Posted on 12/15/2005 8:33:20 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
The problem is that opening up frozen beans condenses moisture on the surface of the cold bean - unless you roast them right away the water absorption will start to kill the bean, and you certainly don't want to refreeze them. You could freeze in small, daily batches but that's a hassle.
It's far better to buy a high-quality vacuum-sealer; I use the adapter to vacuum-seal roasted beans in Ball canning jars if I don't use them within a few days after roasting.
The quest to maintain quality, and attempt Peet's French greatness, is what got me started roasting at home. That was almost 6 years ago, and I've never looked back. It's fun, the quality is superb and the price ends up about $5.50 per roasted pound - 1/3 of Peet's price. Plus, green coffee beans are rugged; you can store them in your garage for several years with no harm done as long as they stay dry.
Funny! Truly.
I'd like to buy that squirrel a drink.
2. Beats instant coffee. Only soldiers can tolerate THAT swill.
I rightly enjoy my morning's glycerol ester of wood rosin...;)
WORST tasting coffee I've ever had. AND......each little packet is a buck.
I'll take a cup of Cafe Bustello anyday.
LOL! Yes, you are.
What kind of smiley is that? Covering your eyes, are you? -)
Ok, I'm about to sound like a paid advertisement, but here it goes. I've got the high end model of the Keurig single cup coffeemaker. The coffee "pods" that work in it come from a variety of companies. I buy my pods on-line and can pick and choose the brands I want. There is Timothy's, Green Mountain Roasters, Gloria Jean's coffee beans, and many other brands to pick from. You can also get tea pods to use in the machine. Green teas, black teas, flavored teas, herbal teas, you name it, they have it. The coffee pods are airtight little self-filters, so to speak. The coffee I have purchased so far has not ever been "stale". Nor the tea. They taste great. Now, I've run into a couple of flavors that I didn't like the taste of, so I duly note it and don't purchase those flavors anymore. The machine makes about 8-9 cups of coffee/tea before it needs to be refilled w/water, that boils up in about 10 minutes and the machine is ready to go again.
I had Thanksgiving at my condo this year, and there were 9 in attendance to eat the bird. It was so nice to not have to prepare the coffee ahead of time, and pour it into multiple carafes, have to toss the grinds and clean the pots out. I just tossed a pile of pods (both coffee and tea, and both decaf and regular) into a basket, passed it around, and had everyone choose their own pod. They had a lot of fun going through the various flavors (I had a bunch of different ones) and picking out their favorites. I popped the pod in, pushed a button and out came a fresh cup of coffee. They queued up and I did them one by one, sending them happily off w/the likes of Southern Pecan, Columbian Decaf, Cappucino, French Roast, Blueberry Lemon Tea, Earl Grey tea, Hazelnut coffee, Dark Roast, etc. etc. And even more fun, when they wanted another cup of coffee, they got to choose something new and different the second time around.
No cleanup involved, just toss the used pod, and plunk in a new one. It pops a small pinpoint hole into the pod, both top and bottom and then serves as it's own filter as the water runs through the pod. There is no mixing of flavor tastes, as no part of the machine is left with residue of either coffee or tea on it, so when switching between coffee and tea, never the twain meets. I love my machine, my guests seemed to get off on it bigtime, and it sure was a lot less work.
The Keurig machine, while more expensive, has the best and most amount of pods from good companies to choose from. They've come out with a cheaper version machine than mine was (the new one is somewhere over $100 as opposed to the over $200 I paid, when they first came out). Moral of the story is I should have waited a bit longer, as the new and cheaper version is a good one and gives you a choice of sizes of cups of coffee (large or less large), whereas mine only makes one size cup. It doesn't bother me at all, but a choice of cup sizes might be more attractive to many.
There, did I talk you all into it yet? Did my sales rap make inroads? I hope so. I'm an advocate for this kind of machine. It was great at a party, and it's great for me in particular at home, as I am single. I get to choose from a gourmet variety of coffees (and teas) and it's like having a coffee shop in my home. And, as I live in the frigid tundra of Chicagoland, that's a good thing as I don't have to truck through a pile of snow to get to my specialty coffees. Finis, for now.....
Dang!! I never noticed that in there. Just looked at the ingredients further. Mmmmmm, wood rosin, lol!
I'm the only one in my household who drinks coffee. After reading the reviews of the pod machines, I bought a $200 Bunn pod machine -- and it's worth every penny. It delivers a single fresh, hot cup of coffee on demand. (I buy my pods from coolbeanspods.com.)
That idea from #82 sounds good. I used to buy coffee from a chain of stores called Trader Joe's. They had a type of coffee they called, Heisenberg's Beans of uncertain origin. It was a mix of whatever. What was really cool is that your coffee never tasted the same. EVER. Named after Heisenberg's Undertainty Principle. I thought it was clever... They haven't carried it for a while, and I still miss it. I ask for it, but it has been so long, the employees look at me like I don't know what I am talking about...
I'll bet he doesn't drink Safeway coffee. Peet's coffee is great and if that's what you like, wonderful. I prefer Starbucks. Why is my coffee preference not OK with you?
I used to love seeing the orange pulp in the drink when it was bottled in the green glass bottle. Still see it - but not as often. Something changed when they went to plastic - now there's an oily taste that didn't used to be. I suppose it's the forming oil residual from the bottle mfgring process.
Anywho - there's nothing like a Sundrop.
I stopped drinking Starbucks (sadly) when I learned they helped sponsor the Gay festival in SF. There's an article on FR about this somewhere.
"what other should or should not people enjoy."??????
Your preference is fine.
Your dogmatic attachment to their coffee is absurd. If you only get your beans from them, how do you know what anything else tastes like?
It is possible to get used to charcoal...
"what other should or should not people enjoy."??????
I occasionally write in neo-ebonics style. Normally, I would have written "what other people should or should not enjoy."
If I may ask, how do you roast your own beans? Is there a ready source for unroasted beans of different types of coffee? Who offers them, and at what price? This sounds like something I wouild like to try. We have a burr grinder and a good (the b est at least that I have ever bought) Starbucks Barista coffee maker (automatic, with filter), which makes very good coffee in a thermal carafe.
We ALSO have TWO Keurig one cuppers at home, and my wife gives them regularly as gifts to important friends.
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