Do you roast your own coffee beans?

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! :frowning:

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).

I find dark roasting makes the beans more bitter and then it “homogenizes” whereas it’s hard to tell if the original beans were mediocre or good.

I used to be a dark roast coffee drinker, but for the most part I had stopped and went to medium roast. That’s where the flavor comes out. Roasting your own beans is a chore… so getting freshly roasted nearby or by mail with reasonable rates is the way to go.

What do you guys think about Peets Coffee, they seem to have a cult following.

For me, just making coffee is a chore.

Fill, grind, boil, pour, stir, push, strain, wash, wash, wash, empty, sugar/cream, drink, wash.

Yeah, french press. Added step of straining through a strainer+papertowel (coffee filter clogs solid halfway through) to get out the fine silt.

If I had to roast, too, I’d just switch to tea.

GF used to get that, but I never tried it. Heard it’s okay.

Don’t forget your goat-leggings!