My New Life

Previously, this coffee roasting journal had been about my old life. Then the blog went quiet for a while, as I settled into a steady rhythm of roasting 165g of green beans on my iRoast's preset #1, generally for 6:45 - 6:55 seconds, depending on the beans and the cracks. I bought a stainless steel Bodum French Press for use on days when I work from home (which I do a lot now), and added an electronic scale to my array of equipment, but other than that I just coasted along, happy and suitably caffeinated.

Then my world was shaken. At first it was just a bit of a shudder, but eventually everything turned upside down. It started when I upgraded my grinder to a Capresso Infinity Conical Burr Grinder. My old grinder had broken, and only worked on one grind setting. Fortunately this setting was perfect for the French Press and worked pretty well with the Chemex, too. But I eventually broke down and replaced it, and the new grinder opened my taste buds.

Soon, I wanted to test the capabilities of my new grinder, and what better way than to use it to make cappuccino? So I ordered a DeLonghi EC155 Espresso Maker as a way to dip my toe into the world of espresso and cappuccino making. Of course, I ordered a tamper, frothing pitcher, and thermometer, too, but then you've probably already guessed as much.

Originally, I was going to use the DeLonghi to make cappuccinos, and I do use it for that purpose sometimes. (My 13 year old daughter makes cappuccinos with it pretty often, in fact, which is a testament to something. Ease of use? Bad parenting? I dunno...)

But the espressos from that machine were so alluring, so tempting, that I am usually unable to do anything but drink them as is. When I first tried the espresso machine, it was with a Latte blend from the Coffee Bean Corral called Onobeano's Latte Blend. This blend was advertised as being designed for lattes and cappuccinos, which is why I bought it. I roasted it in my iRoast on preset 1 for 6:45 seconds and ground it on the Capresso grinder's finest setting in the "Fine" block. (The Capresso also has about five settings in an "Extra Fine" block but they are too fine for espresso.)

Now the Onobeano is advertised as a latte blend, and not really suitable for espressos due to its lack of crema. Which is fine, because if you remember my original plan was to use the DeLonghi to make cappuccinos anyway. So imagine my surprise when I pulled my first shot from the DeLonghi into a Bodum Pavina Double-Wall Thermo Glass and ended up with the most beautiful 3-layered shot of espresso you could ever hope for. And oh! The crema was remarkable, thick and with a delightful texture that made the crema almost chewable. And this with a bean that was known to give poor crema!

I became hooked on espressos, having several a day on week-ends and on days when I work from home. And my daughter, as I've mentioned, became an enthusiastic Cappuccinista. And the iRoast, my faithful roaster for so long, just couldn't keep up with demand.

Then my buddy Mike (who has been mentioned in this blog before) told me of a sale at Sweet Maria's: free shipping! Sweet Maria's had always been a favorite place for green beans, and, ever since becoming an espresso fiend, I had coveted their Espresso Monkey Blend. But when I surfed over to their site, I became immediately distracted by something else.

That's right: the Behmor 1600 Electric Drum Coffee Roaster. This thing roasts a pound at a time (as opposed to my iRoast, whose specs I was pushing at 165g per roast). And it can handle a mild roast, something air roasters can't do so well.

And, at $299, it was cheap compared to other drum roasters (but not compared to the iRoast). I bought one new from Sweet Maria's at the standard price of $299, but later learned on coffeegeek.com that you can find refurbished ones for $100 less.

So now I have a new roaster, and I have to learn to roast all over again. Plus, I am doing new things with coffee (did I mention the espressos?) and there's a learning curve there, too. So, I dug out this old blog, blew the dust of the password, and here we go again!