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After a year of waiting (the product was promised for December 2003 but has been held up for prototype revisions) I have finally received a Hearthware i-Roast home coffee roasting unit from Sweet Maria's. The UPS guy brought it yesterday and I've been tied up with other obligations so it's still not unpacked, but I did break into the box in order to extract and read the instruction manual and accompanying literature. I'm looking forward to taking the i-Roast out for a spin. For those of you who haven't been following the i-Roast development effort, the i-Roast is intended to be the next generation of home coffee roasters. Its main claim to fame is that it has programmable roasting profiles, so that you can set a program that goes like, for example: stage 1, 350 F for 3 min.; stage 2, 460 F for 3 min.; stage 3, 470 F for 4 min. (That's the profile Sweet Maria's recommends for Brazil coffees for espresso). The unit also has a healthy capacity, said to be 130 to 150 grams of coffee beans, as opposed to the approximately 70 grams that my FreshRoast can handle without choking. The machine seems to have a lot of parts -- easily twice as many as my FreshRoast -- that need to be assembled and disassembled when you roast, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Stay tuned.

http://www.slate.com/id/2110848/ Interesting, but flawed from a coffeegeek point of view. No mention of which grinder the reviewer used, nor of the importance of the grind in the results. Also interesting to find somebody who liked a FrancisFrancis machine... I remember only running across less than favorable reviews when I was last hunting for a machine. I do agree that the NEspresso system is high quality, based on my few encounters with it.

My 3-4 year old Capresso has started leaking water and its warming plate has become unsightly due to covering having been scraped off. It has made pretty good coffee but I don't think I want another Capresso. I paid about $180 for it. I want a 10 or 12 cup drip, automatic timing feature nice but not necessary, gold filter preferred, and hot brewing temperature very important. I occasionally make a 4 cup pot, so some adjustment for smaller pot would be good. I grind my beans in a separate Capresso burr grinder which is still grinding well. I would prefer to pay in the $80-$130 range for the coffeemaker. I am suspicious of the Krups and Braun top sellers that their brewing temp is not up there where it should be. I have heard some mention that Kitchenaid makes a good coffeemaker. Any brand and specific model suggestions appreciated. Will not consider Mr. Coffee or any of that ilk. Thanks for your help!

I feel there should be a thread on this already, but can't find one... I like to grind the contents of one cardamom pod in with my coffee beans for a warming spiced coffee that isn't too much fuss to prepare. The extra flavor without any sweetness is a bonus, too! Next?

I am getting ready to head out for the Thanksgiving holiday in a couple days and just realized that the home we are going to does not drink any caffiene. I am planning on bringing tea for myself but my boyfriend is a big coffee drinker. As there are not really any places near where we are to grab a latte in the morning I was wondering if anyone knows of any "instant" coffee / expresso that is not absolutely horrible? I know about Nescafe but am not sure if it is vile or not. Are there any other brands out there that anyone knows about? Tomorrow I am going to head out to Whole Foods and the Metropolitan Market (here in Seattle) to see what they have to offer. Does anyone have any knowledge about this type of product? Cheers ~ Della

Here in Birmingham, folks where all in a tizzy when we got our first Startbucks. 5 million local locations later, including 2 with drive-thru service, a wide-eyed, highly caffeinated city asks the scalding question: Is all this Starbucking a good thing? I mean, after all, there are other options, right? Most cities, yes. But here in the Ham options are limited. You can get a good cup of coffee, but inconsistency reigns at local coffee houses and what you experience is largely a product of who happens to be scheduled. Oh the agony of walking several blocks only to see that today's barrista is one the bad list. Ok, this might be a small exageration. Fine. But we were all wishing for a Starbucks in Birmingham and now we have them everywhere. So, are we happy? Sure. But what about the rest of the country? Is Starbucks good for the coffee world or the evil java empire?

On the back of the can of fine grind (red label) illy coffee it says "caffeine content less than 1.5%" Does anyone know what this means or how it compares to other coffees? The illy rep says that their coffee has less caffeine.

Hi everyone! I have been having a problem with my at-home coffee for a while now and I figured you could put it to rest. I live with my boyfriend and he has a regular 12-cup Proctor-Silex coffeemaker, the kind you have to put a filter in. It is nothing special but it gets the job done. He just bought it last year and we use it pretty much every day. We grind our own coffee that's roasted weekly for us by a friend of ours. Now, I usually put on about 4 or 5 cups of coffee and drink them over a period of an hour or so while looking at eGullet My boyfriend, who gets up early for his 1st shift job, makes a whole pot and takes it to the newspaper with him in a big carafe to share with the people who work there. By the time I have reached my 3rd or 4th cup, I have a weird SCUM floating on my coffee. It does not affect the taste of the coffee (I am heathen, and don't mind slightly "burned" coffee flavor). If I stick my finger in the cup, the scum doesn't separate, it just moves off to one side to make room for my finger. After a while, the scum will start to break up into little floaties which disperse themselves throughout the cup. It is very disturbing. Is it because of the continued heat applied to the coffee? Or is it this particular coffee? The first time I noticed it, I cleaned the coffee maker, and I have cleaned it regularly since, but the scum doesn't go away. My boyfriend doesn't get the scum when he takes the coffee to work in the carafe, and I have noticed that when we run out of good beans and have to buy something shitty to last a few days we don't get the scum either. Or is it something totally unrelated, like I don't know how to wash my coffee mugs correctly? Sorry for the long post, but I am really sick of the phantom scum. Thanks.

Just when I thought I had settled on coffee equipment, someone threw a wrench into my plans. I was orginially going to go with the automatic Fetco 31AAP as recommended by a number of people. A highly respected source, a previous Fetco diehard, is now recommending this Bunn. Actually, the Bunn he recommends the CDBCF 35, but it's not shown - the only difference is the amps and it's 240V. It seems a bit larger than my needs - the Fetco 1.5L should be fine. However, according to this source -- okay, Terroir -- making less than a full pot does not detract from the quality? True? Another thing stated contradictory to other statements - I was under the impression that the better/more efficient the brewer, the less coffee you needed. According to Terroir, not so. He claims the recommended amt. of coffee is about 3.9 ounces per half gallon of water. If my arithmetic is correct, that comes out to close to the standard formula I see for home brew - 7 grams per 5 oz. coffee. Thoughts?

I did a coffee cupping today in order to choose a roaster for my cafe. Maybe I did something wrong, like too much at once (?) - my palette started to deteriorate to the point that by the end, all the beans started to taste the same. I tried 4 vendors who gave me samples of 3 to 5 roasts each. I did my best to limit myself to 2 sips of each one. Anyone else have this problem? I made sure to drink water in between coffee tasting - any other tips? I've still got one more vendor to try (Hi Owen!), but I was able to easily rule out 2 of the 4 vendors. It boils down to Gimme Coffee and Terroir plus the one I still need to try. One of the reasons I eliminated one of the vendors was because the samples weren't sent in vacuum packed bags. Is that a valid reason to take away points? Regardless, I also thought the coffee wasn't at the same level as the two I chose. Also, this took like forever. I cleaned (not super thoroughly - I did the super thorough cleaning at the onset) the grinder before grinding every single coffee - that's a lot of cleaning. The grinder is a Rocky Rancilio, making it somewhat of a pain. Did I go overboard? Any other thoughts?

I did a quick search on Coffee topics and couldn't find a specifically related theme. I know there have been postings referencing favorite brands but they’re couched in other topics. Specifically, I’m looking for a new espresso. I’ve got a FrancisFrancis X5 and a krupps burr grinder. Confession time: I actually like Starbucks espresso blend. Well I should say I used to like Starbucks blend. Lately it seems to taste nasty and flat with poor crema. Confession #2: the espresso pods seem to be fine. I thoroughly cleaned my machine, tried different pulls, and varied the tamp pressure and grind size all with no noticeable effect. I haven’t, however, tried bottled water yet. I also installed a dishwasher about the same time the espresso started to go down hill but, similar to the bad water possibility, the pods brew okay. My only conclusion is that the beans are probably pretty old by the time I get them. I’m buying them at a store not by mail. I store the beans in the freezer in a mason jar. I don't usually let them come to room temp before grinding like I should, but I let the grinds warm up before I use them. I’m not a huge fan of Illy which I had to use for a year while “paying off” the FranFran. I also tried Pete’s a couple of years ago without much excitement. I have ardently followed the discussions on home roasting but am not there yet in terms of counter and storage space. Any recommendations or suggestions?

OK, so I am checking out this forum and see a nice banner ad for this company specialtycoffee.com. Has anyone tried this company? Reading their website, I really like their attitude. I normally order from Peets, but am tempted to give them a shot when my coffee runs low...

I bought their espresso training video. I think by now you guys/gals know I barely have a clue when it comes to all things espresso. After watching the video, which is all of a bit over 1 hour, I'm not exactly the junior barista I thought I'd be. Actually, I didn't pick up a single bit of useful info. They covered a zillion areas including commercial and home brewing and roasting in like a heartbeat. It's really absurd. I wouldn't mind so much if it didn't cost $59.95 + tax (jeez, they have no stores in NJ) + shipping which translated to $70+. And to think - Owen would've travelled 4 hours each way, given me a day's training and bought me a shot for a lot less loot. :-)

I was told by a barista that Cimbali is better. This seems contrary to other advice I've been given. Is it a fair question to ask which one's better? I'm talking 1 or 2 group machines. I've decided to hold off for now on serving espresso at my cafe (assuming all the i's get dotted and the deal goes through.) I'll have enough to keep me occupied with my primary items, grilled cheese sandwiches and milkshakes. And it will give me a chance to judge whether or not my store will bring enough interest in espresso drinks to justify the zillion dollars it costs. Instead, I've decided that I wanna get the coffee thing right. I'd love to hear opinions on the best way to approach this. This same barista told me it wasn't necessary to get a double hopper grinder for coffee. Again, this runs contrary to other advice I was given. He recommended a Bunn G3. No? AS for brewers, everyone seems to agree on the plumbed Fetco. Yes? Finding the right company for a coffee roaster is another issue I need to tackle. It's tough not being a connoisseur, and I'm the first to admit that is not my strongpoint. While I know a good cup of joe when I have it, I'm really no good in discerning the fine intricacies - acidity and body and all that good stuff. It's a small place - 20 seats - and my business plan projects about 150 covers/day. Thanks for any advice.

This is another interesting topic offered by Nakagawa of Flavor coffee http://www.flavorcoffee.co.jp/index.html (Japanese only) Nakagawa is sometimes asked by customers to modify and improve their roasters. The Roaster Modification Museum page http://www.flavorcoffee.co.jp/3f/r-index.html (Japanese only) lists some of the roasters he has modified so far. Among the list is the Alpenrost http://www.flavorcoffee.co.jp/3f/3f-15.html . Let me translate part of his description of what he did about the roaster. *** Side view With the cover open Perspective view, with the cover open Heater Roasting, with the shutter closed Cooling, with the shutter open The roaster has several disadvantages. First, you cannot visually check the beans to determine when to stop roasting. Secondly, this roaster does not have the concept of murashi* (lit. steaming), resulting in light-taste coffee. I think this is its biggest defect, a fatal one. Air inlet slightly open (roasting phase) Air inlet half open (murashi phase) Close-up of the spoon with a thermometer attached Close-up of the spoon retainer I made three modifications so that the roaster allows the user to: - Vary the exhaust air at will so that the concept of murashi can be applied. I made a hole in the cover so that the amount of exhaust air could be controlled. With the hole in the cover open, the roaster sucks air through the hole, so that the exhaust air from the drum decreases. - Use a spoon to check the beans. For this particular roaster, there is a flow of air inside the cover, so I had to plug the gap between the spoon and the cover. - Check the temperature inside the roaster. I inserted a tempura thermometer into the spoon so that the temperature could be measured except when checking the beans. Results: - The exhaust air-regulating function allows the user to perform "murashi" as with a commercial roaster. By performing "murashi", the user can now prevent the coffee beans from losing flavor. - The user can check the beans with the spoon to determine when to stop roasting. - The thermometer assists in improving reproducibility. *** *Murashi (lit. steaming): With a direct-heat type roaster, it is common practice to restrict the exhaust port for some time after beans are put in and heated, so that the humidity in the roaster increases. This very initial step of the drying phase of the roasting process is called murashi in Japanese. I tried to find an equivalent term in English, but to no avail.

My first attempt to roast coffee beans with a milk powder can Nakagawa, the owner of Flavor coffee http://www.flavorcoffee.co.jp/index.html (Japanese only), is a proponent of roasting coffee beans with a milk powder can. Today, I made my first attempt, but it ended in a failure; the beans didn't crack even after 25-minute roasting. I think that the main reason of my failure was that I did the roasting outside and it was rather windy. More text later.

This article in today's New Orleans Times-Picayune breaks down some interesting facts and figures in the world of coffee importation. New Orleans has long been the leading coffee port in the world and one of the world's great centers of coffee roasting. While the roasting business is still doing well, New York has supplanted NO as the leader in coffee importation. This is due primarily to shipping rates and duties levied by the ports. New Orleans still roasts more coffee than anyone else, thanks to a couple of huge facilities, Reilly Foods and Folgers being the largest, with a number of smaller roasters making up the rest. We also are the home (all of 5 miles from my house) of the largest coffee handling facility in the world, The Folger's Warehousing Facility-located in St Tammany Parish just off of I-10 near Folsom, LA. This is a good article involving a pretty good description of how the world coffee trade works and I thought that a few of you might find it interesting. It's a shame that the Picayune, along with a number of other papers around the country use this website though, as photos and graphs are difficult to find (if they are available at all) and the articles are usually synopsized (as this one is).

as i drank this kind of sweet coffee in san francisco the first time i totally forgot to buy a few of those filters as they are a nice optical treat to invited friends and of course myself! did i say that the coffee is good too!?! i am located in germany but there might be a chance to buy them? yes or no?

The coffee machine in the office or one of my companies is beginning to leak, and repair costs indicate its time to replace it. It serves around 20 people, but being in high-tech compter industry good coffee is vital. The current machine is a Jura X90 bean to cup machine, and its done well. Suggestions please on its replacement. Should we continue with a) a bean to cup machine, or b) Seperate grinder and expresso (potentially messy: these are programmers, not barristas); or c) Conventional pour-on and paper filter (many options here) d) Instant sachets, like Flavia (ugh!) e) Other.. Your opinions please on make and model, or just sound off about office coffee... Of course this is not as famous as that other Cambridge coffee machine, The Trojan Room coffee machine, the world's first web-cam. The coffee machine was sold on ebay, and bought by Spiegel Online, reconditioned, and is once more online.. I was a student and then faculty member at the time in the Computer Lab, and knew the original. It made awful stewed coffee...

http://www.manhattanspecial.com/products_i...fee_drinks.html Manhattan Special is perhaps one of my favorite soft drinks -- this Brooklyn NY company, in business since 1895, produces one of the finest coffee sodas in the entire industry. Like any quality soft drink company they only use cane sugar in their products. Their signature espresso soda is made out of pure coffee, carbonated water, cane sugar and some caramel coloring, thats it. While perusing their site I noticed they launched a new line of iced coffee drinks. Anyone try these yet?

Last night, I dined at a fine local establishment. My companions ordered coffee at the end of the meal, and the server brought out a lovely small tray with lump white sugar, lump brown sugar, the usual Sweet 'n Low and Equal packets, and a lot of little dark things described as "chocolate-covered licorice lentils". This was a first for me. Seemed like a nice idea, but how common is it? Or anything like it?

A recent question posted here by Geetha about Indian coffee has left me very curious. It appears that although much of India is traditionally a tea drinking culture, there is a strong tradition of coffee drinking in Southern India. Thus far I've found only this information about the brewing device Indian Coffee Filter The description indicates that the "davras" is a two part stainless steel assembly with a mushroom shaped filter in the upper portion. The lower portion is used to collect the brewed coffee. It's unclear to me whether the entire davras sits on a heat source and pushes boiling water up and then down through the filter (as with moka coffee or American stove top and electric percolators) or whether it's simply some sort of drip device. Can any of you shed light on this? I also found reference to the desired coffee types as "Arabica from the Chikmanglur and Nilgiris mountain ranges and Robusta grown in the lower, more humid areas of Malabar, Salem, Coorg, etc.". India is known for growing some of the world's best Robusta coffee but very little of it makes it to the US market. Suggestions (these came from a variety of sources) also include roasting to a fairly dark level, even with the Robusta beans (which are not typically roasted extremely dark as it increases their bitterness). Here in the US I can obtain Kappie Royale Robusta, Coelho's Gold Monsooned Malabar AA, Pearl Mountain Peaberry, Mysore "Nuggets" and perhaps one or two other varieties. Is South Indian style coffee best made from a blend, as is often the case with espresso coffee, or do people typically make it from a coffee of a single varietal origin? To add to the confusion.... some people recommend that for those in the US market wishing to duplicate the characteristics of South Indian drip coffee, it is advised to used roasted chicory mixed with the coffee in a ratio of 30% chicory to 70% coffee. Apparently the chicory-coffee blend has been popular in South India for quiet some time but many discerning Indian coffee drinkers are now advising to just use 100% coffee with no chicory. India produces some very high quality coffee and I can see the wisdom of dispensing with the chicory. Finally... there is the question of the milk. Is it scalded on the stovetop by boiling or is simply heating it to the simmering point sufficient? I have seen reference to a technique whereby one pours the "decoction" (the concentrated brewed coffee that has collected in the bottom of the davras after dripping through) into a cup or glass and then adding the heated milk with sugar. the mixture is then poured back and forth between two glasses until a certain frothiness is achieved. Is this procedure typical and does it impart a better mouthfeel quality to the milk by introducing air or in your opinion is it really just for show? (not that there's anything wrong with that).

I know purists that will roast their coffee beans immediately prior to grinding their cup of coffee and drinking it immediately. If a shot of pulled espresso sits around at a Starbucks for more than 30 seconds or a minute, it gets dumped. However, I have a brother-in-law who will walk into my house and if there is cold coffee still sitting in my pot and there are no moldy floaties on top, he'll drink it. As I write this, I'm still sipping on a latte that Shawn made for me when I left for work this morning. He pulled the shots at 7:15 a.m. and it is now 1:30 p.m. I consistently make an entire pot of tea and re-heat cups out of it for a day or so afterwards, despite the fact that I PREFER it fresh, just having it made and ready to heat is often easier on a busy morning. What about you? How old is too old for you?

Thought I'd venture a thread that is not oft discussed on Coffeegeek and doesn't seem (at least recently) to have been fleshed out here... Yes - I'm perfectionist about many things; I've got my modes of making coffee down. But I ain't getting to roasting (this statement will result in many a good natured flame at CG - and orig post goes OT into waxing poetic about homeroasting); don't have the time, don't have the place - I can't afford to get obsessive about yet another thing. My wife will disown me... So I am willing to pay for good roasting. Good roasting as defined by great bean knowledge, 'crack' precision, accurate dating and the rest of the art that goes into cooking the bean. I've got a pretty good roaster in my little nabe (Montclair, NJ) - and I know that buying local's a good thing 'cause coffee fades quickly. But I get my espresso from... St. Louis. I swear by Barry Jarrett's "Espresso Taliaferro" and at $8.95 - this is worth sending away for. In fact, Barry's quite the roasting maven... http://www.rileys-coffee.com/DarkRoasts.htm Anyone know of other master roasters that make paying the shipping worth it?

While packing for a recent trip to Mexico, my husband, a coffee importer and taster, told me to pack some coffee. I ignored him and boy was I sorry. We got to our hotel that advertised in room coffee makers only to find that they were charging 350 pesos for a small bag, enough to make two cups of coffee. I wasn't interested in making coffee in the room but when I ordered it after dinner I was shocked at the poor quality of the coffee. My husband said that because coffee is such a money making export countries ship the best quality out and keep what is left for consumption in the country. I did order coffee at every different restaurant we went to but it was basically all the same. It was an experience for me to go 10 days coffee free. The first thing I did when we got home was brew and drink an entire pot. Learn from my mistake, bring your own!