Coffee

[garryr]

I enjoy coffee,with my tobacco. Just the other day my wife mentioned, "well now you have your tobacco, all you need is some coffee plants too", I am not sure, but I suspect coffee beans, and plants, might be harder then tobacco, or ?? So that is my question, Has anyone tried growing coffee ?

 

[Cigar]

I looked into that few years back [growing coffee] but from what I read would be very hard to grow were I live here in 'TN',but love to only because at the rate my wife drinks that stuff I could save a ton money. I like maybe one cup in morning thats all..were she drinks it all day/night,so if any one knows how to grow it..be very interesting to learn.

Cigar

 

[DGBAMA]

I looked into that few years back [growing coffee] but from what I read would be very hard to grow were I live here in 'TN',but love to only because at the rate my wife drinks that stuff I could save a ton money. I like maybe one cup in morning thats all..were she drinks it all day/night,so if any one knows how to grow it..be very interesting to learn.

Cigar

She sounds like a friend of mine....... "I only drink coffee 1 time a day........ When I am awake".

 

[DGBAMA]

I also looked into it briefly, and concluded if I needed to grow my caffeine fix, tea would be a better option.

 

[Cigar]

Ahh left the other important part..dont forget about her sugar/cigarettes she gets very mean when runs out of those three things lol

 

[buck]

I have a small plant growing indoors but not expecting any beans to come out of it, mostly just growing as a house plant. Temp here not suitable to grow coffee.

 

[Texasgrown]

Can tell you all about growing coffee and pineapples. My bro in law is from Costa Rica and that's what his family does for a living. Well, that and cheese production. Coffee unfortunately will not grow in your grow zone. It is a tropical and requires very warm rich soil. Also indoors is out of the question as the plants are more like bushes. But maybe if you had a giant greenhouse with 70s you could swing it. But if you are really looking into coffee try bulletproof coffee it's a new fad but man it's awesome! If you want more knowledge I can share as I picked beans and learned all the crazy laws around farming coffee in that country. Soil climate and type have the most to do with the beans. Drying flavoring and roasting are the other parts. It's a crazy process that's quite scientific.

 

[dondford]

My own coffee blend is next for me, after I get this RYO thing down. Don't think it's practical to try to grow coffee in middle Alabama but the next best thing is roasting and blending your own. There are Forums on the subject around and sources for green beans on the 'net. I have a friend who roasts his in a $10 air popcorn machine.

d

 

[Jitterbugdude]

If you are going to roast your own coffee, get a real roaster... really.. don't even consider a popcorn popper for more than a few seconds. Using a popcorn roaster for coffee is like using a knife to shred tobacco. You can use both but boy do they suck when compared to the appropriate tools, get a real Roaster and a real Shredder!

 

[Gmac]

I enjoy coffee,with my tobacco. Just the other day my wife mentioned, "well now you have your tobacco, all you need is some coffee plants too", I am not sure, but I suspect coffee beans, and plants, might be harder then tobacco, or ?? So that is my question, Has anyone tried growing coffee ?

I searched the suject thoughly. It takes 25 years for a coffee plant to bloom if planted from seed, and me being 70 yrs. old that means I'd be 95 when I got the first cup.
My Grandfather from south Louisiana taught me to drink coffee when I was about three or four years old, and I've been drinking it night and day ever since.
Community Coffee Company has a couple of New blends, I like the "Cafe Special" It's a blend between Medium & Dark Roast. Community is the only coffee you can drink hot or cold. The others have what us country boys call a "WHANG" to them when cold. Try it, If you don't like it I will give you your money back, Just like I would one of my Haircuts.
That's why I think it should be againest the Law for professionals to advertise, Like, (One call that's all) I mean if you can't do your job find one you can. Gmac

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

If you are going to roast your own coffee, get a real roaster... really.. don't even consider a popcorn popper for more than a few seconds. Using a popcorn roaster for coffee is like using a knife to shred tobacco. You can use both but boy do they suck when compared to the appropriate tools, get a real Roaster and a real Shredder!

I hate to be a contrarian, but I believe there is a time and place for a popcorn popper, and that it needs to be the right kind, used by someone with experience in a real roaster. I used to work at a micro roaster / Cafe. It's the kind of snobby hipster Cafe. We made it to nationals twice, and ive worked with two guys who in separate years went to the world barista championship.
Anyways, I was going to school, and i was poor, and couldn't afford the $20/lb speciality coffee I had become accustomed to. So I went to an organic store nearby who roasted their own, and God, it was lousy, over roasted, greasy. Blah! I bought green beans from them, and with my experience was able to make coffee far superior to theirs in a popcorn machine. So there's the place: when you have no money, but like good coffee.

The machine can't be an air popper. There are these types of poppers that are a circular hot plate with a rotating arm which stirs the popcorn. They work, and preheated, brings it to city roast in about 15 minutes, which is reasonable, and doesn't destroy all the flavour volatiles.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

The problem I would have with a popper is the tiny quantity that it roasts. I do not have the time to put my beans in a little popper everytime I want a cup. I use a roaster that holds 1/2 lb. So two batches a week and I'm done. I guess a popper would be fine for someone just starting out to see if they like to roast their own but if they drink a pound of coffee a week that little popper is going to get old real fast.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Don't get me wrong. I'd love to have a roaster. It's definitely better. Luckily, I can afford to not roast at all these days.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I just checked the price of Hot Top roasters and all I can say is you have to be a fool to pay $1100.00 U.S. for one of them. Absolutely ridiculous! If I didn't already own a few roasters I'd be all in with a popcorn popper!

 

[Raodwarior]

Have a friend that does all of his roasting in a cast iron pan. Probably not the best method but he roasts some great coffee.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I just checked the price of Hot Top roasters and all I can say is you have to be a fool to pay $1100.00 U.S. for one of them. Absolutely ridiculous! If I didn't already own a few roasters I'd be all in with a popcorn popper!

Yeah, I was wondering if you knew of some roaster that was cheaper, considering the speed at which you suggested we go out and get one.

 

[garryr]

Interesting replies, I did some looking via "Google" too, after all said and done, don't think it would be worth the trouble trying here, where I am, I do think in some other areas here in Mexico, they do grow coffee. Getting the seeds started takes quite a while, later, the bush has to grow, and it would take a lot of bushes.,,...oh well, so much for that idea. ...
thanks for sharing , every one

 

[Cigar]

garryr..it was great post..seems alot people here love there coffee.almost as much as there tobacco!!

 

[Grumpa]

Being very much into coffee and tea, I too looked into growing my own coffee a number of years back. The problem is you have to be 1) in the mountains and 2) in the tropics. Coffee plants will grow many places but in order to get good coffee you have to have specific conditions. (If I remember correctly, all the coffee in the world is grown within 30 degrees of the equator. Simply won't grow effectively outside that range) Low grown coffee even in the tropics is mostly crap used for instant coffee because it can't be used for anything else.

I have roasted and brewed coffee using just about every available method that exists and have come to the conclusion that just about any method works if you know what you are doing. A HotTop type of roaster works quite well but the 1 pound capacity is too large for most homes. Fresh roasted coffee is best between 4 and 24 hours after roasting. Some Indonesians are good for up to 36 hours. Beyond that there is a noticeable decline in quality. (One coffee I had was best at 8 hours after roasting only. At 6 hours it was good but bland, at 8 hours it was fantastic, at 10 hours it had lost a good portion of its aroma. One of the weirdest coffees I ever had). You can get a decent air roaster for $150-200 which will provide a quite good cup of coffee especially if you like light toned coffee. The drum roasters will generally provide more body but at more expense. What also works quite well is a Whirlypop Pop type of popcorn popper. There is quite a steep learning curve with them but provide a reasonable batch size at low cost. The plug in ones described by ChinaVoodoo work ok but are not the best as they take too long and don't agitate the coffee fast enough. Stay completely away from air operated popcorn poppers as they suck. A good place to start is sweetmarias.com.

if you are into coffee, home roasting is the way to go. You can get an incredible array of green coffee beans from around the world. Once you start home roasting, you will find out how much bad coffee there is out in the world. I refuse to patronize Starbucks and most other coffee shops because their coffee is just too old. Starbucks used to be good but when they went to centralized roasting, their coffee went south. The few shops I do visit roast on premises.

 

[Cigar]

wow and here I thought was only person on planet earth that never has..never will buy "Starbucks coffee" I remebering laughing at first starbucks built here many years ago saying who and the heck would spend that on cup coffee? boy wish had bought there stock back then haha!!! but I also many many years ago made fun of the "Weather channel" who would watch a weather channel 24/7 man got that wrong also lol