How do you make your coffee?

Instant, black, with filtered water from an instant hot water tap on the sink.

Takes 25 seconds.

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
How do you make your coffee?

Instant, black, with filtered water from an instant hot water tap on the sink.

Takes 25 seconds.

I haven't seen that coffee offered for sale in a couple years. I liked it. Where did you find it?

Nespresso machine. Two pods, two shots of hot water, makes a decent Americano.

quote:

Originally posted by fpuhan:
This whole thread has gotten me into thinking of taking the next step up. I've been buying roasted whole bean coffee, and then grinding it just before brewing. So what about buying [u]green[/u] (unroasted) bean coffee and roasting it myself?

I found Burman Coffee Traders where a pound of green Costa Rican Terrazu goes for $5.39, a pound of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe can be had for $6.90 (shipping extra, but reasonable). They also sell a variety of home roasters, but they have instructions for doing it other ways.

I'm tempted to buy their most popular roaster, the Freshroast SR 500 bundle, which includes 3 pounds of coffee and a free gift (choice of coffee mug, 2 lbs. Guatemalan, 8 ounces green tea, or Home Coffee Roasting Book). $180 w/ free shipping.

I started to roast coffee 12-13 years ago. I bought an iRoast machine, very similar to the one you posted, approx. same price. It was OK at first, but stopped working after a years or so. I didn't like it because the amount roasted was small, like a 1/4 pound. I had to roast almost every 2 days or so. I read about making a roaster using a Stir Crazy popcorn machine and a turbo oven. Found some online directions and it worked well for about 3 years before the oven stopped working. It was inexpensive to make, and it roasted up to a pound at a time. I then purchased a custom coffee roasting drum and installed on to a rotisserie unit for a dedicated gas BBQ grill. It was fantastic, extremely consistent roasts, and the drum held up to 2 pounds of beans. By far my favorite system.

For beans, I always got 'em from Sweet Marias online. Great service and excellent selection of beans.

Before I moved to Texas, I sold the grill and since then I've not roasted anything. But I still have the drum and rotisserie unit, I will probably get back into it this summer.

In an effort to reduce a ton of stuff on the counter, I started doing pour over a couple years back. Not because I enjoyed it anymore, but it was fairly convenient.

One thing I got for Christmas made a huge help though. OXO makes a pour over setup where you actually put a small plastic "tank" on top that has drip holes in the bottom. You quickly fill that clear tank part as much as you want, and it drips into the pour over filter at the right speed. It makes it a lot better tasting actually.

Technically, it's basically a drip setup where the hot water comes from a kettle, but its still a great setup for not having another appliance on the counter.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
I haven't seen that coffee offered for sale in a couple years. I liked it. Where did you find it?

The local Walmart carries it.

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
Stove top 6 cup espresso maker. Makes exactly 1 standard size cup of Joe. You can choose from mild to wild. I have a cup of rocket fuel bright and early.

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Cool. I wonder if Elon Musk likes his coffee the same.

I just picked up a Bialetti Brikka which is as close to pulling a shot with crema than anything other than my La Pavoni.

Went from a Keurig (yuck) to French press (wow). Night and day difference. So much so, that my wife now drinks real coffee every day.

Percolator, pre-ground coffee and jugged drinking water, as my tap water tastes bad.

quote:

Originally posted by fpuhan:
This whole thread has gotten me into thinking of taking the next step up. I've been buying roasted whole bean coffee, and then grinding it just before brewing. So what about buying [u]green[/u] (unroasted) bean coffee and roasting it myself?

I found Burman Coffee Traders where a pound of green Costa Rican Terrazu goes for $5.39, a pound of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe can be had for $6.90 (shipping extra, but reasonable). They also sell a variety of home roasters, but they have instructions for doing it other ways.

I'm tempted to buy their most popular roaster, the Freshroast SR 500 bundle, which includes 3 pounds of coffee and a free gift (choice of coffee mug, 2 lbs. Guatemalan, 8 ounces green tea, or Home Coffee Roasting Book). $180 w/ free shipping.

Take a look at Craigslist for a roaster. There may be a good deal available. I got my hottop for half price.

Chemex pour over with bottled water boiled in a Aromax electric pot. Chock full O' Nuts coffee.

I retired my Braun auto drip (Czech Republic) after 12 years of daily use.

I just put hot tap water in my styrofoam cup with a teaspoon of Folger’s crystals. It’s mountain grown, for richer flavor. Sometimes I put some Sucaryl in it to fancy it up.

I recently bought a Keurig. I like the Gevalia Royal Dark Roast coffee.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
I just put hot tap water in my styrofoam cup with a teaspoon of Folger’s crystals. It’s mountain grown, for richer flavor. Sometimes I put some Sucaryl in it to fancy it up.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:

quote:

Originally posted by fpuhan:
I'm tempted to buy their most popular roaster, the Freshroast SR 500 bundle, which includes 3 pounds of coffee and a free gift (choice of coffee mug, 2 lbs. Guatemalan, 8 ounces green tea, or Home Coffee Roasting Book). $180 w/ free shipping.

I started to roast coffee 12-13 years ago. I bought an iRoast machine, very similar to the one you posted, approx. same price. It was OK at first, but stopped working after a years or so. ... I read about making a roaster using a Stir Crazy popcorn machine and a turbo oven. ... I then purchased a custom coffee roasting drum and installed on to a rotisserie unit ...

I've thought about roasting for years. One of my best friends was heavily into roasting his own. He kept trying to talk me into this-or-that home-brew roasting setup. But I'm a gear head with an engineering bent. I have to be able to measure. I need dials and buttons and settings and readouts and digital proportional controller thingamajigs and so-on

I'd have to have something like...



But, at ±$600, that ain't gonna happen . (That's one of the same reasons I never bought an espresso machine. Champagne tastes, beer budget.)

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

I've thought about roasting for years. One of my best friends was heavily into roasting his own. He kept trying to talk me into this-or-that home-brew roasting setup. But I'm a gear head with an engineering bent. I have to be able to measure. I need dials and buttons and settings and readouts and digital proportional controller thingamajigs and so-on

The problem with this approach is that coffee roasting is not an exact procedure, it's almost more art. Kind of like grilling steaks, there is no precise times, temps, etc in grilling a perfect medium-rare steak. For me, looking at the roast, smelling, and more importantly, listening to the roast determines the final batch of beans.

If you want to try it out, I suggest getting a popcorn popper and a couple of pounds of green beans and try it out. I should have done this instead of spending 200 bucks on a little coffee roaster machine that was only good for a year.

Yes, but, once you figure it out for a particular batch of beans: With controllable temperature, air-flow and time you can replicate it effortlessly.

Further: The problem with the air popper approach is chaff. And there can be lots of it.

Like I said: One of my best friends was a serious coffee aficionado. One year he brought me a half-pound each of three different estate coffees he'd roasted. Easily as good, and their own ways, as the Kona estate coffee I'd purchased from a local roaster, roasted while I waited.

Even he roasted outside when he could. In the garage when he couldn't. He tried it inside just once. Didn't make that mistake again.

I don't want the inside of my garage covered in coffee bean chaff any more than I want it in the house. And it's too bloody cold to do it outside, this time of year.

Then there's the smoke. There can also be a lot of that, too, depending upon the bean and how dark you're roasting.

Drive through at McDonald's.

taster's choice freeze dried, free wed starbucks, mcdonalds, and sometimes...

French press. Kept a small one at work. Coworkers would salivate over the rich aroma.