[mikef]

I've been roasting my own beans for about 9 months now. I've been using a Fresh Roast 8, but just ordered a Behmor roaster that's supposed to be able to roast a pound of coffee at a time (we'll see if that's true). As Dave said, the Fresh Roast makes very small batches, good for only 1 day in my household, so you need to plan ahead - freshly roasted coffee tastes better after it's rested for 2-3 days before you grind and brew it. So far, with the Fresh Roast, I'm making the best coffee I've ever had. I can't wait to try the Behmor.

The other pieces of the puzzle for great coffee are a good quality burr grinder, for nice, even grinds, and the brewing method. I have a Solis Scala grinder, which replaced a cheap blade grinder. For brewing I've been using a drip coffee maker from Newco called the OCS-12, which brews the coffee at the optimal 195-205 degrees F (many coffee makers don't get anywhere near that temperature). It has a thermal carafe that keeps the coffee hot for hours without using a hotplate, which can scorch the coffee and also wastes electricity. This has been one of the greatest purchases I've made in recent months - the coffee it brews is fantastic.

I also second Sweet Marias as a source of great green coffee beans, and also much coffee knowledge. I ordered my Behmor from them.

A great cup of coffee really makes the morning much easier to take.

Mike Fox

[bummrush]

Get a kil a watt ,,invaluable for finding outlets that possibly will have better voltage if needed.I will say i'm more then happy with the Behmor,i've roasted for close to 10 years,and there just hasnt been a roaster able to do these amounts AND have consistency like this roaster provides.I mean man doing 4oz roasts got old.One thing about the Behmor its so nice and quiet.

[hurdy_gurdyman]

For those interested, we had a nice coffee thread going on another forum that is 26 pages long so far. Some of you might find it entertaining...

http://www.hawthorneaudio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=984

Dave 

[Martyn]

I'm fortunate in having a local roaster who imports his own beans (the usual organic, shade-grown, fair-trade sort of thing) and then roasts them in his proprietary roaster. This is the key to the perfect roast. His roaster uses a sealed fluidised-bed arrangement that roasts the beans much more uniformly than the traditional roaster. His roaster is computer-controlled to identify the first and second cracks and to shut down the roaster at the optimum point. See http://www.freshcup.ca/roasting.htm if you're interested.

I use a mid-range espresso machine most of the time, but also use a traditional Italian stove-top espresso maker. The results from both are excellent, much better, in my opinion, than a French press or drip machine. In fact, I like to use our French press for Chinese tea (of which I seem to have accumulated far too many varieties), but maybe that should be another thread...

[satfrat]

I just picked up from MochaJoes a pound of a newly arrived Cup of Excellence bean, Costa Rican "La Minita", a very good cup of coffee at a good price of $12.95/lb. Very simular to the El Salvador "Santa Sofia" that I've been drinking since the first of the year @ $19.95/lb. For those who don't have either the time or desire to roast, www.MochaJoes.com is an excellent alternative and is at it's best for 10 days after it's been roasted. MochaJoes ships directly after roasting and they roast per order so there might be a slight wait while they put together enough orders to roast a certain bean. This is a small operation that  wants to stay small, specialized, with an emphisize on obtaining high quality beans for their customers.

Cheers,
Robin

[bummrush]

$20 a pound,whos fooling u