Sep 15 2008
Big coffee dreams
Feeling the urge to add to my stash, I went ahead and ordered another 5 lbs of coffee from Sweet Marias the other day. I still have some of the Monsoon Malabar as well as the aged Sumatra left over, but for some reason I do not feel like drinking these for a week straight. This time, I went all over the map ordering beans from both Africa and Central America. I got me another Ethiopian DP (that’s dry process- you sicko) , plus a Yeman Mokha. I also got a pound of Columbian “Perros Bravos de Huila” which is really a blend of similar beans from various micro lots around Columbia. On top of that, I also ordered two pounds of the Tanzanian Blackburn Estate, since I liked it so much and felt justified in buying it in bulk so that I might share it with others.
I have been pondering giving away freshly roasted coffee beans away as gifts this coming holiday season since most of my family and friends are avid coffee drinkers. The only problem about this grand idea is that my little Nesco Roaster does only small batches and I am afraid I will end up burning the little guy out if I try to send a five ounce bag of beans to everyone in my extremely large family. After nearly a year of use and abuse, I am surprised that nothing yet has gone wrong with the machine ( knock on wood). I have been trolling around online looking at different roasters that I could upgrade to. I think the Behmor roaster would be the next logical step up for me. It seems to have a lot of cool features and it is able to roast up to a full pound of coffee at a time. The Behmor costs around 300 big ones, so it is not like I am going to be breaking the bank if I want to get one. Besides the Behmor, I have also been taking a gander at the more industrial type coffee roasters that run around ten to twenty grand and need an area much bigger than my apartment’s kitchen.
Besides shelling out ten grand for a real big industrial type roaster, I have been looking into more creative ways to roast large batches of beans. I have seen these large drum roasters online that are meant to be used over a modified gas BBQ grill. These babies can cook up to five pounds of beans in one sitting but I imagine that a lot of smoke and CO2 is involved. You can get one made for you for around three grand, but I imagine that I could find a way to piece one together myself if I was determined to do so (Hey I did take shop class in High School you know). Although I am just looking at them right now and dreaming of the time I could actually invest in a large industrial type roaster, I think it is a good dream to have and someday I plan to act on it. Until then, I will hve to be satisfied with my little Nesco roaster and my little coffee blog.
