[conspire] Coffee

[Luke S Crawford]

Tony Godshall <tony at of.net> writes:
> What's kind of fun is to buy the green beans (e.g. from sweetmarias.com
> in emeryville) and roast them yourself.  And quality coffee is way cheaper
> that way.  Tastes do vary, of course- I personally don't see the attraction
> of the African coffees- I mix sumatra, mexican, and kona myself.  Sumatra
> for robust flavor, mexican or central american for an acidic bite, and kona
> for lasting warmth.

Personally, I think roasting is the key;  grinding, eh, you have to grind
appropriately for the type of brew you like (very corse for french press,
very fine for turkish, etc...) and certain grinders can only do certain
corseness  (at home I have a blade grinder for drip and french press, and
a hand mill for turkish) but I don't see much difference between pre-rosted
pre-ground stuff and pre-roasted grind-it-yourself stuff.  For my money, 
roasting fresh (and not roasting too much;  most places burn it, in my 
opinion)  makes the most difference in coffee taste quality.

I donated a coffee roaster to the hacker dojo;  if you want to bring some
green beans I don't think anyone will mind you using the thing.  It's in
the "kitchen area" such as it is.  

Now, it's a small roaster;  maybe a half week of beans for Sarah and I can 
be roasted in one go, but in my opinion, the beans become suboptimal if 
you leave 'em around for more than that anyhow.    After a week,[1] as
far as I am concerned, you might as well use the freeze dried stuff.

But either way, it's a good way to try out roasting without shelling out
for your own roaster.  

[1]this can be extended greatly by nitrogen-flushing the stuff;  I've tasted
pretty good coffee that was pre-ground, then sealed in serving-size nitrogen
flushed packages.   But that's not very sporting, if you ask me.