Chemex

I am sure one of you know.  Why should one pay an extra $100 for a hand blown Chemex.  Is it thicker glass that will also break?  The only thing I can think of is there should be no seam.  I have to believe it does not make better coffee.  I addition, you can buy 3 regular ones for the price of 1 hand blown pot.

I am sure one of you know.  Why should one pay an extra $100 for a hand blown Chemex.  Is it thicker glass that will also break?  The only thing I can think of is there should be no seam.  I have to believe it does not make better coffee.  I addition, you can buy 3 regular ones for the price of 1 hand blown pot.

I have no idea.  Glass is glass isn't it?  It may have a nicer look and its hand blown but I understand they're more fragile.  

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.

Make sure you check out the Resources section on Sweet Maria's website.  there's a ton of videos on roasting with the popcorn popper.  They tell you all the great stuff that I had to learn by trial and error and even some stuff I didn't know but wish I did.  The Popper is as hands on as you can get with coffee roasting.

+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.

Make sure you check out the Resources section on Sweet Maria's website.  there's a ton of videos on roasting with the popcorn popper.  They tell you all the great stuff that I had to learn by trial and error and even some stuff I didn't know but wish I did.  The Popper is as hands on as you can get with coffee roasting.

Thanks Marko...I've watched one and plan to watch several others before everything arrives.  I'm really excited to get started with this and have even started looking into the Chemex and pour-overs.  I've even gone so far to envision where I can put a coffee bar in my home office

Thanks for your reply.  I agree with everything you have indicated with the exception of one and a question about another.  I have been cooking for several decades and many times it is a trail and error issue.  It took me a year to perfect my pizza dough and figuring how to cook it properly.  Prior to purchasing my Chemex I must have watched almost a dozen YOUTUBE videos.  So the first time I made a pot of coffee it was like I did it before.  

My first question or comment is your ratio.  Now I understand you have been doing this for a while so maybe I have to try different formulas.  Everything I have read suggests the formula is 1 gram of coffee to 15 or 16 grams of water.  So depending on how much coffee my wife and I want to drink (we only use the Chemex in the evenings, mornings are too hectic) I use 32 grams of coffee and 480 grams of water or, for more coffee 50 grams of coffee to 750 grams of water.  I completely agree with 205º water.  I use dark beans so, do you feel 900 grams of water makes some what weak coffee?  Maybe the next time I'll try 50 grams of coffee and 800 grams of water and go from there.

Chemex indicates the you can put the pot on a gas range with very low heat.  My stove barely shows the flame on the lowest setting.  However, I use a heat diffuser (the same thing you would use with a clay pot) with a very low flame and it kept the coffee hot.  I do understand glass breaks.  

Again thanks for your reply.

Happy to reply.
If I am not roasting my own beans, I use Peet's Major Dickinson's Blend. Now, this is by no means a coffee for the average coffee drinker.
It's full-bodied; has a terrific mouth-feel and on a scale of 1-10, a 8.5 in strength...at the ratio I provided. Now, just like shave soaps, YMMV,
vis-a-vis strength. You will also find that the coffee drips through the Chemex filter far slower than a Melitta filter. Side note: When I add the first 100-150g of H2O, I stir it up pretty well. Regarding heating coffee, this is something I never do. Added heat, no matter how low, will destroy the flavor. I highly recommend a thermal carafe instead. Have fun and experiment with your ratio. I am curious to what you settle on.

Thanks again, lets keep in touch.

Just came across this. Worth watching. https://youtu.be/ikt-X5x7yoc