Chemex

The Technivorm coffee brewer is probably the only machine you ever need to buy if you take care of it.  Care is generally running descaler through it every few months depending on how hard your water is.  I've had the same one for over 20 years and it still makes very good drip brewed coffee.  I really like that you can easily remove and wash every part of the machine that comes into contact with coffee.  Clean brewing equipment is essential to good coffee.  

I brew a pot of coffee in the Technivorm every morning and I brew myself a pour over using the Hario V60.  I use a scale  - 48gms of beans for a pot in the Technivorm which is about 6 cups of water.  I use 24gms of beans to 350 gms of water for the pour over.  I use the technique demonstrated in the video below by Thompson Owen of Sweetmarias.com. I've been buying green beans for roasting from Sweet Marias for over 20 years.  Their beans are excellent as is their service.  Theres a ton of pour over technique videos on YouTube and I haven't watched them all. because I'm happy with the technique demonstrated on this video.  In coffee as in so many other things, find what makes you happy and go with it.  Feresh beans and clean brewing equipment - after that its all up to you


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6OdG39pfTU

I get my green beans from Sweet Maria's as well.

The Technivorm coffee brewer is probably the only machine you ever need to buy if you take care of it.  Care is generally running descaler through it every few months depending on how hard your water is.  I've had the same one for over 20 years and it still makes very good drip brewed coffee.  I really like that you can easily remove and wash every part of the machine that comes into contact with coffee.  Clean brewing equipment is essential to good coffee.  

I brew a pot of coffee in the Technivorm every morning and I brew myself a pour over using the Hario V60.  I use a scale  - 48gms of beans for a pot in the Technivorm which is about 6 cups of water.  I use 24gms of beans to 350 gms of water for the pour over.  I use the technique demonstrated in the video below by Thompson Owen of Sweetmarias.com. I've been buying green beans for roasting from Sweet Marias for over 20 years.  Their beans are excellent as is their service.  Theres a ton of pour over technique videos on YouTube and I haven't watched them all. because I'm happy with the technique demonstrated on this video.  In coffee as in so many other things, find what makes you happy and go with it.  Feresh beans and clean brewing equipment - after that its all up to you


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6OdG39pfTU

I get my green beans from Sweet Maria's as well.

They're the best - I've tried a couple of other places over the years and they are nowhere near as good beans.  What do you roast with?  I'm using the Hot Top right now but used the Hearthware for a number of years and at the beginning I used the hot air popcorn paper for a couple of years.

I tend to favour Ethiopian coffees but I enjoy Columbian and I always buy whenever I get an email notification of Gesha in stock. 

The Technivorm coffee brewer is probably the only machine you ever need to buy if you take care of it.  Care is generally running descaler through it every few months depending on how hard your water is.  I've had the same one for over 20 years and it still makes very good drip brewed coffee.  I really like that you can easily remove and wash every part of the machine that comes into contact with coffee.  Clean brewing equipment is essential to good coffee.  

I brew a pot of coffee in the Technivorm every morning and I brew myself a pour over using the Hario V60.  I use a scale  - 48gms of beans for a pot in the Technivorm which is about 6 cups of water.  I use 24gms of beans to 350 gms of water for the pour over.  I use the technique demonstrated in the video below by Thompson Owen of Sweetmarias.com. I've been buying green beans for roasting from Sweet Marias for over 20 years.  Their beans are excellent as is their service.  Theres a ton of pour over technique videos on YouTube and I haven't watched them all. because I'm happy with the technique demonstrated on this video.  In coffee as in so many other things, find what makes you happy and go with it.  Feresh beans and clean brewing equipment - after that its all up to you


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6OdG39pfTU

I get my green beans from Sweet Maria's as well.

They're the best - I've tried a couple of other places over the years and they are nowhere near as good beans.  What do you roast with?  I'm using the Hot Top right now but used the Hearthware for a number of years and at the beginning I used the hot air popcorn paper for a couple of years.

I tend to favour Ethiopian coffees but I enjoy Columbian and I always buy whenever I get an email notification of Gesha in stock. 

I use a first-generation Behmor. Love the Hot Top, but that new Aillio looks amazing.

I get my green beans from Sweet Maria's as well.

They're the best - I've tried a couple of other places over the years and they are nowhere near as good beans.  What do you roast with?  I'm using the Hot Top right now but used the Hearthware for a number of years and at the beginning I used the hot air popcorn paper for a couple of years.

I tend to favour Ethiopian coffees but I enjoy Columbian and I always buy whenever I get an email notification of Gesha in stock. 

I use a first-generation Behmor. Love the Hot Top, but that new Aillio is amazing looks amazing.

I used a gen 1 Behmor for several years but it (actually) exploded on me - literally pop, flash of light and smoke out he back.  It was out of warranty at that point.  When I first started out roasting I used a Variac voltage regulator to dampen variation in current and I thought it helped a lot - it eventually failed as well and they're hard to find so I go without now and just take my chances that the electronics don't get fried.  Roasting coffee is one of the tiny joys in my life.

I started experimenting with using more water and it turned out well.  My coffee weight depends on if my wife and I want one good size cup each or two.  I have tried Peet's Major Dickinson's Blend.  I also like their French Roast, Starbucks Sumatra and Italian Roast.  I will also try their KomodoDragon Blend.  I was not aware that you could roast your own beans.  How do you do it?

I started experimenting with using more water and it turned out well.  My coffee weight depends on if my wife and I want one good size cup each or two.  I have tried Peet's Major Dickinson's Blend.  I also like their French Roast, Starbucks Sumatra and Italian Roast.  I will also try their KomodoDragon Blend.  I was not aware that you could roast your own beans.  How do you do it?

I started roasting my own beans about 10 years ago. Like shaving, I thought I could save money.  Actually, you can.
I would refer you to the above-mentioned Sweet Maria's website. https://www.sweetmarias.com/
Here you will find a huge amount of information, which can help acquaint you with home roasting. Like everything else, there is a learning curve. You can spend a LOT on a home roaster, but I would strongly urge starting out moderately to see if you even enjoy it. It's a hands on process, definitely NOT set it and forget it. (I found that out the hard way).
I use the Behmor Home Roaster. Sweet Maria's sells it and a few others. Worth checking out.

I started experimenting with using more water and it turned out well.  My coffee weight depends on if my wife and I want one good size cup each or two.  I have tried Peet's Major Dickinson's Blend.  I also like their French Roast, Starbucks Sumatra and Italian Roast.  I will also try their KomodoDragon Blend.  I was not aware that you could roast your own beans.  How do you do it?

I started roasting my own beans about 10 years ago. Like shaving, I thought I could save money.  Actually, you can.
I would refer you to the above-mentioned Sweet Maria's website. https://www.sweetmarias.com/
Here you will find a huge amount of information, which can help acquaint you with home roasting. Like everything else, there is a learning curve. You can spend a LOT on a home roaster, but I would strongly urge starting out moderately to see if you even enjoy it. It's a hands on process, definitely NOT set it and forget it. (I found that out the hard way).
I use the Behmor Home Roaster. Sweet Maria's sells it and a few others. Worth checking out.

+1 to what primotenore says.  I love doing it and I've been doing it for over 20 years.  My first batch I roasted in a cast iron frying pan.  Not ideal but it was ok.  I used a hot air popcorn popper for several years and it did a great job although chaff control and cooling functions are non-existent so you have to improvise.  Sweet Marias really does an excellent job at explaining the pros and cons of the different systems and I would recommend a low tech system to start both because its cheaper especially if you find its not for you but also because you can become more intimately acquainted with the sights, sounds and smells of the roasting process more easily.  You shouldn't worry about small batch sizes on some of the roasters - I only roast enough beans for a week because I find that the lighter aromatics start to dissipate within 5 or 6 days - the coffee is still great but noticeably fading in my opinion so once a week and its not that big a deal.  Also, small batch means less smoke and if you're roasting under your stove fan you'll appreciate that.

When friends and family find out you roast they might press you to roast them so coffee - go ahead if you like maybe for birthdays or Christmas but I've found it to be unrewarding.  Even if you give them specific instructions on how to store, when to grind and how to brew, especially about keeping all brewing equipment meticulously clean they won't do anything you say and like my mother in law they will grind the beans the night before and put 9it in the grubby coffee maker overnight to bre3w on a timer in the morning and then it will drip into an equally grubby thermos carafe and sit there for a couple of hours.  And then she says she doesn't see what the fuss is about, it isn't any better than her Costco beans.    OK fine, no coffee beans for you!  That said, I really enjoy my morning cup of coffee - I usually just have the one, its all I need 

I started experimenting with using more water and it turned out well.  My coffee weight depends on if my wife and I want one good size cup each or two.  I have tried Peet's Major Dickinson's Blend.  I also like their French Roast, Starbucks Sumatra and Italian Roast.  I will also try their KomodoDragon Blend.  I was not aware that you could roast your own beans.  How do you do it?

I started roasting my own beans about 10 years ago. Like shaving, I thought I could save money.  Actually, you can.
I would refer you to the above-mentioned Sweet Maria's website. https://www.sweetmarias.com/
Here you will find a huge amount of information, which can help acquaint you with home roasting. Like everything else, there is a learning curve. You can spend a LOT on a home roaster, but I would strongly urge starting out moderately to see if you even enjoy it. It's a hands on process, definitely NOT set it and forget it. (I found that out the hard way).
I use the Behmor Home Roaster. Sweet Maria's sells it and a few others. Worth checking out.

+1 to what primotenore says.  I love doing it and I've been doing it for over 20 years.  My first batch I roasted in a cast iron frying pan.  Not ideal but it was ok.  I used a hot air popcorn popper for several years and it did a great job although chaff control and cooling functions are non-existent so you have to improvise.  Sweet Marias really does an excellent job at explaining the pros and cons of the different systems and I would recommend a low tech system to start both because its cheaper especially if you find its not for you but also because you can become more intimately acquainted with the sights, sounds and smells of the roasting process more easily.  You shouldn't worry about small batch sizes on some of the roasters - I only roast enough beans for a week because I find that the lighter aromatics start to dissipate within 5 or 6 days - the coffee is still great but noticeably fading in my opinion so once a week and its not that big a deal.  Also, small batch means less smoke and if you're roasting under your stove fan you'll appreciate that.

When friends and family find out you roast they might press you to roast them so coffee - go ahead if you like maybe for birthdays or Christmas but I've found it to be unrewarding.  Even if you give them specific instructions on how to store, when to grind and how to brew, especially about keeping all brewing equipment meticulously clean they won't do anything you say and like my mother in law they will grind the beans the night before and put 9it in the grubby coffee maker overnight to bre3w on a timer in the morning and then it will drip into an equally grubby thermos carafe and sit there for a couple of hours.  And then she says she doesn't see what the fuss is about, it isn't any better than her Costco beans.    OK fine, no coffee beans for you!  That said, I really enjoy my morning cup of coffee - I usually just have the one, its all I need 

The BIGGEST thing I have learned over the years is how to use my ears. How to recognize First Crack and Second Crack. Sounds weird, but absolutely VITAL. It's actually quite fascinating. Also, personally I would NEVER roast indoors. There is a great deal of smoke involved and I cannot imagine a stove fan being able to handle it. Also, while SWMBO loves to drink the coffee, she does not tolerate the smell, which is a definite acquired taste. Personally, I love the smell.

I started experimenting with using more water and it turned out well.  My coffee weight depends on if my wife and I want one good size cup each or two.  I have tried Peet's Major Dickinson's Blend.  I also like their French Roast, Starbucks Sumatra and Italian Roast.  I will also try their KomodoDragon Blend.  I was not aware that you could roast your own beans.  How do you do it?

I started roasting my own beans about 10 years ago. Like shaving, I thought I could save money.  Actually, you can.
I would refer you to the above-mentioned Sweet Maria's website. https://www.sweetmarias.com/
Here you will find a huge amount of information, which can help acquaint you with home roasting. Like everything else, there is a learning curve. You can spend a LOT on a home roaster, but I would strongly urge starting out moderately to see if you even enjoy it. It's a hands on process, definitely NOT set it and forget it. (I found that out the hard way).
I use the Behmor Home Roaster. Sweet Maria's sells it and a few others. Worth checking out.

+1 to what primotenore says.  I love doing it and I've been doing it for over 20 years.  My first batch I roasted in a cast iron frying pan.  Not ideal but it was ok.  I used a hot air popcorn popper for several years and it did a great job although chaff control and cooling functions are non-existent so you have to improvise.  Sweet Marias really does an excellent job at explaining the pros and cons of the different systems and I would recommend a low tech system to start both because its cheaper especially if you find its not for you but also because you can become more intimately acquainted with the sights, sounds and smells of the roasting process more easily.  You shouldn't worry about small batch sizes on some of the roasters - I only roast enough beans for a week because I find that the lighter aromatics start to dissipate within 5 or 6 days - the coffee is still great but noticeably fading in my opinion so once a week and its not that big a deal.  Also, small batch means less smoke and if you're roasting under your stove fan you'll appreciate that.

When friends and family find out you roast they might press you to roast them so coffee - go ahead if you like maybe for birthdays or Christmas but I've found it to be unrewarding.  Even if you give them specific instructions on how to store, when to grind and how to brew, especially about keeping all brewing equipment meticulously clean they won't do anything you say and like my mother in law they will grind the beans the night before and put 9it in the grubby coffee maker overnight to bre3w on a timer in the morning and then it will drip into an equally grubby thermos carafe and sit there for a couple of hours.  And then she says she doesn't see what the fuss is about, it isn't any better than her Costco beans.    OK fine, no coffee beans for you!  That said, I really enjoy my morning cup of coffee - I usually just have the one, its all I need 

Well, you guys aren't a bunch of enablers, are you?     I just put an order in at Sweet Maria's for a Hot Air Popper ($20) and it comes with 4 lbs of beans for free!  You don't get to pick what kind of beans so it will be interesting to see what arrives.  But I did also placed an order for a pound of the Ethiopia Suke Quto Daannisa...mainly because the description noted a high % of cacao dark chocolate.  My manual grinder finally arrived last week (3.5 week wait from Amazon) so hopefully soon I will be experiencing "real" coffee. 

I'm likely to continue using a $20 brewer with the Costco coffee only because I go through about 15 to 20 cups every morning.  My hope though is that the fresh roasted/grinded coffee makes such a difference that I can cut the consumption down to 6 ot 8 cups of good coffee each morning.  I don't have a Chemex but if things go well, I'll be on the lookout for one.

And so it begins HoosierShave , I hope you like it.  I'm sure Sweet Marias gives you instructions for the hot air popper but  keep in mind, it blows hot and roasts fast.  You can go t=from city roast to espresso dark in a brief moment.  That type of roaster is called a fluid bed roaster because it roasts the beans in a fluid bed of hot air rather than a convection roaster like the Behmor or Hottop.  When I used a popcorn popper I would place a bowl under the outlet to catch (most) of the chaff and the odd bean that would shoot out to early - I'd toss them back in to the roaster because every bean matters    I also rigged up a cooling system where I would place a box fan horizontally between two chairs with the air flowing downwards then I would put the beans straight out of the roaster onto a perforated pizza pan and put it on top of the box fan so air was drawn down through the beans cooling them reasonably efficiently.  I only knocked the whole setup onto the floor a few times.   Each batch in the popcorn popper is pretty small so if you're going to be drinking as much coffee as you said you'll have to do several batches per session.  The good news is, if memory serves me correctly a roast to full city - past first crack but before second crack takes just over two minutes so it won't take you an inordinate amount of time.  This is exciting. I thnk the popcorn popper is the way to start out, its cheap and effective and gives you the opportunity to see and hear what's going on.  The two "cracks" of roasting are interesting and vary slightly from varietal to varietal but basically first crack is a loud snap and second crack is a more subtle crinkling sound.  You'll see, or rather hear it and it will become your focus.  Best of luck