Home roasts vs buy via web?

[rkruz]

Im enjoying the roasted beans I buy at the grocery store and grind myself
and make drip brews.

Does it make that much difference to roast your own beans flavor wise? Or
are we talking coffee conisioure difference where it makes a 2% improvement.
Would I has a casual coffee drinker appreciate the difference of roasting
and grinding my own.......vs.....just buy on the web, flavored roasts that
are not more then a week old?

Im in California.


thank you

 

[Alun_evans]

Hehehe.... well roasting your own can become very addictive! I think that before every connesiur developed...he was, as you put it, a layman himself! Up to you, but a cheap home roast unit is very reasonably priced these days. Also if you roast your own you can order a wide variety of green beans from guys specialising in servicing the home roaster. I can't imagine that you would be able to get hold of triple pick Iskander Mandehling, or Indian Monsoon Malabar from your local grocer! If you do put out for the home roaster you will probably find you will need to invest in a decent grinder and maybe an espresso machine as well. Otherwise you could source a local roaster, and but from him/her.

 

[donlp37]

If your not roasting at home and are concerned about quality, then certainly do not buy from your grocer. Find a roaster in town or a quality web site to order from. Sadly enough, most of the coffee in stores is six months to a year old. Notice the smell from grocery beans is a bit flat. Fresh coffee should not only excite the sense of smell but will also activate a light sense of taste. Coffee at its peak will only last about two weeks after the roast date. While having a exciting smell of taste and body, the beans should also have a bright smell to them.

 

[Quink]

The short answer to your question is, yes you can taste the difference. It needent cost that much either, you can roast in your oven at home I started that way, then went on to a popcorn maker and then an imex roaster. Its always fresh this way, and I wouldnt go back to buying roasted coffee unless I knew the roaster.

 

[dennrobb]

Home Coffee Roasting

I think there is a serious difference between commercially roasted coffee and home roasted. Unless you personally know the roaster, and can verify when your coffee was roasted, home roasting is the way to go. There are some micro-roasters out there doing a great job, but home roasting is easy and inexpensive. Two web sites that provide a lot of info as well as marketing beans are: www.thecaptainscoffee.com and www.sweetmarias.com. Hope that helps.

 

[ralphshade]

Re: Home Coffee Roasting

I think there is a serious difference between commercially roasted coffee and home roasted. Unless you personally know the roaster, and can verify when your coffee was roasted, home roasting is the way to go. There are some micro-roasters out there doing a great job, but home roasting is easy and inexpensive. Two web sites that provide a lot of info as well as marketing beans are: www.thecaptainscoffee.com and www.sweetmarias.com. Hope that helps.

Speaking as one of the micro-roasters out there, this is equivalent to saying that home cooking is better than eating in a restaurant. Yes, sometimes it may be, but the level of experience that a professional roaster has over the home roaster, as well as the quality of the equipment available to a professional has to be taken into consideration. Not that I want to discourage anyone from roasting at home. Just don't make broad statements about the quality of what is done by professionals. I don't know most of my customers "personally", but they all get the same level of excellence that my friends and family do. Most people who are in this business do it out of a passion for the product, not because they think they're going to get rich. We take a great deal of pride in our product, and I think most roasters do, as well.

 

[topher]

:twisted: TOO TRUE!! :twisted: Also when you dine out you don't have to do the dishes :wink:

 

[pablos]

Freshness is so important in coffee. I'd agree that finding someone in your town is the way to go. If you order online, make sure they dish that stuff out fresh. We bag right out of the roaster, and its in the mail the same day!