Hey how about a Free CD?
Use the promo code “free cd” at checkout for the Roast Magazine Digital Reprint. One whole year, six issues, on one CD.
The CD contains one years worth of every page of every issue, every article. Just order $199 or more (excluding shipping ) and enter the coupon code “free cd” at check out.
Charts, graphs, maps and images to make your head spin. Click here to see the list of articles
This is is a must have for your permanent coffee library.
Yay! more free stuff.
Ordering now will also get you a free copy of Imbibe Magazine in your box until supplies run out.
When you subscribe to Imbibe, use this link for up to 46% off the regular subscription price.
Imbibe Magazine, 46% off via The Coffee Project
Imbibe Magazine is indispensable for broadening your knowledge of our liquid culture. Great for the mixologist, home brewers, wine fanatics, tea lovers, and anyone who loves the exotic. Learn how to work with absynthe, make your own maraschino cherries from scratch, and more.
Take a look at the “Make Mine Monthly” option that we have on a number of our beans choices.
When you choose the drop down menu option to “Make Mine Monthly” then you’ve locked in that price (even a sale price!) on an unbroken flow of recurring beans orders.
So for instance, this weekend just prior to Christmas and Hanukkah has most of our beans on sale. If you choose the “Make Mine Monthly” option then you’ll get that same pricing month after month after month until you tell us to stop shipping that exact order out.
For another description of this idea see our FAQ page. But that’s a basic idea, a GREAT value to take advantage of.
Is there a problem with using coffee just after it cools after roasting… or should we wait some time between roast and grind and brew?
Thats a good question- slightly different than asking if its better to wait. Waiting, letting the coffee “rest” or “degas” does help in creating better flavor. “Problem” is a definite negative.
Its counter intuitive to the idea of fresh coffee, but letting the beans sit for anywhere from a day to even 3-4 days will make a big difference as to when the coffee is at its peak aroma, flavor, taste. Some espresso blends really hit their stride at a week after roasting. It all depends on your personal taste but time is definitely part of the recipe.
As an experiment try brewing three cups at 2 days and 4 days and one immediately after roasting. Just roast them on different days and try brewing all three at the same time to taste the difference.
What you’ll see on the just-out-of the-roaster one when brewing is an effect called “bloom” that’s the coffee puffing up due to the co2 escaping. There will be less or none on the other two.
And thats the answer to your original question, if there’s a problem with brewing straight from the roaster, its because of bloom. When the hot water hits the yet-to-degas coffee all that gas tries to escape and causes the bloom. The escaping gas prevents the water from really well saturating the grinds before dripping on through. As the water is trying to get in to saturate the grounds the gas is pushing back out just as hard. So while it looks wet, its not as wet as it could be and the water isn’t leaching out the good stuff as effectively. …While it can be argued that once ground, the coffee should be as degassed as its ever going to be. In practice it doesn’t seem to be true.
Once you’re past the coffee degassing, which takes about a day, then its just a matter of where you think the coffee is hitting the mark before grinding it up. You’ve probably already noticed that a few days after you’ve roasted you get that experience of “Wow, THAT’S a good cup of coffee! ” All you have to do is start taking notice of that experience for each kind of coffee you roast, how you roasted it, and plan ahead for it
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Coffee can be maddening, especially in a home roaster. There’s a lot of generalities, rules of thumb, but very few recipes set in stone to master it. If you generally do the same things the same way each time however and only change one factor (as if thats possible) you’ll eventually begin doing it by second nature.
…Kind of like cooking a fried egg. You just know how to do it and you don’t need charts and graphs and a slide rule to determine the proper BTU’s of energy or the coefficient of friction in teflon.
Just do it. Break some eggs, roast some coffee. Its easy.
Yes can ship to UK. The Coffee Project can ship to anywhere deliveries are made, except for coffee growing regions.
The most economical way to ship coffee would be by USPS Flat Rate box. They come in different sizes. The two smaller options will hold up to ten pounds or up to about fourteen pounds for $39, A larger one will hold up to 20 pounds for $50. But I wouldn’t recommend filling them to capacity.
There’s also a flat rate envelope that will hold about 2 pounds of bean for $12.
When we ship orders outside the US our responsibility ends once the boxes are on the way. If they are lost, stolen, held up, damaged, etc there’s no way for us to fix the problem from here. Any import fees, taxes etc are the receiver’s responsibility. We will send a confirmation of having shipped the box(es) but once they leave here we have little control over what happens next.
Other services like DHL have much better tracking, but are very expensive.
Travel time is typically estimated up to reaching your local hub, not necessarily to your door. Holiday ordering will probably take longer than normal on both ends.
Help! I don’t drink coffee, but I want to buy a coffee roaster for someone who is an extreme coffee lover. Which roaster should I buy?
This time of year, we get many calls from thoughtful people that would very much like to give their beloved Coffee Hound something that they will really enjoy—a home coffee roaster. Many of these people don’t drink coffee at all, so it’s doubly hard for them to pick out a roaster and beans that the intended recipient will enjoy. The question foremost in their minds is “Which roaster would be best for my husband/wife/friend?” Here are some considerations that will help you hone in on your selection.
1. How many people in the household will be drinking coffee? I’ve always said that capacity is highly over-rated. With so many coffees on our menu, why would you want to drink the same coffee every day anyway? Still, many people would like to roast a whole weeks worth of coffee in one fell swoop and be done with it. In that case, you might want a roaster with a slightly larger capacity. Here are the roasters in order of capacity, smallest to largest.
Freshroast Plus 8
Roasts about one 14 cup pot of brewed coffee per batch.
Hearthware I Roast 2
2-3 pots of coffee worth.
Gene Cafe
About a half pound of coffee
Behmor 1600
Allows you to select a quantity to roast, ¼ lb, ½ lb, or 1 lb of green coffee.
2. What kind of a person is the intended recipient? OK, this is NOT a trick question. Hands on people who like to tweak, modify, and play with their hobbies will enjoy a roaster that allows them to create and vary the roast profiles to get the best flavor from their beans. For these people, the Hearthware I Roast 2
and the Gene Cafe are good choices. People who like to turn the machine on and let it do it’s thing might be happier with a roaster that doesn’t require you to do anything but load it up, turn it on, and watch it go. Selections in this category are the Freshroast Plus 8, Hearthware I Roast 2
(has both preprogrammed profiles and the capacity to create your own), and the Behmor 1600 which allows you to select one of 5 pre-programmed roast profiles along with roast time.
Remember that all of our roasters come with some beans to get you started. Be sure to check the drop down menu for your options.
A nice addition for someone just learning to roast coffee is the book Home Coffee Roasting by Ken Davids, a respected professional in the industry.
Still in need of some guidance for roasters and beans? Give us a call! We have excellent customer service, and have people who actually know about coffee and coffee roasting on hand to answer your questions. We’ll be glad to help you find the right roaster for your resident coffee lover.
Happy Roasting, and Happy Holidays!
Cheryl
You may have noticed that the tape used on the Behmor 1600 is especially sticky…. Just got this from Joe Behm. Joe says,
“DO NOT USE acetone or nail polish remover on the control panel or digital display to remove the stickum… While I’ve personally not used WD-40 some customers are recommending it and I know goo be gone works really well. My sincerest apologies for the extra effort required to remove the ugghhh.. ”
Subsequent runs of roasters will have a different tape used.
OK, I’m not that big a geek, but this is cool:
Our good friend Gerry wrote to us about the new Rooibos.
“Greetings James, attached pic of me suffering high altitude sickness in the
remote Peruvian Andes. The mask is to prevent ultra-violet burn.
Rooibos tea is only grown in the Clanwilliam district of South Africa. It has lots of health benefits which will be revealed via Google. It has been very well chemically studied. Rich vitamin C even I believe. Traditionally a pot is put on the wood stove and kept brewing all the time.
As the tea gets weak then more I added. Eventually you have to start over of course. In other words – boil the sh*t out of it. Steeping and 3 minute infusions are too woosy for words.
By the way I spent 15 years there.”
So there you have it. Rooibos
Espresso is usually a blend of a few different types of beans. Some beans make a good single origin espresso, such as our Brazil Fazenda Vista Allegra Traditional Dry, but in general, espresso is best when it’s a blend. You can think if it like a musical chord–you use a base, such as Brazil as a foundation, then add top and bottom notes–like a Central American and an African. Adjust to fit your taste and you’re there. A nice start might be 3 parts Brazil Fazenda Vista Allegre Natural or Traditional Dry, to one part Mysore Nuggets and one part Bolivian Shade Grown Caranavi. See how you like that–if you want more bright notes, add more Bolivian. If you’d like more chocolate, up the proportion of the Indian. It’s all a matter of experimenting to find what you like best. You can get more complicated than that, by adding a half part of Yrg or something else that’s fun, but that’s a basic blend that’s a good start.
Beans roasted for Espresso don’t always need to be dark and oily. As a matter of fact, I prefer to have the beans I roast for espresso done to a full city roast. Again, it depends on your own taste. In general, the darker the roast, the less you’ll get the varietal flavors of the bean and the more you’ll taste roast flavors. A medium roast offers a balance of varietal flavors and roast flavors. Again–it all depends on what you like best. If you like a dark and oily roast, be sure to choose hard bean coffees such as our Organic Mexican, the Nicaragua Las Brumas, or especially the Bolivian Shade Grown Caranavi. Sumatrans also do well dark roasted. These are also wonderful roasted to full city or even lighter. Cheryl