Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

[Dennis]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

excellent.. i am off to get me one of those B&D popcorn machine and we are ready. For anyone that is using this popcorn machines as roasters. can you give me a brief idea before i smoke the office out... 10 minutes ? 20 minutes ?
cheers
Arturo.

20 minutes will have the fire brigade in attendance! ;D

See the following "how to" guide...

http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1174699442

[Buschy]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

Well...its like Christmas in October. The 4 bags arrived this morning as promised. Hats off to Andy and team! Many thanks.

- Brazil Santos
- Ugandan Bugisu AA
- Zimbabwe Pezuru Estate AA
- Ethopian Gambella Naturals

Any suggestions as to which would be best to roast first and approx. timing on a Corretto? I think the Ugandan was mentioned a little earlier?

PS. Too bad about the logistics with respect to member bean card. Including them in the starter pack would be perfect timing, but... something to look forward to with next order!  

[fdm_2k]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

Well...its like Christmas in October. The 4 bags arrived this morning as promised. Hats off to Andy and team! Many thanks.

- Brazil Santos
- Ugandan Bugisu AA
- Zimbabwe Pezuru Estate AA
- Ethopian Gambella Naturals

Any suggestions as to which would be best to roast first and approx. timing on a Corretto? I think the Ugandan was mentioned a little earlier?

PS. Too bad about the logistics with respect to member bean card. Including them in the starter pack would be perfect timing, but... something to look forward to with next order!  

I too have just received my starter pack, and am quite excited

As Buschy asked, does anyone have any roast timing advice for the above bean types, to suit an espresso?

Im using a Gene Cafe, which seems to roast faster than the guidelines in the manual indicate. At the moment Im roasting a Brazil Ipanema Dulce at 229 degrees for 15 minutes, producing a nice dark roast. Ill probably grab 100gms at a time and try my luck, but would love to hear what others have done.

Cheers,
Adam.

[phrostyboi]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

This is slightly off topic I know, was looking at the brown beanbay tonight and saw that there are sample packs of brown beans in 4 x 250g lots for $30 pp

Are these limited to 1 per person or is there no limit on these ones?

[Koffee_Kosmo]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

It is one sample pack per CS member
Once you have ordered it the window will disappear
Same goes for Green Bean sample pack

KK

[Andy]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

Thanks KK, you were half right though.

tis true for the green bean packs... only one per person and then they vanish.
(these cost us more than we charge for them and are fiddly to pack).  After people have done their first roasts the step-up to using 2.5kg lots of green beans is an easy choice.

The roasted ones are always available and contain a random selection of 4 x 250g packs of beans that were roasted this week.  Some CSrs are happy to play "bean lotto" all the time.

[wannabesnob]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

OK, Ive had my starter pack a couple of weeks now, and the B&D popper has been smoking them out quick time, Im nearly through my 3/4s of my pack, although Ive only started roasting the El Salvadore Himalaya today so will have to wait to taste that and my first Brazil Santos hits 4 days tomorrow. Probably wont be able to sleep tonight waiting to try that one!!  

So far Ive tasted the Zimbabwe Pezaru and the India Mysore Nuggets. I really love the India Mysore! The Zim was very good too, but a bit subtle in my filter coffee maker (Im trying to find a good second hand Silvia, long story) I cant wait to try the other two.

So now Im in a slight panic that Im going to run out before Xmas. Question time. How does the Sumatra Blue Lintong compare to the India Mysore? And, if I get the Ethiopia Sidamo Guji and blend it with the Lintong how would that come out???? Anyone willing to hazard a guess?

Anyhow, Im loving this roasting. I drop 80 gms in the popper and just go by sight and sound, nothing more technical than that! I let second crack get pretty well going and then whip them out to cool on cookie sheets. Too easy!

Brian

[Andy]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

How does the Sumatra Blue Lintong compare to the India Mysore?

Ummm... they are both coffee?

Beer is like fanta is like orange juice is like milk.... they are all drinks (dont mix these 4 together either!).


The different beans are all different in the cup and you will find that variations in your own roasting of the same bean will result in a different coffee.

CoffeeSnobs only offer good coffees, the chance of getting something you hate is pretty small. The Zimbabwe that you thought was too subtle will change with a shorter or longer roast.

The biggest trick to home roasting is just getting started (and you have done that well by the sound of it) the rest of the journey is learning...

Enjoy!

[Thundergod]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

I let second crack get pretty well going and then whip them out to cool on cookie sheets. Too easy!

Brian

Try stopping just on second and compare the taste.

[wannabesnob]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

Thanks Andy and Thundergod.

I am enjoying the learning process, but have tried to be fairly consistent with my  roasting so far in order to learn about the differences in the beans. I suppose I will learn about the changes roasting can make when I get a larger quantity of beans and do repeated roasts with them. My current methods seem to get me to CS9-CS10. I dont yet trust myself to stop at the first few crackles of second crack, I let there be quite a few just to be sure, but Ill get better at that with experience. Lots of fun ahead on that one!

Andy, the starter pack is a great idea for new players, as it lets them try a variety of beans quickly. My wife and I use about a kilo a month so trying lots of different beans in 2.5 kg lots will take a while. I guess my question about the beans available on beanbay is hard to answer given the scope for variation in roasting technique and coffee making. Is there a description of the beans in the starter pack someplace (like those for the beans on beanbay) that I could use as a comparison to the descriptions of the beanbay beans? Ive done a search for India Mysore and found some information but not your description. The descriptions are a very useful starting point for new players.  

Anyway, enough rambling.

Brian

[Thundergod]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

There was an attempt to gather a list of BeanBay offerings and I think descriptions IIRC.
I dont have the link to the page handy atm but this is Andys description of Mysore from Feb 2008.



From the hills of Mysore in the Karnataka district comes the large, lower acidity beans that make a really nice, softer style espresso base. Washed and high grade, these are easy to roast and the resulting dark chocolate is the highlight in the cup.



EDIT: The wiki page is broken at the moment.

[CarrieK]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Andy.

I placed my order on Saturday and it was delivered to me at work this morning  8-)  8-)  8-)

Now, Ive just got to hang out till the Xmas Hols so I can buy a popper and have a play.  

Luckily I bought some brown beans too or Id be tempted to cheat & start early.

... Happy happy me!!!

[greenman]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

the lure of the green beans in your cupboard will be too much, I bet the popper shows up before Xmas!!

[Ben_S]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Andy.

I placed my order on Saturday and it was delivered to me at work this morning  8-)  8-)  8-)

Now, Ive just got to hang out till the Xmas Hols so I can buy a popper and have a play.  

Luckily I bought some brown beans too or Id be tempted to cheat & start early.

... Happy happy me!!!

CarrieK

If you are in Melbourne - I have a barely used Crazy Popper you can have if you pickup in Port Melbourne

B

[snr_crema]

Re: Starter Packs for newbie roasters.

Hello Andy
my starter pack arrived today, very quick, many thanks.
The Crazy popper is ready to go
Now I just need some time to focus on it.
Cheers
Snr C