Coffee question

kevindsingleton · May 28, 2010

We buy our coffee "green", and roast it, ourselves. We do about a couple weeks' worth, at a time, keep it in a sealed glass jar, grind it fresh, and use a drip coffee machine with unbleached paper filters.

We like our coffee a little less "done" than most of what you can buy (we call it "medium roast"). We get the beans from Green Coffee Beans | Home Roasting Supplies, U-Roast-Em, from all over the world. They have great descriptions of the differences, and the prices are very good.

I didn't care for "french pressed" coffee, but it was probably as much the burnt beans as it was the method.

mburke121 · May 28, 2010

BP, I was not aware of that. I will have to do some reading this weekend. Thanks for the info.

RobertN · May 28, 2010

I like a smaller coffee press for just a cup of coffee. Simple, works nice. Mine is just for a cup; I stash it in my backpack for trips out in the woods. I also have a stovetop espresso pot; nothing like a nice Mocha on a crisp moring sitting by an alpine lake...

Have you checked out the setups they use for coffee in Central and South America? Coffe I had in Costa Rica was really good!

Brew a great cup of Costa Rican coffee
http://gallaudetblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/nuestra-tierra2.jpg

orezok · May 28, 2010

We use a French press when were out camping, but I put a standard coffee filter on top before inserting the press. Slowly push it down and and it both keeps any of the fine grinds from slipping past the screen and removes the oils.

For the best coffee, I prefer a vacuum maker, but no one makes an "automatic" one any more (Bodum used to) and sitting and waiting for the water to boil to the top with a manual one is too much trouble.

If you don't know what a vacuum maker is, think back about 40 years and every restaurant used them.

bp fick · May 28, 2010

Anybody beside me think this coffee talk is at least as exciting as tractor talk?

Lots of favorites. Kenyan (kind of citrus like) Costa Rican is great!!! Love a local company called BiggBy, which is really roasted by Paramount. Best coffee I had was on a jet lagged morning, at a little hotel basement, in Rome, on Barberini Square. Unfiltered, silver coffee service, hot milk, linens on table. Ah......

RobertN · May 28, 2010

There was discussion here some time back(2-3 years?). There were a few folks at the time roasting their own beans and stuff. Never tried it, but it was interesting thread. Do not remember who the roaster were though. Maybe Bird remembers...

Edit.....

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/95811-any-home-coffee-roasters-here.html

Did a search for "roasting coffee"

bp fick said:
Anybody beside me think this coffee talk is at least as exciting as tractor talk?

Lots of favorites. Kenyan (kind of citrus like) Costa Rican is great!!! Love a local company called BiggBy, which is really roasted by Paramount. Best coffee I had was on a jet lagged morning, at a little hotel basement, in Rome, on Barberini Square. Unfiltered, silver coffee service, hot milk, linens on table. Ah......

Chuck52 · May 28, 2010

Didn't we once have a coffee supplier as a member? Anyhoo, I use a French press and my rule for judging whole beans is if they aren't oily they aren't worth buying. As to the taste of specific roasts, that to me is secondary to fresh. Fresh, any roast, is better than the best roast stale.

Chuck

ragkar · May 29, 2010

I'd like to suggest Home Coffee Roasting Supplies - Sweet Maria's as a source for coffee education and supplies. They have a very high reputation on the alt.coffee usenet newsgroup. I have been ordering from them, usually twenty pounds at a time, for over ten years.

As far as brewing there are various methods and from best to worst.
vacuum pot - rather costly, time consuming and difficult to clean. But it brews the best.
french press - a close second to the vacuum pot, less costly and fairly rapid (8.5 minutes for one cup from start to finish)
drip - rather poor taste but simple to make and clean afterwards
percolator - oily, rancid, over brewed, nothing to recommend it

Come over to my place and I might treat you to a cup of Kopi Luwak coffee. It's the world's most rare and expensive coffee at $400 a pound. The USA allotment is 50 pounds per year.

The frosting on the cake of roasting your own is that you get to sneer secretly at the supermarket shoppers that are trying to decide which gourmet blends to buy. A blend need be only 10 percent of the named coffee. The rest is junk.

jlrsn · May 29, 2010

ragkar said:
Come over to my place and I might treat you to a cup of Kopi Luwak coffee. It's the world's most rare and expensive coffee at $400 a pound.

I appreciate the offer but defecated coffee beans aren't my thing.
Jim