Do you roast your own coffee beans?

Few years ago I bought a cheap popcorn popper.
It broken on my first attempt because the oil from the roasted bean (over roasted!) dropped into its electrical part inside :person_facepalming:

Some efforts to bring it back to alive was failed.

Yeah, I’ll probably try for a light roast and stop the thing shortly after first crack. No way do I want to over-roast. Not into that kind of coffee anyway. I brewed a cup of dark roast Cuban style a while back (from a sample pack of fresh roasted beans), and it was not pleasant. From what I’ve read, the beans continue to roast somewhat after removal from heat, while they cool down. So I want to err on the side of caution. I can always experiment by adding an extra 30 seconds or so to the following batch, for comparison.

It’s true.
Usually a strong fan was used for rapid cooling the beans to stop it from roasting inside.

in an answer to xevious above:

Maxwell House for the win.
personally, i think it is a
“comfort food” kind of
thing.

however, it was not that scientific.
not double-blind or anything like it.
just 3 cups on the table. taste all.
which one is the best?

it was a fun night.
we might try it with other simple food.
chocolate, peanut butter, whatever.

I remember watching that video a while back. Kinda ruined coffee for me for a while, and I decided to just quit drinking the stuff.

I eventually started drinking Tim Hortons Dark Roast again because, whether its “real” or not, fresh or “dead” I enjoy it. In fact I love it.

I get an extra large every morning and often times ill have another one mid day, and even a 3rd in the evening.

I drink it black, and it lasts me hours because I just sip on it. I really just want to sip black coffee ALL day, every day.

Every store bought coffee, and every coffee making method ive tried at home just results in a hot cup of garbage.

There was one time I visited my Aunt, and her friend had just got back from Guatemala with freshly ground coffee.

THAT was the best cup of coffee ive ever had in my life. Even having been made with a Keurig machine.

Wow… what were the other coffee beans that you used for the Mason jar storage? I’ve not had Maxwell House coffee from a can for decades. Frankly, I didn’t even know it was still sold this way. I guess it’s a terrific fall-back. Hermetically sealed in that can, versus a bag.

Yeah, I’ve been made painfully aware of older roasted coffee beans being subpar to their potential. I threw out some coffee I’d been drinking because I was just too accepting. I simply can’t get fresh roasted beans in my area without paying more than double… which is antithetical to my budget conscious mind. I am still determined to do my own roasting of beans at some point. When I do, I will report back on my findings.

Meanwhile, I was in Trader Joe’s the other day and spotted this Select Harvest 50/50 blend of Nicaraguan / El Salvador coffee beans. I figured why not give it a try. It’s a medium roast. Well, it’s really delicious. $10 for 10 oz of beans. No bargain here, but I find it better than other offerings. I absolutely cannot stand “Joe’s Joe” coffee… find it too bitter, such that brewing with eggshells and dash of salt doesn’t help much.

If you live in the US, I highly recommend Monthly Specials Archives - Orleans Coffee

They are awesome at roasting and blending. They are also always having monthly specials on different coffee’s. Their pounds, NOT 12oz bags, their pounds normally average around $12 bucks or so. On special they get down to $9-$10 bucks or so. But very very high quality curated beans. They are one of the few I’ve found that is good for shipping quality beans for cheap. $9-$10 bucks for fresh roasted coffee is what some shops pay fresh from roaster’s (if their lucky). Yes some larger providers sell a little cheaper wholesale to shops, but then the coffee isn’t super great nor necessarily shipped the day it roasts either, some could be weeks later too. Gavina is a good example of that a cheap but unideal wholesaler. Orleans won’t beat Costco prices for a pound, but Costco’s coffee’s will never be “alive” either. I’d say Orleans Coffee is a great option if the coffee around you is too expensive per pound.

Edit: I’m in Los Angeles and have no affiliation to Orleans Coffee. They just learned from experience that they know when to roast and when to stop roasting high quality beans and for a damn good price (all things considered). If I didn’t have the options I have around me, I would just shop from them. They take all of the guess work out too. They have recommendations on other coffee’s you might like if you liked a specific one. They just have it all together, and it’s been that way for a long time. They’ve been around 40 years and have generations of clients, thats probably why they still kinda charge old-world prices. WIN/WIN is all I’m saying.

“…what were the other coffee beans…?”

Trader Joe’s (since this is Budget forum).

Trader Joe’s has/had some very nice ‘single origin’ coffee beans before “single origin’ was ever a thing.

I used go to Trader Joe’s in Encino, CA with my parents, when it was a small bohemian liquor, beer, cheese and nut store back in the late 60s.

Chris

I have no problem with Trader Joes selections. I have had an awesome Single Origin Mexican Peaberry that I still use as one of my mental markers for awesome taste. When I saw it had been roasted just 10 days prior or something like that. I couldn’t resist. Freshest coffee I’ve ever gotten at Trader Joe’s. It was like $9-10 bucks which is way better than what others try to charge you for many of their 12oz bags of coffee. Sadly I haven’t seen it since. But I think the issue TJ’s is like with all others. By the time it hits the shelf, the customer has no chance of it lasting long enough to fully enjoy. in my case I had about another week and half where it was still tasting pretty solid. But for most other’s, you get a few days in you’re lucky.

Actually thats why I like OrleansCoffee. You end up paying about Trader Joe’s prices for the same amounts, except it’s shipped but for damn sure fresh. Swear I don’t work for them and they are not paying me to say this. :person_facepalming:

P.S. Try the Thicoulipas Blend, or whatever thats called :+1:

P.S.S. Trader Joe’s in Encino and surrounding in the 60’s sounds like a pretty awesome place.

The popper came, along with four 1-lb bags of unroasted beans. Yesterday I blonde-roasted about 80g of the Guatemalan beans and medium-roasted some Colombian decaf, and this morning I brewed a cup of the Guatemalan. It is definitely very different. Much more nuanced flavor. The level of sweetness at the first sip (black and plain) surprised me. I can definitely tell that the freshness of the roast makes a huge difference. I’m not all that excited about the particular flavor profile I wound up with, though. More experimentation with roast duration and brewing is needed with this bean. And of course I have 3 others to try, also. Tonight with supper I’ll have a cup of the decaf.

Yes, I do live in the USA. Thanks for the heads up. Will definitely have to check them out. Those are good prices… but I expect shipping will eat a bit into that. In any case, I’ll check out the website to see if they have any free shipping deals, or times with a lower threshold.

Wow. I had seen the Mexican Peaberry, but I shied away from it because it sounded peculiar. That’s really good to know, about the roasting date stamped on it. Much of what’s sold at TJ’s has “best by” dates only.

I went to LIDL the other day and spotted Zambia single source medium roasted beans. It was $5 for an 8 oz bag. But the date showed when it was roasted—2.5 weeks prior. So I bought it. Actually tasted very nice. A touch thin for a medium, so now I brew it a little longer.

this experiment (?) has a life of its own…it will not die.

our friends want to do it again. we wanted to do the food test, but we were overruled.
so…whatever is on the taste-test menu will be supplied by someone (not us) as a ready
to dump into our Mr. Coffee which they decided to use as a “control”. it’s a science thing.

yes.
science.
blinded by it.

I’ve tried 3 of the 4 bean types, and I’ve varied the roast times somewhat on them, and I’m starting to think “Meh.” I haven’t gotten a cup yet that I like nearly as well as the usual Dunkin Donut stuff, even if it is stale. Nuance be hanged, I guess I value consistency more than nuance. With the Dunkin I know I’ll get the flavor I desire every time I make a cup. Fresh-roasted beans aren’t appealing to me.

It’s not the fresh roast that’s compromising your beans, it’s most likely the roast quality that is lacking. Popcorn poppers are designed to pop popcorn and that is infinitely simpler than roasting coffee! As soon as the kernel pops, it’s much lighter and is blown out the shoot and away from the heat source: Done!

Sweet Maria’s used to have a library of guidelines for using a popper. I don’t know what’s available there today, but worth a look around. Their site has never been easy to navigate though, maybe hiding in some dark corner now…

Here’s a few tips from distant memory and the top of my head:

  • Poppers tend to run the roast too hot and too fast for good flavor development time.
  • Fewer beans in the roaster will lower temps, more beans raises the temp (due to restricting air flow) The lower the air volume to heat, the higher the temp!
  • When I ran an unbridled popper, I found ambient temps of 65-70F were ideal. Since smoke and chaff makes this mostly an outdoor activity, weather limitations apply.
  • Don’t try to do 2 roasts in a row without letting the popper cool down or the second roast will progress too fast. When I did this I had 2 poppers and would alternate them to allow cooling time.
  • If the beans do not swirl and mix well from air flow alone when you start the roast, stirring and tilting the popper will help mixing and even the heat. It is essential the beans tumble and mix throughout the roast to ensure an even roast! As the roast progresses the beans expand and become lighter so often you don’t have to stir after the first few minutes.
  • If your roast is finished in 5-6 minutes or less it is likely “underdeveloped” and will have “green” flavors that are not so appealing. As example, my ideal controlled roast profiles run around 10 minutes for a medium roast.
  • Every popper will behave a bit different. Some poppers have a thermostat that will cut the heater element if it gets too hot. This might seem a good idea to moderate the heat, but for coffee roasting it is far from ideal! You want to keep the heat on and consistently rising through the roast, keeping the momentum forward. Dropping temperature will “stall” the roast and is detrimental to flavor development.
    You can usually tell if the heater is cycling because the fan will speed up and slow down due to varied current draw. Many have opened up and disabled the thermostat: yes, but do so at your own peril!
  • Examining the beans during and after the roast inform about how you are roasting: Is the color even from bean to bean and from tip to middle of each bean? Uneven and burn’t tips is a sure sign the roast was too fast and too hot.

That’s all I can recall for now.

Roast the beans until they almost spontaneously combust into flames and it will taste the same as Dunken Donuts and most other coffee. (Not joking)

You don’t think your Duncan Coffee can taste better than it does to you now, if it weren’t already dry? Cause even if you roast a bean to perfection, it’s possible that you just prefer the flavors in those Duncan beans.

But if you actually got your preferred beans from them fresh roasted, it would be pretty impossible for them not to be everything you love about them already, except with extra flavors you haven’t even tasted in it yet. Thats what people are trying to impart about roasting. No one would say, hey, let me get that steak cooked to my ideal medium, then let it sit for 4 hours before serving it to me. The steak will still be pretty awesome all-things-considered 4 hours later, but it would have obviously tasted way better had you eaten it right after it finished cooking.

Xevious, Orleans Coffee has free shipping when you order like 5-6 pounds. That doesn’t really help us stay in line with constantly having fresh beans tho if we stock up like that (unless you drink pounds a week, or co-buy it with others).

But even so, their pounds shipped are less than what coffee shops want to sell you 12oz bags for. So say you get an $11 dollar pound, and pay $4 shipping, that’s still $15 bucks out the door, and you didn’t even have to leave your house for fresh beans. At least here in Los Angeles, I see shops regularly charging $18+ (if not more) for 12oz bags, and they are even weeks old at times. Can’t be having that for those prices man, but I digress.

Orleans doesn’t even tax I think, or maybe just like a few cents. I guess I should say, if you live in an overpriced city like mine, Orleans is a breath of fresh air on quality and prices.

Thanks, Lojik. $4 shipping isn’t bad then. If I can’t get any locally fresh roasted, I’m going to give them a try. At the very least, to have a comparison.

Yeah, I read up a bit more about popcorn air poppers… and it’s a very mixed bag on reports—some claim to have success while others don’t. I also wonder about the flavor changes, that even while better than multi-month old coffee, it may be hard to take at first because of acclimation to older coffee. I found that 2.5 week old Zambia coffee was good, but different from the other beans (the Nicaragua / El Salvador blend) that I got recently and very much enjoyed. While taste is important, I’m also angling for that nutritive benefit. That video I linked in the very beginning mentions about nutrition and anti-oxidants being high in within that 1st week of beans being roasted.