Beans for syphon

[steve]

I was wondering if anybody knows much about how beans were originally roasted for syphon way back in the 1850s? Ive had a bit of a search on google but couldnt find much info.

Any specific types of beans or the level of roasting etc?

[luca]

Re: Beans for syphon

I dont know about syphon roasting in specific, but according to Sivetzs book Coffee Technology, most coffee was home roasted until natural gas powered roasters were introduced around 1900. Such home roasted coffee was usually done in a frying pan or some sort of hand turned cylinder, with obvious difficulties in obtaining good and consistent results!

Cheers,

Luca