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Just how good is home roasting?

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  • #61
    Re: Just how good is home roasting?

    In only three corretto roasts I have produced excellent results. Admittedly, there has been quite a bit of reading coffeesnobs forums in the lead up. I previously bought brown beans from a respected roaster, and yes his is superior to mine...but not by that much at all. I was very pleasantly surprised.

    I can guarantee mine is far superior than any of the 4 month old beans sitting on my local supermarket shelf! Invite some friends around who buy packet coffee from the supermarket and they will think you are the coffee God.

    As far as matching my previous supplier. He has 10 000 times the coffee knowledge of me. He has 10 times more sensitivity to his palate than me. He has 40 years of coffee experience over me. So, I dont really see it happening. But then again, my roasts are not very inferior to his. I could not say his is twice as good, not nearly. His is noticeably better, but mine is really good too - and yes even as a beginner.

    I drink both espresso shots and milk drinks. Milk in the morning heading into espresso shots in the arvo. It is fine as straight espresso. I agree with the above that milk drinks do not have to be inferior. Just because you can drown a bad shot in milk and still drink it doesnt mean all milk drinks are a bad shot drowned in milk.

    Travis.

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    • #62
      Re: Just how good is home roasting?

      Originally posted by 72676E7E7269691D0 link=1230245340/58#58 date=1231626443
       The fact is that an excellent espresso will make an excellent flat white etc provided that the milk is textured properly.  At the end of the day its the espresso doing the work ...
      I know you went on to qualify the statement somewhat but as it reads Im not sure I agree with this. Sorry  

      Much of this is simply personal taste, theres no "right" or "wrong" but one thing that bugs me a bit is going to, sometimes espresso outlets with an extremely high reputation, and finding they serve milk based drinks where the espresso totally overpowers the drink. Maybe as if theyre somewhat arrogant and saying "hey look at how great our espressos are". Theres one outlet I go to who even use double shots in a 160 ml latte as normal routine!

      A good chef or anyone whos interested in cooking knows that a great dish is where each ingredient compliments the others, and no one ingredient overpowers the dish. Personally I approach a latte/cap/fw like this, and consider there are only 3 ingredients in it. The water is somewhat outside our control (esp if plumbed), so that leaves just the espresso (ie includes the water by default) and the milk. Amongst the things that go into making a great latte for me is where I can clearly taste the quality of the milk being used, instead I so often feel like Ive been punched in the mouth by espresso coloured by a bit of milk (and I do drink espresso too btw, but if thats what I want Ill order that).

      With that in mind there a clearly blends better suited to either drinking straight shots or with milk. Even if I hate the term "cut through the milk", thinking like that will, in my opinion never produce a truly great drink. There are however blends that compliment the milk well  

      Just my 2c worth.

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      • #63
        Re: Just how good is home roasting?

        I think youve just qualified ozscotts statement a bit more.

        I agree with what you said about milk based drinks, as my regular is a flat white.

        I tried a new local place yesterday and confused the poor waitress because Id ordered both an espresso and a flat white (from someone else) and she came to serve me and couldnt see who the second one was for.

        Both turned out to be quite nice (I dont usually drink espresso).

        After Id finished I asked if both drinks were made with different beans and the answer was "yes".

        They gave me one blend for the espresso and another specifically for the flat white.

        Now back to your comment about the ingredients being complimentary...they served my flat white in a 200ml cup (I know because they were almost identical to those I use at home) so I asked if theyd used a double shot.
        I had been expecting the usual size as Id spotted some tulip shaped cups on the machine.
        The girl told me shed used 1.5 shots in my coffee because of the size of the cup.
        So they did think about the complimentary aspect and it came through in the finished product.

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        • #64
          Re: Just how good is home roasting?

          So, what did they do with the other 0.5 shot if they served you 1.5 shots?

          Ive been home roasting for a year and a half now, first with a popper in the colder months but moved onto the corretto as it started getting warm towards the summer. Prior to home roasting I was buying veneziano beans and they were GREAT! They were so good that my first few roasts tasted flat in comparison. I had to wean off the Veneziano beans and persisted with home roasting to eventually start enjoying my own roasts. I only really drink lattes, by the way.

          Id say when done reasonably well, home roasts coffee are a lot better than the average cafe coffee which serves stale beans. In milk drinks, the differences are as follows: When I take the first sip of a typical cafe latte, the first bit isnt too bad. Id attribute that to the crema and milk foam providing the flavours, but as you get through the rest pf the cup, it tastes more and more like coffee flavoured milk. With fresh beans though, the nice flavours that you get at the start is maintained consistently right through the whole cup.

          Recently, I dropped by Veneziano again and bought a couple of lattes. I only had one reaction when I tasted it.... WOW!! Perhaps its not just the professionally roasted beans, but also the quality of the grind and brewed on an LM FB80 by a very well trained barista as compared to one made from a Rocky on a prosumer HX, but the differences were astounding. Im still home roasting though, but if I ever start getting big headed about my roasting, Ill take a trip down to Veneziano to bring me down back to earth!

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