Coffee: we drink it or we get angry.

My inlaws roast with a Whirley Pop, on the stove and they are very happy with their results. I just know indoor roasting isn't a realistic option for me. The slightest amount of smoke sends my detectors off. (and my beagles hate it)

So if I do it, it has to be an "in the garage" option.

I need a new grinder before I start roasting anyways. Plus I have local roasters that are cooking beans daily, and quite reasonable in price too. I just had a Guatemalan city roast that was fantastic, and only $11 per pound...

 

I bought the
Capresso 560.01 Infinity Burr Grinder
from Amazon a couple of years ago. It does a decent job and is on sale at Amazon for $79. The drawback is I keep breaking off the timer knob. But if someone wants a cheap burr grinder this is pretty good.

 

I've been using this burr grinder ($10) and this vacuum container ($20) for a while now and found it to be a nice cheap setup. The container is especially great for keeping beans oily.

 

Anyone here have experience with coffee gator products? They seem to be well regarded.

 

Same here.. it's a good way to get to know the roasting stages, smells, etc.. because there is no muffling from closed containers, etc.. it's right there in front of you. I have sold off all of my roasters but I still have an original Poppery 1 that I scored at a resale shop for like 7 bucks.

 

Ugh.. I don't want my beans oily to begin with. And why would you want to "keep them oily"? We're talking coffee beans, not a transmission! If they're oily then they're most likely overroasted IMO. I cannot enjoy coffee when carbon is a predominant tasting note (such as Starbucks house blend and most other chain coffees).

 

I have one of these that is probably at least 12 years old though it hasn't been my primary grinder for a while. I have replaced the upper burr a couple of times because they do wear down. I still keep it in my cabinet as a backup. It has traveled with me all over the country. My main grinder these days is a Baratza Vario with a ditting stainless steel burr mod. I should probably just toss the Capresso now though as I have an OE Lido grinder that I can use for travel and backup and it's a VERY good grinder.

 

Mine's the Lido ET. It will probably be my main grinder once I move overseas in a year or so.
For now I love the convenience and grind of the Vario.

 

I was originally wanting to get a Hausgrind because of OE's poor customer service and the owner's sometimes bad behavior but I needed a quality grinder more quickly than I could get a Hausgrind shipped to me before a 3 week Asia trip last summer. Hopefully I never need to use the CS!

 

Yeah a couple of guys in this thread are waiting to get theirs.

 

I don't know if Handground is generally available yet, they said they were working on getting them to backers before putting them up or sale. IDK, mine hasn't shipped yet, so I assume that they haven't made it to the Amazon VA warehouse before today. When it shows up I'll be using it for pour over, so I'll post about it eventually. I'm not back to work until Tuesday of next week, there's plenty of time to try it out if it gets here during the holiday weekend.

 

My local shop has them and my backer one hasn't shipped yet. Kind of irritating.

 

Whoa! That stinks!

 

That shouldn't bother me, but the less rational part of me is quite unhappy. Especially when I'm sitting here with some beans waiting for it. Side note, what roasters do you guys get your beans from these days? I got a couple small bags from Onyx Coffee Labs.

 

@Smitty

Counterculturecoffee.com
https://topecacoffee.com

And then a couple of local roasters.
Topeca has achieved, in my opinion, the shining example of a successful seed-to-cup direct trade relationship with some farmers in El Salvador. Over the past 15 years or something they have worked with these guys to create a better product and be more succesful farmers and their product is quite good. I like the Manzano and it's a great price. My favorites will always be natural processes Ethiopians but I always buy some Manzano when I order from Topeca. I can't say enough about their main guy Ian Picco as well. He's a level above the average third wave coffee guru type, of which I have met many. I've had some Onyx at Ascension in Dallas but not much experience with it otherwise.

Counter Culture is amazing as well. They put so much heart into flavor. Any blend that they regularly carry is constantly reworked seasonally to insure the best possible representation of the concept for that blend. I mostly buy single origin but Hologram is a fave of mine and it's pretty fruit forward for a blend.

 

It's insane how many small roasters there are right now. Same thing is happening all over the developed world. Seoul used to have like one really high level coffee shop but when I was there this past summer there were people roasting and brewing great coffee everywhere.