Arpi wrote:A commercial roaster is by definition one that sells coffee. It does not have anything to do about quality.

Anything you do, by definition, has quality component to it and I think we can safely say that most roasters on recommended roasters list here are focused on quality.

As home roaster you need measuring stick to know how well you are doing. At least for me it is that way. If I knew there is no way to reach quality of top roasters I would not attempt to roast. I can't do it half-assed. What's the point? I can't justify drinking bad roasted coffee if I can buy better.

My goal with roasting is to learn to roast, for my taste, as good if not better than top roasts I can buy and enjoy the process. If I can't do that, I'll just enjoy delicious pre-roasted coffee AND save money

I've thought a lot about getting into home roasting. I see it as a way to learn a lot more about coffee, potentially fine tune roast levels to my paticular preferences, and maybe get access to some single origin coffees that are more eaisily available iin green form. It sounds like fun, too.

But while I think home roasting it's probably inevitable for me, I'm not ready yet. I've only been pulling espresso for a year, and have only had a Titan grinder for a couple of months. I feel that I still have more than a few things to learn about optimizing preparation, and a ton of things to learn about the many varietals and blends out there, most of which are available from top-quality roasters. I feel that home roasting at this point in the development of my barista techniques and tasting acumen will add a whole slew of variables that will likely confuse my perception of cause and effect.

I think when I'm at the point of being able to consistently find the best possible extraction parameters for any given coffee, and can distinguish the flavors of coffees from different regions of the world and/or produced with different processing techniques, I'll be ready to delve into home roasting. That bar might be a little high for others, but it's where I set it for myself.

another_jim wrote:My personal feeling is that it's much easier to learn how to home roast if you brew or cup coffee as well as do espresso. However, the results in the home roasting competition only bore this out for lighter espresso roasts; while the competitors who did best medium and dark espresso didn't show much on the brewing side.

Truth be known (as if anyone would care ), for a couple of months I've been drinking vac pot pretty much daily after my morning espresso drinks. So far, I've only brewed the espresso roasts I have on hand (light-roasted SOs seem to work best), so I have lots of branching out and tasting to do.

I originally added vac pot because it looked like fun and I was curious about the taste. Turns out I like vac pot quite a bit, and it's a nice change-up from espresso (though the latter is still my favorite.) I was surprised to find that, for me, the reduced intensity of brewed coffee makes it somewhat easier to distinguish flavor profiles (I still can't name the flavors, but that's a different problem.) After the fact, I realized that brewing would also be a way to try a wider variety of coffees and roasts. Hopefully this will hasten the day when I attempt home roasting.

In addition to having too many projects, coffee and non-coffee, to work on, the sheer number of available high-quality coffees is a bit overwhelming. What I need to do is sit down and come up with a systematic plan for methodically exploring what's out there and recording my impressions. I might even invest in a le nez du cafe...

Caleb,

Everyone has pretty much covered the "is it worth it" aspect of your question. I would like to weigh in on your last question. "Is there a list of favorite green bean suppliers ....?"

There may be, but right at the top is going to be Sweet Maria's. There are other great suppliers. and I've found a few. but Tom at Sweet Maria's not only sells the beans but has about the most extensive beginner's library for home roasting. You can't go wrong ordering a sampler from them and trying your hand.

No connection except satisfied customer.

+1 Sweet Maria's - I bought most of my coffee equipment from them, as well as some greens. The information available at Sweet Maria's has been invaluable - Thanks, Thompson!

I have purchased most of my greens through the Green coffee buying club. I have found lots of knowledgeable people there!

If any of y'all are interested, here is a standing invitation to visit our roasting plant and watch how we roast. You can ask questions. There is no charge. Just email me to set it up.

tony

sutono wrote:If any of y'all are interested, here is a standing invitation to visit our roasting plant and watch how we roast. You can ask questions. There is no charge. Just email me to set it up.

I would just like to add that this is an extraordinarily generous offer and anyone in the Chicago area thinking of home roasting would be a fool to turn it down. Heck, I might be in Chicago in January and will try to take advantage of this offer!

I suggest using a heat gun/bowl to decide/learn if you want to homeroast. For learning, there isn't a better method given the decent amount you can roast, the low cost of equipment and because you can clearly and easily see and smell the process and stop it at the right time. You can continually monitor and adjust. The popper on the other hand is hard to see, can only roast a handful of beans at a time and is hard to know when to stop. A few seconds too long and you can go from one stage to another. If I had started with a popcorn machine, I suspect I would have not continued to learn roasting.

I've now roasted about 350 batches. The first 250 or so were using a heatgun. I recently built my own roaster powered by propane and a knife sharpener which nicely handles 32+ ounces (by volume) and if I hadn't started with the heat gun, I would have had no idea as to what I was doing.

For almost a year calibrated (weekly) my roasting against Blue Bottle and now feel little need to do so; my roasts are now as good or better, often the latter. Now I'm starting to experiment with blending because I have a pretty good feeling for the flavors of the single origins -- I'm learning what they can contribute to a blend.

Quick cooling is very important -- something I learned from this forum and my cooler brings the temperature to ambient in less than 15 seconds. Once I started quick cooling the flavors improved substantially.

If you don't enjoy learning and doing things with your hands and senses, just buy roasted beans. Otherwise, it is quite an enjoyable hobby. Better than wine making -- you get instant gratification, can try new methods in minutes, cheaper and you can drink it a few times a day.

dan

Thanks for the informative replies; I think I will experiment with SM a little bit especially for my french press. I am also very interested in the list of Nominees for "Favorite Espresso Blends" review. I guess I will try it all !