I've been thinking about home roasting recently, and also I'm going up to Chicago in a few weeks for a summer course, and on the weekend I plan to talk to my parents about going to Intelligentsia and Metropolis coffee co

orphanespresso wrote:Even though I just turned 18, I have enough wisdom to have married a much older woman!

I am 22 and my interest in coffee started when I got a job at Starbucks 2 years ago. It quickly led to getting a mr. coffee pump machine, fresh roasted beans, hand grinder, mods to the machine, commercial grinder, home roasting on a popper, restoring an '83 pasquini livietta, and now a large cast iron grinder and BBQ roaster while sitting on 20 pounds of green beans. Good luck! And take your time to enjoy it. I know when one becomes excited about a hobby, one can stress themselves out thinking and dreaming and planning the next step. You have definitely found the right place to share and learn!

I'm 19 and I've been in love with coffee for about four years now, roasting for 2 and 1/2.

I left for college with a then progressive setup, a Chemex and a Krups burr grinder. I was fortunate enough to discover Coffee Connection in Boston back when the idea of premium roasted coffee was beyond novel and George (Howell, as I later learned) was one of the few that had the passion.

I remember discovering two things about espresso in the North End, Cafe Vittoria, as I recall. First, that it was super tasty. Second, and perhaps most importantly, those empty window tables weren't really "empty." I was politely informed that they were "reserved" -- some later trips found a refined, grey-haired gentleman in a beautifully tailored suit sipping a cup at one of those tables, flanked by two equally well-dressed stock men, neither partaking, and both standing and wearing dark sunglasses. I drew my own conclusions.

Another favorite haunt was an Armenian coffee house in the basement and sub-basement not far from Coffee Connection's location in The Garage. I was introduced to Turkish coffee there, as the scent of hashish drifted up from the unseen depths, where older men occasionally appeared from and disappeared to.

I tried everything I could to make coffee in college, and I still have some of it around; Chemex, Melitta, stovetop espresso (moka) pot, ibrik, French press, Vietnamese, vacuum. I read the book on coffee science that MIT had in its libraries; disappointing on espresso as it talked about making coffee on airliners, not that sweet beverage I knew from the North End.

No, you're hardly alone. I'd say you're in a much better time to be able to learn from peers and masters now that the art is more widely shared than it once was.

Thankyou, I'm glad to hear many of the stories about the beginnings of the younger members of HB.

Thats lovely! I myself had a hobby called computers at that time. But since 10 months ago (when I was still 18) I bought my Rancilio Silvia/Mahlkonig/Baratza Vario. And now I have some other machines and im roasting myself too

Its really nice to be able to roast your own coffee and decide how fast your coffee goes stale (unless you get lots of unexpected visitors )

Dont stop pursuing your dreams! Ur certainly not alone in your quest.

Thankyou! Just wondering, what type of roaster do you use?

I use the Gene Cafe to roast my beans, I roast up to 250 grams. I am not really sure if im doing a great job, but the coffee tastes good in my cappuccinos (as long as I dont use too much milk so I dont even notice it ofcourse)

One time I noticed that some beans were a bit different than others, in a 250 batch which was done. But that might have been my own fault somehow, or maybe too much beans since 250 is the max. And in different I mean I had to change my grind setting to finer. Its a great roaster though and I have heard good things about it.

For a while in Vancouver, BC there was a young person named "Jake the Coffee Lover."

Interesting, there was also one in England who I'd love to be! He set up a small coffee stand in his fathers art gallery for $500

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011 ... g-barista/