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.
It’s true. If you can play with the temperature, that will be an advantage.
Slow roast vs quick roast will taste different. There’s so many variables in roasting coffee.
Exactly, as a back-up with no good options around you, it’s an awesome resource to have. And I just checked, 1 pound is $6 flat shipping, 2 pounds is $7 flat shipping (at least to Los Angeles).
I always purchase 2 which is why I have the $4 estimate. But I selected 2 pounds, and to my door it was $29 bucks. Shipping was $3.50 for each bag this way. So basically under $15 a pound delivered. Could be less or more depending on what you choose, but this is the average. These bags were priced at $11.50 each pound. 2 - $10 buck pounds would cost like $27 or so, delivered, so that’s not too shabby at all.
Just yesterday I decided to try a local bag cause there is a shop with great roasters. I paid $19 plus tax, and I tipped them too cause they were cool AF. BAM, $25 bucks right there for just 12oz. It’s hard out here if you go with fresh retail beans man. But I like to support good local business when possible too, so all good.
I finally figured out that my Nostalgia popper must not get quite as hot as the one Sweet Maria’s used in their writeup and videos. The Colombian decaf turned out tasty at 6 minutes, 45 seconds. Then last night I roasted a batch of the Sumatran (which Sweet Maria’s says people tend to either love or hate) for 7:15, and 18 hours later I ground some and brewed a cup in the Aeropress; the beans smell funky but the coffee tastes surprisingly good. I think I might be a convert to Sumatran. I’m not hearing any second crack yet at those times and the beans don’t look overly dark or oily. I guess my earlier attempts (around 5 minutes) were just too short.
I also played with a kettle roast and didn’t stir the beans often enough, so some parts of some beans wound up getting a bit blackened; the char taste is not my thing and I dumped the batch after brewing a couple of cups.
Nah. The Dunkin beans are a medium brown color, a bit lighter shade of brown than the ones I just roasted myself.
You see, I think people post things like this to get a big response, don't you?
no.
lol.
I’ve been drinking instant freeze dried coffee since 2018.
I’ve known people that drink instant and don’t have to, it is simple and quick with no muss or fuss.
no
way too much trouble
Lavazza is supposed to be really good coffee, from all I’ve read. ACME had a sale on it, pretty steep discount. I picked up a 12 oz bag, ground (no whole bean option). Dark roast. Man… I had high hopes and it’s pretty easy to see that Lavazza over-roasts their beans, just like Starbucks. Shame. Had to add cocoa powder and cinnamon to it to make a “pseudo mocha” to make it drinkable.
Dark roasting masks the use of shitty beans.
It’s that simple.
Robusta isn’t the correct answer.
Chris
What do you guys think about Illy? Also supposed to be one of the best.
It’s a huge brand with a great following, but Italy doesn’t grow coffee beans.
Way back in the 30s, when espresso machines were invented , Italians wanted cheap beans and those were robusta beans, which are cheaper, more bitter beans, but do have more caffeine, even when over roasted to mask the bitterness.
If you go through a can of Illy, or whatever, in a couple/few days, sure, but canned, ground stuff, goes stale pretty quickly.
Chris
Did the home roasting thing for a few months now with the popcorn popper. My assessment: ehh, not such a big deal. The roasting wasn’t terribly exact even though I timed it, because temperature varies from time to time and I wasn’t weighing the beans for consistency. Besides that, DW was complaining about the smell of some of the coffee I’d brew from these roasted beans (she has big problems with odors and the Sumatran was really setting off her sinuses). I did like the Colombian beans about the best of the 4 types I had. The Sumatran was my second favorite… they say you either love or hate Sumatran coffee, and it’s sorta true: I liked it, she despised it! 
So last week, instead of buying more green beans, I picked up a bag of Topeca’s House Decaf which is whole bean Colombian. Topeca does their roasting right here in my metro, so the stuff is pretty fresh. Good enough, and no fuss (unless you count 30 seconds of turning a crank on a hand grinder).