Home roasting, about a month later

[Broken]

Originally Posted by Big Ben

I can see it now. Down the slope you go....

Have fun. It's a great little hobby.

Truer words may never have been spoken. I'm amazed at how this can consume your thoughts during the day. I'm using a Whirly Pop at this point over a Coleman outdoor stove so I don't fill the house with smoke and I found myself at work wondering it I could "modify" the crank handle to get a cordless drill attached to the end of it so I didn't have to actually crank the thing.

Anyway, about a month into this "little" hobby I have found that it is possible to roast some flat out undrinkable coffee, kinda like when I decided to try Starbucks back in the day ordered a "Black coffee with a shot of espresso", at least that's what I thought I said. Apparently what the kid behind the counter heard was "please brew me a cup until it burns so bad the people in the next county can smell it". I never went back and never understood what all the fuss was about, fully convinced the American public is a bunch of lemmings.

I have also roasted some batches that just ruin you for store bought coffee, the trick is reproducing that roast time after time. One batch I was particularly proud of I took to work and got rave reviews from my co-workers. I did not tell them it was anything different that the Foldgers they are used to until someone commented how good the coffee was that day. I got requests to roast some for people and that they would pay me for them. I declined and said I wouldn't charge them and I would gift them some once I got comfortable I could make a decent toast time after time.

I did trade a pound to a guy for some chocolate covered espresso beans his wife makes. If you've never had a handful of chocolate covered espresso beans let me tell you, they are a game changer. Screw the 5-hour energy crap.

I now have a French Press as well as a nice Burr grinder (not as nice as you guys, but it's a good starter). When I unpacked it my wife asked how much I paid for it and I said $50 and of course she asked "Why would you pay $50 for a coffee grinder"? I told her because I didn't want to go all out and get a nice one just yet. You can imagine how that went over.

As she glared at me from across the room I reminder her that I have a job and she doesn't. At that point she reminded me she has a vagina and I don't. I immediately saw her point and decided back off just a bunch.

In any event I am sitting here enjoy a Sunday morning cigar (Fuente Hemmingway Short Story) and a nice cup of coffee that could probably be better. It's a Sumatra that I got from the coffee shop in Downtown Pittsburgh who caters to home roasters. It's good but just doesn't have that strong finish I like so much. I tried just adding more grounds to the press but all that did was make it taste like I added more grounds. I think I need to roast it a bit longer than I did.

Thanks to all who helped start me down this "slippery slope" and especially Doug who flat out gave me a two handed shove down it with that coffee bomb he sent me.

I posted on these boards a while back when there seemed to be much more traffic than now, it's a shame because I don't think the world knows what it is missing not being a part of a community like this. Although, maybe that's what makes it so special, who knows.

The older I get the more I realize how much I don't know, and I'm oddly comfortable with that.