I’ve been home roasting green coffee beans for almost 10 years now. I started out with a simple heat gun and metal dog bowl. I only used that method for a very short time because I didn’t have the patience to stand over a metal bowl with a heat gun and stir coffee beans until my arm fell off. Also, I wasn’t a fan of my resulting roasts.
Once I decided the heat gun/dog bowl process was not for me, I purchased a small home appliance called the FreshRoast +8. It was a hot air (fluid bed) machine that passed hot air through the beans in a vertical glass tube to roast them. I used that FreshRoast machine until I finally burned it out.
It took me a few months to research to decide on my next machine. I wanted something that could handle larger batches of beans and also roast them similarly to how a professional machine roasts coffee beans. I also didn’t want to break the bank with this purchase. There is a wide price range for these machines and it’s true you get what you pay for. I just had to find a happy medium.
I finally came across the Behmor 1600 Plus and knew I found the right roaster for me. My family surprised me with it for Hanukkah in 2013.
I’ve always roasted and ground my beans to brew in a french press, pour over, drip machine and even a short stint with my own K-cup for use in the break room at an old job. I fins that I’m happiest with the french press and pour over brew methods.
I wanted to try brewing for espresso and I even tried a moka pot but, while the moka pot is great for strong coffee like a cuban cafecito, it’s not truly an espresso. Again, you can spend a lot of money on home espresso grinders and espresso makers.
Finally after many years of waiting, looking and reading I finally got to a point where I was able to choose and purchase my first espresso setup.
Last week, I received my new grinder and espresso maker.
These are both fairly new products from the manufacturers. Baratza introduced the Sette line in 2017 and the Gaggia Classic Pro is the newly redesigned model from 2019.
So now, I get to experiment with roasting for espresso and dialing in my new gear. I’ve been roasting 1/4 lb batches of beans, making slight changes to see what results I come up with. Here’s a photo of a roast from earlier this week:
In future posts I’ll talk about all these new machines and my thoughts on them. For right now, I’m looking forward to the weekend and pulling my first espresso shots!
How many of you out there are home roasters? Let me know what you use and what you are doing with your home roasts in the comments!
Sounds good! How is Behmor for roasting at home? I actually have used the smaller roaster for home use yet. Does evenly roast the beans? Thanks for introducing me to Behmor – looks pretty interesting
I enjoy using the Behmor roaster. It’s great for home use and roasts very evenly.