I go through about 1lb per week... generally I'll switch up brands/types each week, though I just joined PT's Espresso club, so I'll be using their espresso 2 weeks out of the month.

If the coffee used for espresso is over about 11 days old, I most often dump it or use it for practice only. If using for presspot, I'll normally keep the coffee around for up to 25 days, as I still find it enjoyable even if not at peak.

Currently I roast ~0.75kg at a time and keep it (2-3 weeks) in the hopper till the espresso starts getting runny, then I use the french press until the next roast.

Henry

another_jim wrote:I roast four to five coffees every week. One or two for brewing, the rest for espresso.

Hi Jim (and anyone else who wants to pitch in and help a new roaster).

This post goes directly to the heart of my current location on the learning curve: What differentiates a roast for brewing and a roast for espresso? Last week I roasted some Brazillian Moreninha, some Costa Rican St Elena, some Ethiopian Yirg, some Timor Maubasse, and I've been using them this week in my new Yama and my new Chemex, but, truly....I'm not sure what I'm looking for in the bean/roast for the different methods.

By the way, my roasting capabilities are limited by my machine: an IR2 with a thermocouple, which gives me 15 minutes to roast 150 gm....

Thanks for any information

Nothing complicated about it. I ask myself if I like the coffee? If no, I dump it; if yes, I ask if I like it more brewed or as espresso? Finally, I find the best tasting roast for the way I like the coffee made. I figure if I get out the most out of every coffee I get in; I'm having the best possible experience. This strikes me as more or less self-evident, and cuts through a lot of BS.

Aha, so you roast the coffee and THEN decide.....Makes sense, but it still had to be explained to me.
Everything is easy once someone shows you the simplicity of it.

Thanks

SJM wrote:Hi Jim (and anyone else who wants to pitch in and help a new roaster).

By far the most important roasting accessory is a pencil. Take copious notes.
There's not a lot that is more frustrating than never being able to duplicate Nirvana

More than I change clothes .

I probably don't know enough to know better, but I keep 4-6 different roasts next to the grinder and I mix and match at dose time pretty much on a whim. Learning to adjust the grinder/dose/flush optimally (to my tyro palate) for different blends seems part of the fun to me.

HB wrote: I'd get bored with the same coffee day in and day out. .

OTOH, I've upped my coffee orders to batches of 5# + 2# decaf (then vac sealing and freezing.) Something over one month of coffee. After years of careful, but undisciplined, home roasting (You want variety? I'll give ya variety!) a day-in, day-out coffee is illuminating, enjoyable, and offers a kind of variety I hadn't experienced before.

My intention is to drink my way through (in this fashion) HB sponsors and frequent roaster-mentions in the forums.

cafeIKE wrote:Last time I cleaned and switched coffee in the MaxH, about 30g remained. Assuming an equal amount of the next coffee is required to clear all remnants, 225g leaves about 160g of 'pure' roast. Doing the math, 60 / 160 = 37% of the coffee could be indeterminate.

I'd get frustrated futzing with grind, dose and temperature every other day.

I know how you feel!

I change rarely, when I get a coffee I like why change? (I have yet to hit the road of coffee taste voyage, I did it already with tea and for now humble simplicity is the rule).
As for the second part, I buy 1 kilogram and then split the bag into two 500g and one use while the other one is vacuum closed. Takes me usually some 3 weeks to drink it all.
Aha - and I never ever freeze. Freezing kills the life force in the food.