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.