Coffee... I'm sure we all have the same preferences, right?

Mr.Espresso · Nov 3, 2023

La San Marco Leva, Mazzer Robur S grinder, running a 60/40 robusta blend from Rome.

Tom109 · Nov 3, 2023

Fidei Defensor said:
I have to admit that when camping/overlanding I always used a (Jetboil) french press. Yes, it uses a lot of coffee, but I can get a great mug of coffee, that is better for warming you in the morning, Yes, maybe an espresso is "slightly" better, but does not have the volume I need when crawling out of my tent!. And I can share with others (and overlanding when with friends is all about sharing!!!!! )

I use the same for light weight. When weight isn’t an issue I use this.

This is my favorite back-country coffee kit. It contains a moka pot, micro butane stove, small butane bottle, four double-wall stainless cups, grinder, stainless pitcher for warming dairy products, battery powered stirrer/foamer, small Tupperware for coffee/beans and still room for a towel, sugar etc.

You have not lived until you’ve made a beautiful espresso in the snow, in the middle of nowhere.

MTNDOG · Nov 3, 2023

chrsbe said:
How do you prepare coffee while overlanding? I am using a traditional Bialetti brikka and grounded Lavazza. Thinking of investing in a 9barista.https://9barista.com/ Has anyone had a chance to try a coffee made with it?

Do you make coffee in that or just put it on a shelf as a piece of artwork?

ChasingOurTrunks · Nov 3, 2023

French presses all 'round for our family.

When living out of the truck, we use a JetBoil with the french press attachment. Plenty for our morning cup each, and it's quick and easy to pull out for an afternoon tea, hot chocolate, or decaf (Can't have caffeine after noon or I stay awake all night!)

When at "home" in the trailer, we use a Paderno insulated french press. This is a bit bigger than the jet boil but it means the coffee stays hot even if it takes us a while to go to the second cup.

As far as bean, we try a lot of different ones, but the key decision making frame for us is ethical bean source. We try to go for stuff where famers get paid fairly and don't have to raize the amazon rainforest to earn a living. Make no difference to flavour but "every dollar you spend is a vote for the kind of world you wish to see" as they say!

James · Nov 3, 2023

When camping, whatever brew device is your preference, strongly recommend trying taking a small hand grinder. Yes, it takes a while, but you’re camping, so there’s time for slow pleasures, and grinding on the spot is the single best thing you can do to lift a given cup.
I often use moka out and about, sometimes a plunger, tried aeropress, have a german drippy over cup thing, generally don’t go turkish anymore… but lovingly ground beans for them all. $50 for the grinder, and less for a little stove; magic.
If you like instant coffee, well, you have an enviably easy route to your happy place, and you can pity we bean lovers….

bmore_burnsy · Nov 3, 2023

James said:
If you like instant coffee, well, you have an enviably easy route to your happy place, and you can pity we bean lovers….

I'm simple: grind illy medium roast beans, dump into drip coffee maker, pour into mug, drink.

klarie · Nov 3, 2023

Pat said:
My home coffee shop On the road Italian coffee bar or Moka on the stove
View attachment 7831662

that is a proper one and FAEMA E61 brewing unit
this is ours, Ascaso Steel Duo PID
and a Eureka Magnifico Grinder
The advantage of dual heat block instead of boiler is 90sec to heat up to 92C

165C for steam instead waiting ages when craving for an espresso.
Proper coffee roasted from small company.. 80% arabica 20% robusta, 12.5g coffee, 25ml in 25sec. .. to bad this is not a portable device to be transported and used in a Grenadier

holdmybeer · Nov 3, 2023

All this highly opinionated coffee talk. I love it.

So let me throw down here and say you're not really serious about making coffee if you're not roasting your own beans.

It's easy. The green beans are cheap, stable (unlike roasted beans), and easily shipped. You can access growers you couldn't otherwise. A roaster is not expensive. (Certainly not if you're buying quality grinders or espresso machines.) It's fast. You can start with a pan or hot air... even a hot air popcorn popper can give you the gist.

Anyways, if you believe that controlling grind and brew are important (and they are) and you believe that beans are best used soon after roasting (and they are), then what are you waiting for?

Just like watching a perfect pourover or espresso extraction, watching the mechanical and chemical transformation of beans is mesmerizing.

I roast 100 to 200g at a time. Takes 10 minutes. There's another world of growers and temperatures and timings waiting for you.

️

Fidei Defensor · Nov 3, 2023

holdmybeer said:
All this highly opinionated coffee talk. I love it.

So let me throw down here and say you're not really serious about making coffee if you're not roasting your own beans.

It's easy. The green beans are cheap, stable (unlike roasted beans), and easily shipped. You can access growers you couldn't otherwise. A roaster is not expensive. (Certainly not if you're buying quality grinders or espresso machines.) It's fast. You can start with convection (pan) or hot air (even a hot air popcorn popper can give you the gist).

Anyways, if you believe that controlling grind and brew are important (and they are) and you believe that beans are best used soon after roasting (and they are), then what are you waiting for?

Just like watching a perfect pourover or espresso extraction, watching the mechanical and chemical transformation of beans is mesmerizing.

I roast 100 to 200g at a time. Takes 10 minutes. There's another world of growers and temperatures and timings waiting for you. ️

I'm ahead of you.... We grow and process my own coffee here in Florida..... And of course roast it (properly!) with a Kaldi Wide 300....

klarie · Nov 3, 2023

holdmybeer said:
All this highly opinionated coffee talk. I love it.

So let me throw down here and say you're not really serious about making coffee if you're not roasting your own beans.

It's easy. The green beans are cheap, stable (unlike roasted beans), and easily shipped. You can access growers you couldn't otherwise. A roaster is not expensive. (Certainly not if you're buying quality grinders or espresso machines.) It's fast. You can start with convection (pan) or hot air (even a hot air popcorn popper can give you the gist).

Anyways, if you believe that controlling grind and brew are important (and they are) and you believe that beans are best used soon after roasting (and they are), then what are you waiting for?

Just like watching a perfect pourover or espresso extraction, watching the mechanical and chemical transformation of beans is mesmerizing.

I roast 100 to 200g at a time. Takes 10 minutes. There's another world of growers and temperatures and timings waiting for you. ️

okay you are right. Roasting yourself is quite okay, however in Canada there are different laws compared to what we have.. same for home distillery or even brewing beer. Over here in Germany there might be taxes applicable or permission apply for low volume and home use. There are a few who do home roasting. My roaster Eggi has a license and a tax controlled warehouse for coffee.. we did the roasting together and the entire process to roast a flavor is far from simple. The drum roaster is made in Belgium can do 5kg at once and about the cost of a Grenadier Fieldmaster + Rough + Winch +..
Of course home roaster are cheaper than this but the bureaucracy is not mine. My hand loading permit and all the fuss on storing gun propellant was effort enough. however my roast master said it should be about 3to 5 days between roasting and brewing of coffee as there are gases that need to be out before flavors come. He gave me a smell of coffee directly after roasting and that was more of fried potatoes and charwood chips than coffee.. he put the coffee in a bin and come back in 3 days .. whow what a difference..

Roach · Nov 3, 2023

@Fidei Defensor per the other thread...yes, Jura does the job for me but I'm not near the the coffee nut.....just lazy

holdmybeer · Nov 3, 2023

klarie said:
okay you are right. Roasting yourself is quite okay, however in Canada there are different laws compared to what we have.. same for home distillery or even brewing beer. Over here in Germany there might be taxes applicable or permission apply for low volume and home use. There are a few who do home roasting. My roaster Eggi has a license and a tax controlled warehouse for coffee.. we did the roasting together and the entire process to roast a flavor is far from simple. The drum roaster is made in Belgium can do 5kg at once and about the cost of a Grenadier Fieldmaster + Rough + Winch +..
Of course home roaster are cheaper than this but the bureaucracy is not mine. My hand loading permit and all the fuss on storing gun propellant was effort enough. however my roast master said it should be about 3to 5 days between roasting and brewing of coffee as there are gases that need to be out before flavors come. He gave me a smell of coffee directly after roasting and that was more of fried potatoes and charwood chips than coffee.. he put the coffee in a bin and come back in 3 days .. whow what a difference..

Sure, ammunition and commercial quantities of alcohol may have government oversight. That might even be reasonable. Maybe.

But I'm talking about coffee beans. I cannot believe a country would require a non-commercial home roaster to possess a permit to apply heat to beans.

Unlike ammo or booze, both the inputs and outputs of coffee roasting are legal to possess, even by minors.

anand · Nov 3, 2023

holdmybeer said:
Sure, ammunition and commercial quantities of alcohol may have government oversight. That might even be reasonable. Maybe.

Are you from Alberta by chance?

holdmybeer · Nov 3, 2023

anand said:
Are you from Alberta by chance?

Better. I'm from BC.

Where there's a cannabis and magic mushroom shop on every corner. And we love shooting guns and handloading ammunition *almost* as much as our crazy Albertan neighbours. Yee ha.

Sam · Nov 3, 2023

My coffee mantra - “freshly roasted beans, freshly ground”. Coffee beans window of use is between about 1 and 4wks after roasting, after that they’re dull and dead (hence why supermarket/ branded beans are so awful).

Regardless of how you prepare it, if you have the above sorted, you’ve 80% of the battle won IMO.

Home - Heat X Espresso m/c (VBM domobar junior) + Mazzer grinder

Away - [actually I take the home setup with us, if there’ll be power

] or Aeropress + porlex hand grinder (sometimes shoved into a battery drill), or try find a cafe!

James · Nov 4, 2023

Fidei Defensor said:
I'm ahead of you.... We grow and process my own coffee here in Florida..... And of course roast it (properly!) with a Kaldi Wide 300....

Impressive - and I thought coffee bushes needed altitude and cool weather? Not floridian attributes unless Ive missed a major mountain?

James · Nov 4, 2023

holdmybeer said:
All this highly opinionated coffee talk. I love it.

So let me throw down here and say you're not really serious about making coffee if you're not roasting your own beans.

It's easy. The green beans are cheap, stable (unlike roasted beans), and easily shipped. You can access growers you couldn't otherwise. A roaster is not expensive. (Certainly not if you're buying quality grinders or espresso machines.) It's fast. You can start with a pan or hot air... even a hot air popcorn popper can give you the gist.

Anyways, if you believe that controlling grind and brew are important (and they are) and you believe that beans are best used soon after roasting (and they are), then what are you waiting for?

Just like watching a perfect pourover or espresso extraction, watching the mechanical and chemical transformation of beans is mesmerizing.

I roast 100 to 200g at a time. Takes 10 minutes. There's another world of growers and temperatures and timings waiting for you. ️

So I’m happy with the quality and consistency of my usual local roasters, but… im curious to have a play around; any tips for choosing a technique to play around with? Hot corn popper seems tiny batch, I imagine a pan has issues with even-ness… and any notes on cooling/stopping the roast?
I’d be aiming for medium (of course! No arguments please

) ….

ps, it’s amazing what people will get up to when their weather is awful. Well, you did ‘throw down’….

holdmybeer · Nov 4, 2023

James said:
im curious to have a play around; any tips for choosing a technique to play around with? Hot corn popper seems tiny batch, I imagine a pan has issues with even-ness… and any notes on cooling/stopping the roast?
I’d be aiming for medium (of course! No arguments please) ….

Do it. You can absolutely get started with any cheapo hot air popcorn maker. The beans have to keep moving, swirling. More beans will move less and roast less evenly but more quickly and with a higher temperature. Fewer beans will roast evenly but the temperature will be lower (maybe not high enough) because of more movement and airflow. Getting an even roast *and* with high enough temperature (even for a light or medium roast) is hard but not impossible with a popcorn maker. Cheap trial and error until you find your "recipe" and then you're good until the poor little fan motor and heating element start to wear out.

Seven minutes of roast time is often enough. You'll hear the beans "first crack" at some point in the process and you can start to judge how much time and heat you want before and after that point.

One step up from a popcorn maker is this: https://www.sweetmarias.com/summer-special-popper-starter-kit.html

And it's GREAT.

Essentially it's a popcorn maker with adjustable temperature, adjustable fan speed, and a timer. The former two are hard but not impossible to achieve by modifying a popcorn maker.

trobex · Nov 4, 2023

Merlo. Made strong not overly hot.

James · Nov 4, 2023

Looks very cool. Not available here though, but there are 400g rotating hot pan (?teflon) roasters pretty cheap.
i might sidle up to my local guy and see if I can have a few handfuls of green beans in the house blend - I do prefer a good complex blend to a single! Thankks for the encouragement. Look, a non-car pursuit from the grenadier gang!

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