The Two Week Evaluation

I told you my attention span doesn't last very long and as I start to think about new greatest passions, including wine tasting/cellaring, photography, weight lifting and/or triathlons...I think at this point it is time to take a step back and look at what I have learned about home roasting and weigh it against quality, cost, time etc.

Let me start with what I have learned
When I started with the idea of roasting coffee at home, I really was not able to find an objective resource to tell me that roasting coffee at home was easier, or higher quality or cost less than going down to Starbucks and paying $10-$15 per pound of beans. Sure, there were books and websites telling me this, but they all wanted to sell me something. It reminded me of the time I thought brewing my own beer was the greatest thing in the world based on the information I read and was told by books, websites and the local home brew store. I went out and purchased hundreds of dollars worth of kits, large pots, strainers, carboys, empty bottles, etc. I spent the next two months cleaning, brewing, racking, watching, waiting and taking copious notes only to be extremely disappointed when I wound up with a sweet, semi-carbonated swill with an alcohol content less than the current norm in the state of Utah.

Unlike brewing beer, I have found roasting coffee to be extremely easy and fun. I was literally able to start a batch of beans within 30 minutes or so of receiving my package. And probably could have started sooner if I hadn't wanted to make it more complicated.

I also like the immediate gratification of roasting beans compared to brewing beer. I know what I have created by the following morning and can immediately make changes to the process if I want to. Brewing beer takes months to finally uncover what you have made and by that time I had become board of the process and had moved on.

Time
I have found that I can roast about 2/3 pound of beans in 2 separate roasts in about 30+ minutes. This is enough coffee to last me about 5 days (I brew 1, 6 cup pot per day at an average of 7.5 grams of grounds per cup of water).

This is a difficult variable to measure. Currently it is not difficult at all to find 30 minutes 1-2 times per week because the process is new and exciting. I'm still watching the entire roast process to document the evolution of the beans from green to full city roast and beyond. So it is actually entertainment at this point, but I'm sure it will eventually become somewhat of a chore; however, once I have perfected the roast cycle for a varietal of beans, the process will not demand my full attention during that period of time.

Cost
My initial investment was $285.99 for the iRoast 2, a digital scale, a digital thermometer and 4 pounds of green beans. I think that I will start buying beans in 5 pound bags and choose 2-3 different varietals to have on hand. If I buy beans in 5 pound bags, the average cost per pound will be around $6.37 after shipping costs. This represents a $6.45 savings compared to the average cost of $12.82 ($12.00 plus tax) for a pound of Starbucks. Using these numbers and considering that we drink about a pound of coffee per week, I will recoup my initial investment after 45 weeks. Now, there is cheaper coffee out there (but I don't like it as much) and the iRoast may or may not last 45 weeks of consistent use.

Quality
This is the big question, and one that I have not fully uncovered. Home roasting does prove to be extremely fresh, but so far I have not nailed consistency. I typically am a very programmed individual. I like my routine to be fairly similar from day to day and I like my coffee dark and strong. But it has been refreshing to wake up to a new flavor everyday: from the bright acidic floral and semi-sweet chocolate of Ethiopia to the smokey thin bodied cup of Kenya that I had this morning (I haven't yet posted my notes). I'm sure that consistency will come when I begin to focus on one particular bean instead of a different one each roast. I think that it is certainly possible to create a consistent cup of coffee that rivals or beats anything you can purchase at Starbucks or even your local roaster, but if consistency is your thing home roasting may not be for you.

Conclusion
For anyone out there who wants to know if you can roast your own beans, the answer is yes. Hopefully I have provided enough information to help you weigh the cost/benefit ratio and make the decision to dive in or stay out. There is nothing worse than spending a lot of money and then never using the equipment or being unhappy with the results.

For me, I will continue to roast coffee and will continue to update the blog with new informtion that I learn and will hopefully perfect my process so that I can wake up to a consistent cup every morning.