HI,

I am amazed while now drinking my Brazil coffee sprinkled with some panama for a bit of fruit combined with the Brazilian for more crema. That said, i have researched every home roaster from the nescafe to the Hottop to the pop corn poppers turned coffee bean roasters, and i have come to tell you that home roasting is a hoax. I can and have roasted on a presto popped corn machine along side a Hottop.. Same old Same old.

This is what i 've discovered. Roasting is to coffee as the cartridge is to a turntable. If you are an audiophile youll know what i mean. When after buying with glee and excitement 20 lbs of green coffee from all over the world thinking that i had outsmarted all the expensive roasting padded coffees that i can take home a grind on my Cimbali.

Recently after moving to Long Beach MS, i had heard about Banks Coffee. An old bank building turned into a coffee shop and Residence on the 2nd floor. Shawn the owner uses a Sanfranciscan roaster. Who knows what it costs. But the important bottom line is that you can take an average colombian coffee and create a killer cup of espresso VS. for example, Esmeralda from PT's at $36.00 for roasted and i believe a bit less for green. Any way if you put the Esmeralda in your Hottop for example, You are going to have very average coffee without the magic ingredient. Which by the way is simply understanding that the roast is a huge part of the final product. The home roasters, all of them are exactly alike. I base this on the concept that when for instance roasting in a large machine which has a smoked flavor due to the length and consistency of the smoking process ads a flavor to the coffee that once you've had it, it just becomes essential to superior espresso.
As for me I must confess that the type of bean whether it has a 90 rating or a 97 rating is just immaterial.
As long as the beans are fresh and green I claim that it's the roasting that determine the quality of the coffee if you are comparing a SanFransican machine to any popped corn roaster to a Hottop home roaster.
Now take that to another level and roast a great green bean from a select farm and now you are in roasting heaven.


The roast which noone even considers is the missing ingredient i'll never overlook again. As long as the bean is dark,and that's all that matters is huge absence of knowledge imperative for your espresso machine.

What ive learned is that every professional roasting machine presents a very noticeable change in flavor to every coffee and every roast machine operator, with his method changes the flavor to the roast. I am not advertising Banks coffee as i am just a customer who lives 4 blocks from it's location and at the same time
i find their roasting to be amazing. But what i am saying is that if you would use them as a base you could compare any roast you are currently buying. And if you are a home roaster you aren't getting that smoked
process in your popped corn machine.

Now, i am in the process of turning an outdoor barbeque into a coffee roaster that will be essentially a smoked chamber for a long roast. and given the $9.00 a lb i pay for roasted coffee now it will be worth the 200.00 investment to do this and i'll report later as to my progress. But that aside home roasters for me are a complete waste of time and deliver a small percentage of the potential a good fresh green bean has to offer.

Amazing fact i recently was duped on.


Michael Goldsholl

goldsholl wrote:But that aside home roasters for me are a complete waste of time and deliver a small percentage of the potential a good fresh green bean has to offer.

I've never home roasted so I cannot comment on your assertion, but Marshall and others offer good advice in Experience great professional coffees before you start home roasting. Homeroasters who are interested in unbiased feedback are welcome to try Jim's Rate My Roast program.

Michael
Some prefer a strong "roast" presence in their cup and some don't. I find no "magic" in smoking the beans. In some situations I find it more of a "smokescreen". Lighter roasts are more challenging and require proper profiles designed with knowledge and experience to be enjoyable. I will continue to homeroast and enjoy it as I always have.
cheers,
Ed

Like so many other things, expertise is important.

Most commercial roasters have it. Many home roasters are working to get it.

I'm shocked - SHOCKED - to learn that a professional that roasts maybe 100 pounds a day has more experience and has better developed skills than a beginner who has roasted a few half pound batches, and even more shocked that that difference shows up in the cup.

Yes, I roast. I didn't start to save money - that's foolish. I started because I was dissatisfied with the quality of coffee I was getting from my local roasters. Now, my mistakes are on par with their general offerings, and in general my coffee is better than theirs.

OK, in fairness, maybe I did start to save money - I couldn't justify the price of having roasted coffee shipped in. I still think it was a confluence of factors that brought me here.

Congratulations on such a genteel, subtle and informative first post!

Like Dan, I do not home roast. Unlike Dan, I can and will comment on your assertion.

Home roasting is a bit like home winemaking: it's easy to do, and difficult to master. Over the past 40 years, some of the worst wines I have ever tasted and/or judged professionally were homemade. So, too, were some of the best! And a surprising number of commercial wineries have former amateur home winemakers in charge of their production.

In order to make wine, or roast coffee beans, at home, you have to know what you're doing. (And I don't mean knowing how to read the manual!) You need to know where to source your greens; what kinds of beans to blend (presuming a blend and not an SO), and in what proportion -- how the different beans will interact with one another, and if the best results are to blend the greens and roast together, or roast first and blend afterwards -- and to what level; you need to know how this green bean will taste when roasted to this or that level, using various roasting profiles; etc., etc., etc.

Some individuals produce exceptional results in the cup from their home roasts. Others, not so much.

There is no "one size fits all" blanket statement possible.

Cheers,
Jason

Hoax may be a little harsh, I like to consider home roasting as "an exercise in appreciation establishment" for the pros.

In all seriousness I used to be an almost 100% home roaster, but lately haven't roasted in months. I've had very tasty coffee home roasted but I'm no expert. I've also roasted in a whole slew of home contraptions. Currently my go-to rig is the RK Drum. The roast quality is high and really competitive with the stuff I can buy roasted. Brewed homeroast for me has always been exceptional, espresso was/is a different story (for me). Espresso was simply inconsistent and my roasts never lasted much beyond a week and change. For espresso I like to get the pro stuff, seems to work better (again for me).

Home roasting should serve as an avenue to garner more appreciation of coffee itself and how much the different factors can dramatically affect the finished product. I would never tell anyone to never homeroast, but I'd never tell anyone to only homeroast either. Like cooking one can make excellent meals at home, but its hardly a substitute for the finest establishments out there.

Some say, "Don't home roast because it's cheaper than buying good pro roasted beans.... after all, how much is your time worth?"

Regardless, I do home roast because it's cheaper. That's a big factor for me. Naturally, if the roasting machine costs a lot - and then breaks in a year - you have not really saved any money. I suppose, I also like making things - coffee included - so roasting/espresso fussing does count as a rewarding hobby.

Howard

I knew something was suspicious about those home roasting machines. Thank you so much for straightening me out.