Home roast envy

Home roast envy


I met a fellow coffee enthusiast today and I am bitter.  Why am I bitter?  It is because he was kind enough to bring me some of his home roast.


Now you might think that means he brought me bitter coffee and that was why I was bitter, but no certainly that was not it.  The problem is that the coffee he brought me was very good.   I have only had one shot and that one was pulled on my lever, but it was very enjoyable and that was before even dialing it in properly.  If I mail ordered it I would be happy with it.


I have another friend who home roasts and the same is true of his home roasts.  He really is an artist who produces great stuff.  Both use very good beans.  The beans today were green beans from Klatch and Klatch is one of my favorite roasters.   My other friend is very picky about what he orders and tends to get them from a number of sources, but Sweet Maria’s is one of them.


Now the thing that makes me bitter is that I have tried home roasting and I am not nearly as good at it as they are.  I have used both intro level equipment (a iroast) and more advanced (a Hottop) and I can make fine coffee.  I can even make better coffee than I can buy locally, but I have yet to produce anything as good as these two roasts and I have yet to produce anything that I like as much as the really good pro roasters produce.


I cannot blame the equipment because I bought some of the equipment used from the friend who makes such great espresso after he produced a great roast on it for me.  I guess I just have a lot to learn!


On the bright side I have plenty of company.  There are three local roasters within 50 miles of me that I know of and two of them are terrible and the third produces stuff I do not like as much as my own roast.


I better practice as I would love to get better.  In the mean time I will be glad for mail order like you get here at Roaste and for friends who offer me their great roasts!