Any other coffee fanatics here?
 

I should be ready to sleep again around Tuesday of next week. We just got a new coffee roaster, and I've been experimenting with new roasting profiles and different beans. Gotta sample, of course. Damn, I love fresh coffee.

We got the i-Roast 2, but no, it's not made by Apple. A white coffee roaster probably wouldn't look good for long...

It's fairly well automated, with a display and digital controls. No USB unfortunately. You can store up to 10 profiles, plus the two built in. Each profile can contain five roasting steps with any temperature/time at each step. You can truly customize your roast infinitely. It's amazing how much the taste varies with the roast profiles (not just the level of roast darkness).

If you love coffee, you have to try roasting your own. The improvement is unbelievable. Ground coffee is bad in 48-72 hours, and beans go bad about a week after roasting. So how can you get fresh coffee at a store? The price is also great; most green coffee is under $4/pound, unlike the stores where you typically pay $8 for 12-16 ounces.

It needs to be Firewire because it's faster, Faster, FASTER!


Ok, my caffeine buzz is over.

Not a fanatic myself, but people do take their coffee very seriously around here, along with cheese, wine, and other kinds of food. If you get out to the SF Bay Area, check out Peet's.

http://www.peets.com/

Mmmmmm, coffee.

I really like Sweet Maria's for my coffee supplies. Not that I roast at home, but I have purchased a few other things from the site. Notably a decent grinder or two.

I have been thinking about home roasting, though. One of these days...

A moment of silence for the Trojan Room coffee-pot...
*sniff*

I only drink coffee when
 

I need to be awake.

I have some each morning and my most recent fix was ten minutes ago when I arrived home and had 30 minutes to freshen up, check e-mail, and head out to a concert and dinner. .

Sweet Maria's is where I got the new roaster. Great service, and they obviously know and love coffee. The amount of info on the site is great, as well as the extras they shipped. I didn't expect to also get their own usage notes, recommendations, profile ideas, etc.

Mmmmm...Peets... Agreed, among the name brands it stands out with quality roasts.

Photeks useless bit of info for the day:

"the UK now consumes more coffee per day than the Italians!"so now you know...!

I love coffee, but there is only one proper coffee shop where I live and they make the worst coffee in the whole world, it tastes like the staff have chewed the beans, spat them out and then burnt them before making the coffee. (Nero's)

any one for tea?:D

That sounds like fun, but I only really like Turkish coffee.
Are there any fancy machines for that?

I love coffee.... The one beverage I would sorely miss!!

A friend of mine tried a hot air popcorn maker with decent results, but that really is a crapshoot. My hot air popcorn maker never really got hot enough to give more than a light roast.

Carlos, how much smoke do you get roasting? I looked on sweet Maria's and drooled over their drum roaster!! The iroasts look good... Can you get a true French roast out of it?

This is looking like an early Christmas present....

I grew up in south Louisiana and we had great coffee there: "Community" dark roast, and "Luzianne" coffee and chickory were my favorites. I started making it for the family (as I was the first one up to milk the cow) from age 12 on, and thought that first cup of the day to be one of the simple pleasures of life. Still do!

Nowadays, we grind our own beans -- still dark roast, various brands -- as there are apparently more immune-boosting polyphenols that way. The smell of the freshly ground beans is wonderful. :)

Whenever I have serious writing or computer work to do, I have a cup of coffee on hand. It really does help to sharpen my concentration.

I love coffee, But I might not have to consume mass quantities after next week unless I find a new gig =). In the evenings though, I prefer green tea...

So for the home roasters: Does roasting coffee smell anything like the final outcome? There is a local coffee shop that roasts their own beans. And it smells the same as when you put coffee directly on the burner. That is, it smells terrible. This is, I think, the biggest concern I'd have over roasting my own coffee.

And a minor digression (tangent, really, since the question is complete and I won't be, um, regressing to it)...

I've found that I have to make my own coffee if I want an even semi-decent cup. It seems that all of the baristas here (yes, when I say I drink coffee I mean espresso) pull long shots. Even the McDonald's of coffee, Starbucks, doesn't make it quite the same as what I had in the northwest. Which I find very sad -- every so often I like to go to a coffeehouse and enjoy truly excellent coffee. Many places here have the atmosphere, but haven't quite mastered the art of pulling decent shots.

Ah, well then you know what Starbucks tastes like too!

I don't see any visible smoke from the iRoast, but I have not tried using it indoors yet. It's pretty noisy, generates a lot of heat. We're still running the A/C here, so I don't have any reason to try roasting indoors. It does have an attachment for a dryer vent hose so you can push the smoke out a window or into the kitchen vent.

It will do a fully burnt roast, so French is no problem. The only limit is that your roast profile can't be longer than 15 minutes, which is a long time anyway. I like very dark, oily roasts for most beans, and achieve that in about 12 minutes. Slow-roasting coffee is bad.

It goes through various stages and smells, plus the roast profile changes the smells. First you get kind of a grassy/earthy smell (which is what the green beans smell like, they don't smell like "coffee"). Then you get some very nice coffee smell, then you're going to get some smoke and burning smell. With my previous roaster, which had no temp control, it would smoke and give more of a burn smell. Also if your local people are doing large batches there's a good chance that their drum roaster is dropping chaff into the fire/heat, and that is burning off. An air roaster pushes the chaff out of the heat stream.

Unfortunately, there are two problems at work here. One is that it's an art more than a science, and the artisans expect to be paid well. Owners of coffee shops are paying minimum wage and know that only 1% of people would know the difference between crap coffee and good coffee. Note the explosive expansion of Starbucks, which sells trendiness more than coffee.

Secondly, since espresso is trendy among people that really don't have the palate for it, many places have thinned it out for Americans. I find it amusing when I'm visiting my parents in Florida, to watch Americans try to drink Cuban coffee. That's the epitomy of short pulls and high density.

The best coffee shop in Tucson is now gone. In my brief conversation with the owner when I could see things going downhill, he noted all of the above. He didn't want to ruin the art, but he had customers complaining that his coffee was too thick and harsh (it was perfect). Rather than compromise, he moved on to other work.

The Safehouse, on Speedway just East of Alvernon, used to have an excellent Barista on weekend evenings (Fri/Sat). I haven't been there in a couple years though.

... I was so piqued, I went over to Sweet Maria's site and browsed for a Loooonnnng time.... Then ordered the iRoast 2.

I'll have to see how bad the smoke is in the house... if it is... there is always the garage. Pending how it goes, I may order their Monkey esspresso blend, now that the cooler weather is here and hot beverages will be the norm at night!

Can't wait to try my first batch....

I'd love to hear how it turns out with the smoke.

What darkness level do you prefer? Do you brew with espresso, drip, vac-pot, perc? What beans did you get?

i enjoy an iced chai tea thats my morning drink of choice...its delicious. highly suggest it.

We have Willoughby's here in New Haven and they roast their own somewhere in Branford I believe, and that has been my source for years...

Over time I've tried many beans, but have settled into Sumatra Mandehling for my daily work brew, and Papua New Guinea (when it's available) for my weekend coffee. The roasts they supply are usually standard Full City style. I occassionally purchase some french roast sumatra for cafe au lait.

Since green beans will last so much longer, I'll be able to keep a broader variety available to roast what I want.

In my espresso maker I use either their espresso blend, and once in a while have mixed my own of 50% french roast sumatra and 25% each of Ethiopia yirgacheffe, yemen Mattari.

I'm hoping there won't be much smoke, but I could always roast in the garage....

wine for me
 

I love coffee, but if I had to quit coffee or wine for the rest of my life, I would choose to stay with the wine.:)

.

The key to a great cup of coffee is the ingredients:

– brown sugar, whipped cream, and a double dash of Irish whiskey.

;)

I agree on the Sumatra Mandheling. I'm out now, and have many pounds of other coffees I'd hate to waste. On my next order I think I'll mostly get that and a Hawaiian Kona. I like blending those with a little Ugandan Robusta to get an espresso.

For your desired roast level, try this profile to start:
2:00 @ 350
3:00 @ 410
6:00 @ 465

That's giving me a City + or maybe French roast with a slight oily surface and no "burnt" sensation.

....Hmmmmmm.... Yeah... a tough choice, but since I can't start my day with coffee (Hic):p I had to go with the coffee... Wine would definitely be second.

Sorry… Wine just doesn't contain near enough caffeine!

Carlos....

Here's an avatar you can use with your new roaster....;)

One of my favorite thermal mugs has the molecule with all the notation on it. Another has "Coffee" written in binary. Really makes people around the office wonder about me. As if they needed another reason.

BTW, thanks for the starting profile....

I see on the specs that you can essentially program the iroast to whatever you wish, which is great - but also gives you too many choices! At least with a profile from someone who uses it, it's a place to start.

Once I get the hang of it, I hope to try some of the Central American coffees which I don't usually buy - since I have my staples available and don't want the beans to sit around too long. The green beans will allow the freedom to experiment.

Yes, it's flexible but almost too much so, as you noted. You can either simplify it; use a single heat profile, or learn more about how heat profiles affect the bean. Many roasters use a single heat setting, so that's not terrible, just not ideal.

I like a lot of the Central American coffees, but dislike all of the Mexican varieties. Do try them, but buy a small amount. Nobody I've served them to liked them. Ethiopia has some great ones.

I haven't purchased coffee from Sweet Maria's (other than the sampler with the roaster). My previous source was coffeewholesalers.com; good service, good prices.

A short time ago I was browsing Sweet Maria's and remembered something I've been meaning to do -- buy a bit of machine cleaner. While I was at it, I bought some of the Illy espresso they have. Insert another comment about very fast shipping from Sweet Maria's. I know I live only one state over, but they had the shipment information transmitted to UPS the same day of my order (it was too late to actually ship). Very nice.

Last night I spent a little time cleaning the machine. There are a few parts that have some obvious wear, but for the most part the machine looks brand new.

I don't know if it's that I cleaned the machine (hey, I do wash everything daily, but oils from the coffee still build up) or the Illy espresso, but my espresso this morning is exquisite. Best I've had in months, at least.

I'd write more, but it seems that my cup is a bit on the empty side...

Porto Rico
 

Here in NYC, beans are good quality AND cheap at Porto Rico. One on St Marks and the other on Bleecker.

http://portorico.com/

Jacques

Well, have you tried it yet? How much smoke?:cool:

By the way, thanks to the thread starter for this delicious discussion.
-and it is very hard to get away from sweetmaria; fortunately they ship internatiionally, though that may be prohibitively expensive in combination with very heavy tax over here (VAT 25%):mad:
Impatiently,

OK... The roaster arrived a day early and after doing the requisite cleaning of the parts I set up in the kitchen to roast a batch of Papua New Guinea....

Fully prepared, a window fan was dutifully in place!

I elected to try the PRE1 setting, just to see where that took the beans....

Through the first seven minutes all was cool - watching the beans brown.... I got up for a second, turned around and - holy smoke - literally! I had to grab another fan and open up the back door to aid in the exhaust of the smoke.

Yeah! It was serious haze in the kitchen. I'm lucky my better half wasn't here! She would've had a fit. I wish the weather was better, as I would have roasted the first batch outside... Now I know. They do have the attachment to vent outside, and I may try that, though they say it will affect on roasting times.

Also, it is a bit loud... not offensively so, but it is not quiet.

End result was a good batch of beans which I look forward to grinding this weekend! Then: the taste test!

So Carlos, be thankful you can enjoy roasting outdoors!!

Oh, and I got the sampler - 8 half pounds, and a pound of Sumatra Mandehling...

Holy smoke!
Now I must reconsider, only exhaust here is through the window!

Thanks though, looking forward to your tasting report:)

The unit does have an included accessory to run a 4 inch exhaust - just what you can use... I may try that one of these days....

The exhaust should be fairly easy to use. It takes a standard dryer vent hose, which you could shove out a windows. For a more "structured" installation, you could try getting an exhaust plate from a portable air conditioner. Those are made to fit in most any window.

I'll be heading to Home Depot this afternoon to get some duct to use.

So tonight I'll see how that works!

Just to add my story, I was one of the fooled when I came to this country, into "this brewed dirty water is coffe". So now I have between 10 and 12 cups a day (having to finish my thesis soon also helps here).

Beign south american I don't know much of coffes of the world, but If I remember correctly, my perfect roast was about 40% of any brazilian bean (These are usually oily, dense, dark with strong smell). And 60% Colombian (these are usually quite clear, not dense at all, no smell, but their taste is excellent). Oh how I miss that!

Now back to my yesterday-brewed coffe.

R.

Méjico produces good coffee, organic arábica, soft and with low caffeine levels, but you can't really compare the taste with a barahona from the Dominican Republic with it's acidity and great body, or with a cup of Mesa de los Santos from 'El Roble' in Colombia.

.

OK... The good news is: with a standard 4" diameter elbow, and a 12", straight simple vent tube all smoke went out the window. ... Of course, I must use it near enough a window, but that's not an issue. As far as effect on the roasting, I used the following settings:

2:00 @ 350
3:00 @ 400
4:30 @ 460

And I had to cut the third stage off a little early. Overall I was very happy at how smoke free the kitchen stayed.

I intend to make a window plate to insert the duct into to make it easier to work with. Home Depot didn't have anything of that nature...

Once again, thanks to Carlos:D: for your endorsement of the i-Roast - and of course starting the thread. I'd wanted to start roasting my own for some time.

Great to hear! I may want to try indoor roasting too. Believe it or not, in the dead of winter we might see a couple days below 65 degrees here. Brrr.

Brrr indeed. It was 64 here this morning.

Yes, it was a tad cool, although it's lovely now. But I will take a jacket or wrap when we go to a concert at U/A this evening!http://forums.macosxhints.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

ewwwww... 64!

We're gettin' down into the thirties at night - tonight a hard frost is expected... Low 50's in the day. That said, it's a tad unusual for October here...

That's part of why I left Connecticut. ;) Another part is the weather during December, January, February, March... and the price of heating oil!

So... in regards to coffee. For those who are not roasting at home, what brand of beans do you use?

Here in Tucson the best beans I can find are Starbucks beans. Which is just sad. They're not good beans. Of course I can order beans online, which is what I do every once in a while. Maybe a home roaster would be a good thing to have...

Are there any Sunflower Markets in Tucson? We have them all over Phoenix. They have excellent roasted beans at a great price (under $5/pound). Huge selection too.

I don't know if they have good ones, but I would try Trader Joe's just because they do usually have good quality products of all kinds (Speedway & Wilmot, and that new one up Northeast).

There is a new Sunflower market that just opened not too long ago. My friends have been there, I haven't. But my friends have brought over some baked goods from Sunflower, and they've all been excellent. So it wouldn't surprise me that they have excellent coffee, too.

Most of the time I get my beans from Trader Joe's. They're acceptable, but not great. Note that I'm comparing TJ's beans to Torrefazione (which I can no longer get delivered (grr)), Espresso Vivace, and ... one other company I can't remember the name of right now. (Stupid work, interrupting my coffee ruminations)

But I'll try Sunflower, thanks for the suggestion.

I am more of a tea drinker than coffee thank to my Russian folks. But I did work at Caribou Coffee for two years and learned alot about coffee and drank my fair share. I must say I enjoy only the dark dark darkest coffee. French Roast and Espresso are my favorites.

The thing no one seems to know about coffee (not you guys of course, mostly refering the "that guy" that starts the pot in the morning) is how much coffee to put in. it's 2-3 teaspoons of coffee PER CUP. Not 5-6 tea spoons PER POT. Me being a person who likes my coffee as dark as possible, I get real upset when I get this watered down garbage at work. I alway have to make a fresh pot for myself.

Of course I make ultra strong black coffee and drink it with lots of cream and sugar :D

Minnesota, huh? I spent a century there one decade. I worked for MPI (now Seagate) in the heyday of big arse SMD hard drives (physical, not capacity. :)).

I agree about strong coffee, but I drink mine black. The casino bars here charge as much for a cup of coffee as a mixed drink and serve them in those glass cups that loose the heat so quick. If I can see any light at all through the cup, I send it back and demand a real cup of coffee. At times, I'll make up for the price a bit by ordering it with a shot of Jack in it, but it better still be dark. Yuck! Nothing worse than a cup of hot water!

I agree about weak coffee - nothing worse! As to brew strength... we all have our "tastes"... I use one coffee scoop (that comes with every machine) of whole beans per coffee pot "cup", of course we all use mugs and that will give me my three jolts and a top off or two.

I too love my tea, and the cold weather will see a lot more consumed... Ceylon is fine for me.

For those that like non-Espresso coffee, you really have to try a vac pot. This is a system where water is heated in a base pot and forced into the top top pot by the expansion pressure, mixed with the coffee. Once all the water is force up, the heat is removed and a vacuum forms as the air cools in the bottom, pulling the coffee down through a mesh screen and leaving the grounds up top.

Sure beats your standard drip machine.

Mine is made by Bodum, and Black & Decker surprisingly made a very good one.

Coffee Rush and Nordstroms has the best Coffee.
 

I love coffee with a little bit of cream and 4 packages of sugars in a 16 oz. cup. I normally get two servers. So I drink roughly 32 oz in about an hour an a half. That is all I can take.

I normally buy my coffee either at Coffee Rush in Chandler because of the social crowd or I get my coffee at Nordstroms.

Believe it or not, Nordstroms has the best coffee that I have ever bought at a coffee shop. So I am letting you all in on my secret.

If anyone on this list is from the Phoenix area, you should definitely visit coffee Rush on Ray and Dobson. It is right next to Blockbuster and has a great view of a small lake.

Of course you can visit Nordstroms just about anywhere since they are located in most big malls.

thx
RLC

last xmas i received, two coffee machines as gifts, as my lust for the liquid is well known, i had tremendous fun the subsequent week making all sorts of fancy coffees etc.
however i find that the machines are not as automated as one would have thought, they do require a bit of operation, and the novelty of pretending to work in starbucks, starts to make you want a minimum wage just for making yourself a coffee.

i think the only way to make a good espresso, is with the little stovetop can,
where the coffee is filtering up and being pressurised though the coffee, thus ensuring you get a fine opaque syrup, instead of a strong wattery coffee.

my favourite brand has got to be lavazza, its perfect, it can be so strong it verges into dark chocolate territory, however recently i have been sampling the delights of the premium ranges available in "whittards of chelsea" tea shop, at the moment i have been drinking one of theirs its a vietnamese dalat, its a dark little number, a bit spiky , but you feel like you are drinking somthing "grown up" 6 consecutive cups of that give you a fairly decent thump.

i have a penchant for a nice almond or vanilla syrup to pour in also, my frien orders these online from a french company, the name escapes me, they do a damn fine ginger bread one, great in the winter.
anyway, i'm off to make a pot (on the stove!)

I love espresso the most! I hardly ever drink regular coffee these days...

Yeah, it's a well-kept secret that they have fantastic coffee. Plus, you can go into Chandler mall via their store, grab coffee, and head to the Apple store. If you bring extra coffee you can get superb service at the Genius bar...

Yeah, I have been eyeing various appliances in order to have the fun of roasting, grinding and brewing. The goal of course is to enjoy a cup of espresso; but the work one has to put into this! This is just not feasible at 6 a.m. And the maintenance!!:eek: Backflushing, defrosting or whatever...So, I use a stovetop thing, but the coffee is not quite as good as when you hit a (good) espresso shop. I guess there is no such thing as free lunch:cool:

A stovetop Mokka pot is certainly a good device, but does not produce the same thing as a proper espresso machine, not even close. Neither is better than the other, that's a taste thing, but they are vastly different.

The work doesn't need to be done on the morning of usage. You should be roasting well ahead of time, as the beans should sit 24-48 hours before use. You can keep them in the bean well of the grinder, then just turn on the grinder when coffee is needed.

Of course, there are the auto systems, which we have. The machine contains the beans in a hopper. When you press a button (various programmable buttons for strength/quantity), it grinds the beans, measures, tamps, and brews automatically. It then dumps the grounds into a hopper, ready to make more coffee. You can literally make another cup every 25 seconds. About once a week it prompts us to empty the old grounds and add more water. It rinses itself daily to stay clean by itself.

I second Carlos on the Automatic espresso makers. They really do work! Really takes all the "work" out of making esspresso/capuccino. Although you still need to froth the milk for the capuccino....

There's a nice super-auto espresso machine over at the Sonoma kitchen stores that has a thermal container for milk, and auto-froths on order. It can be yours for only $3300.

At that price I may just as well get two --one in red and one in blue-- as get only one!

Yeah... I've been in the Williams Sonona stores many, many times, and they have some really hard core kitchen toys. When I win the lottery one of those "super" espresso makers is mine!!:D :D

All right, here's a question for you. What do you do with your grounds?

At my old place I was dumping them into the garbage disposal, and that worked out well. Now I don't have a disposal, and was wondering about composting the grounds. But I have very little other composting materials, so essentially I'd be just composting the coffee grounds.

So anyone do anything with them other than throw them in the garbage?

We have the mid-line superauto from Saeco, rebranded by Starbucks. Retails for $1k, and does a very good job. You do still have to froth your milk while holding a pitcher under the steam wand. Then again, Real Men(tm) drink their coffee black.

Don't know about the grounds...I can see them being good for plants (good organic material), but also bad (lots of acids). I think I'd google that unless someone else here knows definitively.

yeah, grounds alone may nat be the best, but I do recall them being mentiond as part of your compost. Mine go in the disposal....

The garbage works for Caribou Coffee.

Reviving the Coffee thread....
 

Well, I was out the other day and picked up a French press coffe maker by Bonjour... I was intrigued for a long time about them and the one I saw had a way o close off the screen so you could effectively "stop" the brewing processs.

Well This morning I made my first batch (using the home roasted beans of course!) and - well - frankly - I was a bit disappointed....?!!

I turned the gring down to a 4 (I use a Kitched Aid Grinder obtained from Williams Sonoma). The press says it's 8 cup, which amounts to about two of my large mugs... I based the amount of coffee I used upon the amount I use in my drip maker (for a 10 cup measued line in the machine ( a little over three mugs) I'd use 8 whole bean scoops.... so for two "mugs" I used 6 scoops....

Aside from the sediment which I sort of expected, the coffee was not the cup I expected.... As a rule do you brew less beans in a French press, or more? The brew tasted more "acrid", almost with an overly "burnt " quality, but really, it's hard to describe....

I hate to brew "bad" coffee, bit this is a surprising turn, as many freel the french press is nearly the best way to brew....

Well Carlos.... Have you any thought here.... grind size, amount... whatever?

Thanks!

Mike

Those are good questions. I use the press as my "emergency" coffee maker, although I fully realize it is another viable way to make coffee. I take it while traveling, and that's the only time I use it. So my expectations are lower (at least it's not Starbucks or Denny's).

Generally I use the same grind as drip, maybe slightly less. I think I tend to use "too much" coffee, which makes it richer to me. I do the same with drip. I usually use lighter roasts with the press. I get the water to where it is just showing some bubbles but not boiling--letting it boil is bad. Use clean water, a clean container, etc (I usually just microwave RO filtered water in the press itself without the metal part).

If you leave the coffee in contact too long it becomes more bitter as more caffeine is extracted. Short brewing leads to flat and thin coffee. Short brewing with extra coffee is kind of my compromise. I think I give it three minutes before pressing, then I let it sit 30 seconds, then pour off gently to leave as much sediment behind as possible.

Thanks Carlos... Thats an idea I hadn't thought of: using the microwave with the press....

I'll experiment a little more. The press I bought has a "closable filter that is supposed to cut off the "brewing" by isolating the grinds.... I gave the mix about four minutes before pressing and sealing.

Like you I tend to brew strong coffee... on holidays whenever I visit family etc. they ask me to make the coffee... I defer as much as I can, as my tastes would most likely have everyone else pouring their cups into whatever houseplant was nearby!

(DUH - on another note, these were new beans that I hadn't yet made a pot through the drip maker... Maybe it's just the beans... But I doubt that. Sweet Maria's is pretty reliable, and this was one of the "cup of Excellence" selections...)

Back to the buzz....

I don't know that I'd do anything with the closing feature; it seems like a gimmick, none of the others have it. They've been brewing that way for hundreds of years. I think you should give it a try the old fashioned way first. Once you push the grounds down, there's very little water contact with the grounds.

Let me know how it works out.

BTW, if you like non-espresso coffee, a vac pot is a worthwhile investment. Similar to drip, just better taste.

You're probably right on the brew gimmick.

This morning I went back to the drip pot... Well Surprise surprise... I do believe this coffee is just not to my taste!! It had a similar flavor, chracter as the french press, just not quite as intense. So I may have jumped the gun on my bad initial impression of pressed coffee.

On the vac -pot, I check out Sweet Maria's often and that have a selection of vacuum pots. Somewher down the raod... Yeah I'll probably get one... It's a shame that there are no "true" coffee emporiums arond here that really go over the top about coffee and have all the best coffee "toys"... Then again I'm lucky... I save a few bucks!

I picked up a Bodum vac pot at a local kitchen store. Decent price, in stock. It's nothing fancy to look at--plastic and electronic--but does a great job.

Beans, mail-order
 

Any best of suggestions for mail-order beans? I hear Carribou (Columbian) is very nice, never tried though.

I'm stuck on Porto Rico <http://portorico.com/> (since it's local as well) in NYC, they have quite a few nice blends. I'm just out of Alex's Blend from there, good coffee and prices.

Jacques

I've had good luck so far with Sweet Maria's even though they are out in California and I'm in CT. They do specialize in green beans....

For roasted beans, I used our Local Willoughby's - which also does mail order. You may want to try them. When you find a place you like, stick with 'em....

Hello everyone! Since I am new to this forum, here I'm introducing myself. I'm Peter and I love coffee. :)

So Peter, did you read through and are you going to roast your own?

I am getting fresh roasted coffee beans and good gourmet coffee from this Gourmet Coffee online store. :)

My Fiancée is a coffee fanatic (I guess it goes with being a nurse)... any suggestions on where to find a decent, strong but not-overpowering blend (she likes it straight-up black) to serve as a "stocking-stuffer" of sorts, for Valentine's?

(I'm not a coffee drinker, myself.)

Try calling in an order for coffee with Portorico.com - their prices are excellent and their coffees are even better!

Jacques

Why not get her something "exotic", like a Yemen Mocha Mattari, or an Ethiopian Yrggecheffe... These are good beans, and will show that you looked a bit into what is out there for her....

Sharing coffee with your garden
 

You can mix the coffee grounds straight into your garden soil -- or on top. They are particularly good for plants that prefer a slightly acidic soil, or to loosen up compact or clay-rich soils. You can with great advantage also spread ’em around roses; they provide more soil nutrients than you might expect.

Composting the coffee grounds first is not a must.

Cheers to that! As Petronius once said, "Wine is life."

Shop around a bit, their prices are quite high. Of course, all coffee is "fresh roasted" but by the time you get it, there's almost no way for it to be fresh any more. Even if you order once a week ($$$) you'd always have coffee that's in some stage between getting old and very old. I recently tried a few pre-roasted coffees in my machine using the same settings I use for my fresh-roasted, and the difference was not at all subtle.

Those are good suggestions from mkoreiwo, I like all those coffees and they are different from your regular generic Colombian and such. I'd also add Sumatra Mandheling to that list.

I'll also second the Sumatra Mandheling. It's my "daily" coffee.... I absolutely love its richness.

BTW Carlos, my iRoast2 went belly up on me a few weeks ago. Out of warranty of course! Luckily Willoughby's in Branford was nice enough to let me come pick one up without having to have them ship it - since I explained that mine died on me.

They sell geen coffee under the website roastmasters.com

Their selection isn't as vast as Sweet Maria's, but it is adequate for many, and their prices are fairly competitive, but not theleast expensive out there.

I can make a suggestion for a capuccino blend from Sweet Maria's: their Liquid Amber Blend... darn good - for my taste buds.... YMMV.

I need to order soon so I'll add that to my list of varieties. Sorry to hear about the demise of the roaster, but do keep the old parts around for future use. Ours has worked well though I had to order a new lid as the screen in ours was terribly clogged up. $10 repair after a year of daily use, not bad.

Yeah! Spilled large mug of latte on my Powerbook. The picture of good coffee sinking into the keyboard is the one to remember. What a waste!

I have lately started to grind my coffee every other day and I notice that it taste better with a richer aroma. Ok, actually, I blend it just like this guy does it.

http://www.willitblend.com/videos.as...e&video=coffee

I'd be more concerned about my 'Book than my coffee.

Hey Jacques, come on out to Park Slope! Gorilla Coffee on 5th Ave and Park Pl. roasts their own beans.

Porto Rico is undeniably good too. I especially love just walking in there and getting hit with the aroma from the bags. But now that I live in Brooklyn it's Gorilla for me.

sb

Got a roaster like Carlos'.
 

Just wanted to put my two cents in...

Just ordered a roaster like Carlos' from SweetMaria's.

Paid xtra $10 for their sampler.

When I was in Oregon I used to go to 4Beans in Florence and get French Columbian dark and Timor dark (latter is oily and buttery). Mixed them 60% 40% respectively as fine grind. For me it was superb.

SweetMaria's has green Timor! Now I'm in midwest and will just roast and mix my own.

Just wanted to share...

eValuone.

It's time for an order, I'll add that to my list. Another to try is Yemen mokka.

I found them <http://www.gorillacoffee.com/>, thanks for the tip!

Jacques

I normally buy coffee beans, grind it and brew it the night before. I will drink it while I'm driving to work. Recently I bought some bad coffee that wasn't to my liking. I bought Columbia Supremo Popayan. It's horrible and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. On the other hand, Nantucket Blend is very good.

Just to keep it alive...

I recently tried a new green blend from Sweet Maria's: Moka Kadir. I really like this one for my drip coffer. Haven't yet tried it for cappuccino, but it should be excellent there as well. Another blend I like from them (for esspresso/cappuccino) is their Liquid Amber - very good indeed!

I typically just buy coffee at the local gas station (quick trip) they have like foreign select brands. Drinking African coffee today. I need to get a small pot for my office. I only drink coffee in the mornings during the week, and sometimes I substitute coffee for tea.

Any suggestions on a cheap but good coffee brewer? I am not like a die hard coffee fan. Also, any suggestions on a Tea brewer? Right now I just brew my tea the old fashioned way by boiling water in a giant pot and then adding the tea, then tossing it into a jug and tossing that into the fridge. I brew my own green tea a lot and make green tea chai lattes at home (iced) to drink.

maybe im to young to applicate coffee, but i find the taste horrible, i dont mind frapacinos, or ice lattes, but normal coffe dont do nothing for me, id rather have a hot chocolate with some whipped cream from starbucks

I thought I liked a coffee until I read this thread. You guys are hard-core. I just plunge a cup to get me started in the morning. I don't even grind my own any more because I get up early and it wakes up my kids.

Talk about fusion :D What's your recipe? I like a good chai but I can't say I've had a green one ( or an iced one for that matter ).

I use this one, it has an automatic timer to brew. I grind before I go to bed and when I wait up and ready to leave work, my coffee is ready to go:D

It's cheap so it will pay for itself in about 2 weeks if you drink everyday.

http://www.bdappliancestore.com/prod...SKW=APPTHERMAL

You could grind at night and then time it to brew. That way you want disturb the kids.

Its not too hard. Just boil a bunch of water, add in your chai green tea, I toss a bit of honey in the boiling water as well. Brew it, then toss it into a jug and toss it in the fridge. Then I just go buy a quart of whatever type of soy milk and mix it 50/50 in a glass. It doesn't taste bad at all.

Ah, that was the bit I thought needed a recipe. I assumed you made your own as I've never seen green chai in the stores here.

They make a nice choc-chip-chai here T2

You could just buy green tea, add in cinnamon, nutmeg, a bit of ginger and whatever other spice you wanted to in the process. To make it faster I buy the green chai tea packets to begin with.

Back to coffee: My favourites are Ethiopian Harrar (the origin of coffee), Guatemalan, and Colombian - in that order. I used to drink Kilimanjaro but it became insipid. I also used to buy Sumatran, which I really enjoyed, but my supplier (NZ) can't source it at present.