Last Friday I roasted a pound of coffee. Sunday I roasted another pound of coffee. I'll need to roast another pound on Thursday. Luckily I've got another 13 pounds of green coffee on the way.
If your doing that much roasting Shawn, your either going through a lot of varieties or got some big bags.
I get 5lb bags a few times a year, but 95% 2lb bags with the occasional 1lb bag because of a limit. I've been sorely tempted to buy 10lb or even 25 lb bags once or twice!
-Jim
I'm having to up my coffee intake so I can roast some more.
Ideally you want to roast what you can consume within a few weeks and not stockpile too much. Personally I not that strict about it, I like to ladder my coffee roasts like a retiree would purchase laddered CD's, drinking the bulk of it when its most fresh, but keeping some back weeks longer to some add variety to the latest roast.
I only ever have at most two tins of roasted coffee on hand. When I roast two batches (10oz of green at a time) the same day, then I get a solid 2.5 - 3 weeks out of that. I do tend to work them both down at the same rate. Otherwise, one tin goes in a 1.5 weeks.
-jim
My plan is to roast enough coffee to last me a week to ten days, that way I can stretch out my roasts. If I end up going closer to two weeks I'll be okay with that.
My latest roast was two, one pound batches which yielded a total of 27 ounces of roasted beans. This should get me through the next week, I hope.
Do you notice any or much drop in taste when the beans are nearly three weeks old?
Not so much, but there have been instances of a door slamming shut. In 2008 I bought some Costa Rica Vino de Arabia now called Costa Rica Brumas Finca El Centro, that I had one roast that I thought hit it perfect. After a ~12 hour rest, it was like sipping a good red wine. Unbelievable. One day later, that flavor was gone. I don't recall even a hint of red wine after the initial cup.
Oddly enough, I roasted it again and got a consistent red wine flavor throughout the week. I'm wondering if it's possible to roast a bean to a point such that the predominate flavor is at it's max which also accelerates it's demise?
-jim
Last Friday I roasted a pound of coffee. Sunday I roasted another pound of coffee. I'll need to roast another pound on Thursday. Luckily I've got another 13 pounds of green coffee on the way.
Getting all the brewing parameters consistent is another issue that can cause the flavor to vary. A few weeks ago I make 3 different cups on the same day with the Presso, all using the same home roast coffee ground on the same setting. The 1st cup was just okay but drinkable, the 2nd cup was fantastic as if it were a totally different coffee, and the 3rd cup was quite good, tasting somewhat like the 2nd but with different flavors highlighted. I like the Presso, but it is about the most unrepeatable way to brew. No doubt that the mount of coffee, tamping pressure, water temperature, extract pressure differed on each cup that day (especially the last 2 parameters).
Where are the reviews dude? I wanna know what green beans I should be buying!
I'd like to clear something up about tasting...snip..
Until I get my roasting dialed in my reviews would probably be pretty much worthless to you. Plus I don't know that my palate is ever going to be sophisticated enough to pick up some of the tasting notes that are listed for some of the beans I have. ..snip..
*Warning* - This is a bit long.
And that's just the 3D snapshot; coffee taste is 4D, which is to say time sensitive. As a cup cools, the flavor will morph. It's not clear to be if this is perception (the flavor is there, but hidden by heat) or a reaction to being oxidized.
I'd like to clear something up about tasting.
*Warning* - This is a bit long.
It is certainly complex, but the nice thing is on the other end of the spectrum, everybody can appreciate the phrase "That's a good cuppa joe".
Tom of SMs had an interesting article about training your palate - discerning variations of sweet, sour, salty.
The one thing I learned is not to confuse your aftershave with how your coffee smells - ummm, lime...
-jim
Ok, I'm going to go brew up a cup. I think it tastes, um, pretty good. Very fresh coffee-ish, with a hint of coffee bean, and coffee.