Phil and Hugh are to blame...

[moccafaux]

How can I ever return to "normal" coffee? I feel like someone who, after a lifetime of "Liebfrauenmilch" and "Mateus" (the portugiese equivalent= alcoholic beverages containing every fermented fruit available), is suddenly exosed to a decent white vine!
I received Hugh`s sample yesterday and Phil`s parcel this morning. I did OD seriously today.
Everything will be written down, today and the next days. Tomorrow I visit very close friends who take their food seriously. He is also much into coffee and the tasting will continue. reports later, when everything is used up.
I will buy a popcorn-machine, do I have to look for special features, or will anything do?

[moccafaux]

Had to interrupt to do my bidding for the Olympia. In vain, as usual. The financial resources wont stretch far enough.
Anyway, back to the main topic. When I told my parents about my plan to start roasting my father thought me mad. But then he drinks tea and has his beer "unleaded"!
My mother told me about her grandmother, then a farmers wife in a tiny village in Hessen. Said grandmother had one obsession and it was coffee! She regularly ordered green beans from a supplier in the next city. these were then roasted on the oven in a large cast-iron frying-pan. This was always a big attraction for the kids who lingered in the kitchen and watched and smelled the strange stuff.
Has anyone ever tried to roast in a pan? Could be worth a try, maybe.
(On a side note: the one who outbid me for the Olympia, may he drink decaffeinated for the rest of his life !)

[HughF]

Have you looked at the heatgun roast posts on CoffeeGeek.com? Try searching for "dog bowl" and you should find them. Sounds as though people get better roasts than straight pan-roasting that way.

Cheers,

Hugh

[HughF]

I received Hugh`s sample yesterday and Phil`s parcel this morning. I did OD seriously today.
Everything will be written down, today and the next days.

Any chance to write a few comments re what you made of the coffees?

Thanks,

Hugh

[phil]

Yes, I was wondering too.

[moccafaux]

Sorry for being late on this. In the last weeks all my friends moved into spacious flats and who was ready to help renovating and moving? Yours truly.
Also I failed to instal a Pc of my own, so its back to the internetcafe.
The problem I have with commenting the blends is that my tastes have changed enormously in the last month.
Going through the notes I made back then I can say this:
Hughs blend was far too sharp for me to drink without milk. I had nothing but a very bitter aftertaste in my mouth.
Making a brazil-based (ca 50%) blend with some of Phils beans made for a very smooth and fruity espresso with a fine bitterness lingering on the tongue.
But - a very big BUT - when I drink a brazil ( Fancy Santos) nowadays its a totally uninteresting experience. No body, no sharpness, no character.
In the last weeks I progressed to what I wouldnt have touched six month ago, but drowned in milk and sugar.
Sorry, but I have no clear measure to judge a blend to, yet.
Next time I am in the internetcafe I will post the exact notes on the different blends word for word, however inaccurate.

[HughF]

Thanks for the reply.

Oh well.. I'm sorry you didn't like it - I'm surprised you found it SO bitter when drunk straight though. I hope I said it punches through milk really well when I first mentioned Jim's blend - I think I said it can be a bit much as a straight double. I put in a couple of 5-second "cool button" presses to get a bit more body for you but it's still a stock (very fast) air-roaster (HWP) I'm using rather than Jim Schulman's split-wired FR+. (Even if you overlook the major difference in roasting experience!)

Hugh

[moccafaux]

I am pretty sure that I will progress to this "level of bitterness" in the course of time! It reminds me of the time when I was interested in wine. after a couple of month I couldntstand what I have started with, having progressed to what I would have called sour and dry at the beginning.