Coffee Appreciation

I recently bought a heat gun for stripping paint and I like it so much I tried to think of other uses. Will definitely give roasting my own coffee a go.

I've recently had the pleasant surprise of one of a handful of truly fantastic cafés in Glasgow opening their roastery 50m from my front door. Time to cancel my Pact subscription.

I have a heat gun, a colander, and some v.ropey green beans I never got round to doing owt with (bag unopened). Never thought of combining the three. Could be fun.

Quick question: Is the Hario V60 much better than standard filter cones?

Yes. Infinitely so. I had a standard cone for work and a V60 at home - never really thought much of it. Then I had an enforced period of working from home and exclusively using the V60 - and now I cant use anything else.

Some people reckon it's trickier to get perfect and is a bit more involved - but once you've got it dialled in, its a breeze.

Why not? Fun thing to try

And, as we're moving to the sticks it'll be hard to get decent beans that are freshly roasted, so the ability to get green beans and roast myself would make life better.

• I'd get to buy a heat gun.
  
  

Mail order beans?

A heat gun would be rubbish. Roast would be uneven and too hot to control and cool down. I've tried it with a skillet on the hob before. It wasn't pretty. As mention, go for a popcorn roaster.......and buy a heat gun anyway for the lulz.

Heat gun roasting works really well. Keep the beans moving, roast them until 2nd crack starts, try to leave them a couple of days before drinking (yeah, right).

Once you have a feel for what the coffee does, aim for 1st crackle about 12 mins, 2nd crackle 14 mins. With a normal heatgun 200g green is a good charge weight. You can alter this to adjust roasting times.

After roasting cool the coffee quickly. Tip the beans between 2 sieves, this will blow all the chaff away too.

Have fun :)

really not feeling the new SM Red Brick blend

Heat gun roasting works really well. Keep the beans moving, roast them until 2nd crack starts, try to leave them a couple of days before drinking (yeah, right).

Once you have a feel for what the coffee does, aim for 1st crackle about 12 mins, 2nd crackle 14 mins. With a normal heatgun 200g green is a good charge weight. You can alter this to adjust roasting times.

After roasting cool the coffee quickly. Tip the beans between 2 sieves, this will blow all the chaff away too.

Have fun :)

There we have it. Heatgun it is!

Also - I'll get to get welders gloves. w e l d e r s g l o v e s!

really not feeling the new SM Red Brick blend

I just finished a bag. Was OK but not as good as the last batch I had a couple of months ago.. A bit flat somehow

Back to climpsons now. Not really into the winter espresso so just sticking to The Baron for now.

^ Waaaat? The Winter Espresso is amazing. What's not quite right with it?

I picked up a free Gaggia Baby Class from the forum, as a non-runner with a solenoid problem.

I contacted Gaggia who advised me on the 'proper' descaling procedure so I did that about 10 times and removed loads of limescale / black residue from it and now it is back in action.

I thought I would join this thread to get advice on how to use it properly and what ground coffee to buy.

Before I get neg repped, I went to Sainsburys to get some ground coffee to try it - I didn't know what to pick.

Yep, something like a Porlex MinI and fresh beans should do the trick.

Still have no idea what coffee beans to buy...

Will look for a used mini Porlex on eBay.

I need one of those milk jugs + temp gauge too.

And espresso cups / cappuccino cups.

Start with hasbean espresso starter pack, lots of friendly beans to practice grinding and brewing with, good value.

For espresso in particular, fresh beans and fresh grind are important.

This old post may help finding fresh beans in the supermarket http://www.lfgss.com/thread3927-150.html#post3411524

Add the Hario to that search.

Of the supermarket beans Wholefoods sell Grumpy Mule, I think that's the best I've found.

Still have no idea what coffee beans to buy..

If you want a cheap supermarket baseline, Taylor's espresso blend is not too bad and I prefer it to some more expensive espresso blends that I've tried.

Does anyone subscribe to In My Mug with Hasbean? Can we talk about this weeks? Its mental.

Does anyone subscribe to In My Mug with Hasbean? Can we talk about this weeks? Its mental.

250g a week?! That's a lot of coffee to be getting through. Shame, I like Hasbean stuff.

Its more or less 2 pour overs a day at 17g (plus a few spare grams for a japanese iced coffee or two!) - but yeah, I definitely have alot of spare bags at home. This week's a Washed Bourbon from Burundi and is insane. It's so sweet and clean, it tastes like a good white wine.

Having been eyeing that up for my next bag but went for an Artisan Roast Rwandan Musasa instead. Sounds like I should put it back on the list.

Heat gun roasting works really well. Keep the beans moving, roast them until 2nd crack starts, try to leave them a couple of days before drinking (yeah, right).

Once you have a feel for what the coffee does, aim for 1st crackle about 12 mins, 2nd crackle 14 mins. With a normal heatgun 200g green is a good charge weight. You can alter this to adjust roasting times.

After roasting cool the coffee quickly. Tip the beans between 2 sieves, this will blow all the chaff away too.

Have fun :)

Really? I stand corrected then. I would of thought it would be hard to get an even roast and avoid hot spotseven when you keep the beans moving.

^ Waaaat? The Winter Espresso is amazing. What's not quite right with it?

Can't put my finger on it.

To be honest, I think my tastes have changed a bit recently - I've been drinking either Alchemy Elixir espresso or Red Brick at home (and Climpsons Ethiopian Doyo filter at work) for the last month..

Returning to The Baron this morning was a bit of a shock. Not sure how much I like it anymore - too much oil/ bitterness, too robust and too dark a roast, sort of disagrees with me.
At the moment I prefer something lighter with more acidity and natural sweetness.