Coffee Roasters

December 7, 2004 1:42 PM

CoffeeFilter redux as a follow up to the linked thread, who/what are the best coffee roasters?

I've never been disapointed with Peet's but I'd love to find the "best" if such a thing exists. I prefer full bodied coffees with spicy/nutty/chocolate-y notes, velvety mouth feel, and smooth to mid range acidity. Think Sumatra for a single origin or a good Arabian Mocha Java. Two very different coffees--the latter is somewhat more complex while the former remains, in my opinion, far more satisfying--yet the both share the same essential characteristics. Further recomendations along these lines -- not just for beans and blends but specific coffee roasters would be great. If there are any local to me (Baltimore, MD) that would be really cool. Thanks.

posted by Grod to food & drink (14 comments total)

Sweet Marias offers this lovely creature so you can roast your own coffee at home. I have been roasting my home brewed for about three years now and no coffee house in town can beat the richness and fullness of a fiercely fresh roast.
posted by majikwah at 2:09 PM on December 7, 2004 [1 favorite]

I absolutely adore Batdorf & Bronson coffee. You can buy it in person at least in Olympia, WA and Atlanta, but you can also easily order it online. Don't know if any coffee shops in Baltimore carry it, but I know folks who work at the B&B offices -- I can ask around.

Seriously, though, it's my favoritest coffee in the world, and there's a lot of different coffees available in Washington. I'm not just saying I love it because it's from Olympia. I really think it's fabulous. It's what I usually buy.
posted by Captain_Tenille at 2:16 PM on December 7, 2004

Stumptown or Espresso Vivace, both available online.
posted by turbodog at 2:22 PM on December 7, 2004

Fresh is better. Find and sample your local roasters.
posted by me3dia at 2:41 PM on December 7, 2004

If you are tempted to try roasting your own coffee I'd strongly suggest trying either roasting with an air popper (about 5 bucks and a bit of hunting) or a heat gun (35 bucks new) before thinking about dropping 179 dollars on a home roaster. Especially considering how the coffee geeks say the results are the same or even better when done the cheap way.

Oh and if you do home roast and like it, there are some coffee co-ops out there that do bulk coffee orders for cheaper than Sweet Marias, but you have to deal with co-op issues.

Sigh, and I had been so planning doing an FPP on this...

(Disclaimer, I've never actually used a one of those home roasting gadgets myself, my air popper works just fine thank you very much.)
posted by aspo at 5:10 PM on December 7, 2004 [1 favorite]

Oh and I almost forgot. Now that I'm roasting my own I've totally fallen in love with lighter roasted coffees. Maybe it is because the coffee is roasted fresh, maybe because I'm buying high quality beans, maybe I'm just paying more attention to flavor, but where I used to like my coffee almost french roast dark, now I'm all about coffee that is roasted a light brown.
posted by aspo at 5:12 PM on December 7, 2004

Find a roaster who doesn't jet-roast, who has the kind of machine the local roaster in a small old-world Italian town uses to supply nothing but the surrounding area, the type that cooks only 100# of beans at a time. The controls are still very automatic, with dials and settings and such; if the person using this apparatus has any sense and experience, s/he'll deliver beautiful beans.

I worked for a company with just such a mechanical beastie, and I can tell you the coffee was fine.

For a while the company hired a fellow they knew because he kept buying green beans from them. Eventually they found out he was roasting his own at home using a popcorn-popper. They tested him out, discovered he had exquisite sensibilities and a natural talent, and immediately hired him to roast. A gift from God out of nowhere, he was. Then he became a serious student of religion, left to join a monastery, and they said "...and God taketh away."

Which is not to imply the company owner and operators were Christian; they were practioners of something similar to Santaria and, in addition to sacrificing innocent chickens to deities such as Ogun the Earth God, they also occasionally asked myself and another employee (not involved in their "religion") disturbing questions like "would you be able to help us build a trailer to transport some goats to a religious gathering?"

Um, no, sorry...

The point of the story is, you can also buy green and roast your own beans at home.

The end of the story is thus:

Being something of an animal rights activist, I didn't work for them long, and to this day I deny myself the pleasure of their coffee.

God may have given and taken away their first God-gifted roaster, but Ogun chased me away.
posted by Shane at 6:44 PM on December 7, 2004

Equal Exchange.
posted by anathema at 6:53 PM on December 7, 2004

I'll second Captain_Tenille's recommendation. Batdorf & Bronson is the best coffee I've ever had. I'm in Somerville, MA (near Boston) and there are a couple cafes here that serve it and one (Someday Cafe in Davis Sq.) that sells whole beans. Whenever I travel, the thing I miss most about home is that coffee. I'm not kidding. No other coffee I've had compares to it.

The "Dancing Goats" and "Bainbridge" blends are my favorites.
posted by evoo at 7:30 PM on December 7, 2004

If you are anywhere near the Bay area, you owe it to yourself to meet James Freeman at Blue Bottle.

"Our freshness policy is unmatched in the entire coffee industry: we will not sell beans more than 48 hours out of the roaster." Simply amazing.
posted by judith at 8:15 PM on December 7, 2004

"Our freshness policy is unmatched in the entire coffee industry: we will not sell beans more than 48 hours out of the roaster." Simply amazing.
Maybe amazing amongst Folgers and Charbucks, but pretty much all small-batch specialty roasters only make enough for two days. Most will show a roasting date on their bag.

Stone Creek Coffee is super yummy excellent, and has free shipping. Plus: Malabar, which is SO GOOD.
/me reaches for another cup
posted by mimi at 5:48 AM on December 8, 2004

I agree, a $179.00 roaster is probably a bit much, although I still covet it for its shiny sparkle and pretty buttons.
I haven't tried the air popping roaster yet. I got a "Fresh Roast" roaster for a birthday present last year after burning out an early version of a Hearthware roaster - but they are great machines and quieter and less smoke than the air popper version - but I doubt you have to have a bean specific roaster for the coffee.
I also have been procrastinating a FPP on home coffee roasting. It really is the only way to go. Beans are so flipping easy to find. Ebay usually sells five pound lots all the time and I have to two local sources for great green beans.
Nice to know I am not alone in my bean roasting addiction.
posted by majikwah at 10:06 AM on December 8, 2004 [1 favorite]

Allegro! Allegro! Allegro!
posted by Miko at 12:04 PM on December 8, 2004

Aspo, would you consider doing a post on home-roasting your own beans?
posted by Hildago at 4:44 PM on December 8, 2004