Posts Tagged ‘roasting’Espresso vs. Coffee Beans: Is There a Difference?
February 29th, 2012
When it comes to coffee, many may wonder, ‘What’s the difference between coffee and espresso beans?’ Some people think they are a specific strain of bean, while others think that it’s a particular roast. Ultimately, it’s a blend (or a single origin bean) that stands up well under the high pressure preparation that is the [...]  Coffee Roaster Round-up
November 30th, 2011
We laughed, we cried, we lost a few brain cells — but we did gain valuable insight into home roasting! As a recap to our series on the four home roasters we currently carry (the iRoast 2, Nesco, Behmor and Hottop), Rob shares with us what he learned about the different models, how they compare [...] Crew Review: Hottop Coffee Roaster
November 25th, 2011
Now it’s time for the Cadillac! Next up in our roasting series with Rob is the Hottop, a high-end home roaster that looks like a traditional commercial roaster was just shrunk down by 85%. Watch as Rob takes us through features and specs of the KN-8828B model, we roast our first batch and then taste [...] Crew Review: Behmor Coffee Roaster
November 18th, 2011
Is third time the charm? Will Rob finally prevail over Velton’s expert roasting? Watch as he walks us through the features, specs and initial assessments on the very popular Behmor roaster, which is akin to a modified toaster oven (only with a shark cage inside!). We do a couple of test roasts and then we [...] Crew Review: Nesco Coffee Roaster
November 7th, 2011
Next up in our series on home coffee roasters is the Nesco, which is another air roaster, similar to the iRoast 2. One of its special features is a corkscrew in the roasting chamber, which rotates the beans to potentially achieve a more even roast. Also, Comic Sans. Rob takes us through his initial assessment [...] Crew Review: iRoast 2 Home Coffee Roaster
October 31st, 2011
Rob has agreed to become our master roaster! The first model up in his journey of self-improvement is the iRoast 2, a popular entry-level home roaster that basically functions as a modified popcorn popper. Watch as he takes us through the features and roasts his first batch of Velton’s Bonsai Blend; then we meet up [...] Crema Stability Testing
October 14th, 2010
Unless the roaster is using some type of preservative measure (such as the nitrogen flush used by large roaster Lavazza), coffee starts aging within its sealed bag from the moment it’s roasted. We set aside bags from March and June batches of Velton’s Bonsai Blend to compare the aged coffee against coffee roasted last week. [...] What is Crema?
July 16th, 2010
We recently wrote about crema — what it is, what contributes to its formation, etc. — and we thought we’d film Gail talking about it, as well, and test out a comparison test between an Americano with and without crema. Check it out! Dude, Where's my Crema?
May 27th, 2010
Crema is a little bit of a Holy Grail in the espresso world — folks are talking about it all the time, searching for it, measuring their technique, equipment and coffee by it. But what the heck is it? What does the production of crema give you? And is it really that important? New: Behmor 1600 Home Coffee Roaster
May 5th, 2010
While at the SCAA last month, we ran into the founder and creator of the Behmor home roaster, Joe Behm, and had an excellent conversation with him. We had been thinking about looking into expanding our home roasting options (given that the iRoast is MIA these days) and were interested in the Behmor 1600, so it was great to get the opportunity to see it in person. |
