but with 1lb capacity. Still learning on the Bullet and been some years…..

back to the drip brewer question. Anybody have a favorite? I’m leaning to the new Behmor Brazen. Hoping they give me a discount cause my older brazen is broken.

There is an Aillio Facebook page with an insane amount of knowledge on it. I learned a lot from observing that page, so it may be worth checking out. A lot of pro roasters on there who understand roasting and have tips on modulating the roaster. I quit FB last year but I do miss that page.

For brewers, I love my Behmor Brazen. Not sure if you had the Brazen before or if you had the bluetooth model (I understand the BT model was pretty wonky and glitchy and I see they've discontinued it). If I were to replace it, I would get another Brazen. The only downside is the 8 cup capacity; that's only an issue when I have visitors over though so I just keep on brewing.
 
There is an Aillio Facebook page with an insane amount of knowledge on it. I learned a lot from observing that page, so it may be worth checking out. A lot of pro roasters on there who understand roasting and have tips on modulating the roaster. I quit FB last year but I do miss that page.

For brewers, I love my Behmor Brazen. Not sure if you had the Brazen before or if you had the bluetooth model (I understand the BT model was pretty wonky and glitchy and I see they've discontinued it). If I were to replace it, I would get another Brazen. The only downside is the 8 cup capacity; that's only an issue when I have visitors over though so I just keep on brewing.
I quit Facebook also, but haven’t deleted my account. I have been on that page you are talking about and agree lots of knowledge there. I think that it’s a double edged sword for me: higher capacity on bullet means I can make more at once, and spend less time roasting. Less capacity on hottop meant more time roasting to get same amount. The result is I spend less time roasting, and am not as good as I was on the hottop, because I don’t roast as much. Often will roast three pounds in three consecutive sessions and then that lasts me like several weeks. Forgetting everything I learned in between. I’m the sole coffee drinker in my house. I don’t often have guests, and so it isn’t a problem as far as capacity for me, other issue with bullet is the insulation makes it hard for me to hear the cracks, especially if coffee is starting to get older.

Behmor cutting me a deal on the new model buying direct. Saves me about $75 over ordering on Amazon.

oh and also, I had the basic brazen, not the one with Bluetooth or wifi. I didn’t see the purpose. I mean why would I grind beans the night before? May as well drink the swill at the office break room! gimmicky for sure.

maybe ought to spend to some time on the aillio page and study some more, Lately thouh been spending most of my free time doing reloading and playing new far cry game.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top