This morning I made a pot of coffee from the Sumatra Decaf that KennyG bombed my house with. It was great!  Didn't have the funky metallic bitterness I usually get with decaf. My two teenage boys and Miss Cheryl thought I had gone out and bought some premium beans.  I told them "no, this is the bomb" ... and they agreed

Again Ken, thank you so much.  It was really enjoyable.

Armin, glad you liked it  

That Sumatra Decaf is "the bomb" your right.  I ran out of the raw Sumatra decaf beans, and I looked online where I get my beans from, they sold out and don't have any more of it available. I think it is the best decaf I've roasted....... but I have several other decafs waiting for me to roast.

Today I roasted up some Peru Decaf, and it's delish also. I picked up some tanzania peaberry beans (not decaf) today. I'll be roasting that up next week.

Ahhhh coffee and cigars,  Life is good    

NesTek was kind enough to share some of the coffee that Kenny roasted and bombed him with and it was fantastic!  I'm hoping he saves me a bit of the decaf to try also.  

Kenny, just curious, when you do your roasting, do you usually need to wait a bit before grinding and brewing or can you go straight from the roaster to the grinder?  How much do you typically roast at a time?  Enough for a day, a week, a month?

Hi Mike,

I wait 2 days to 2 weeks after roasting before grinding up the beans. The chemical reactions in the beans continue after roasting, and the beans need to "outgas" C02 before grinding.

I've tried grinding and brewing right after roasting, but the flavors are not developed so the coffee tastes flat.

Perfectionists say waiting 3 days is when coffee attains it's peak flavors but I disagree. flavors change but don't get worse until coffee sets around in roasted bean form for awhile (like over 2 months)

The coffees you buy in the supermarket are ground after the beans have sat around a considerable time (up to 2 years) and then after grinding, they add so many chemicals to "preserve the freshness" by the time it's brewed at home, it tastes......well just plain stale.

When I roast coffee, I like to roast up about 6 oz at a time. My roaster will roast about 3oz, so that's 2 batches of coffee beans.  Right now in my kitchen I have a total of 2lb of roasted beans, from 5 different countries, small batches of each roast.

Good timing on this thread.  I'm currently drinking some Tanzanian Peaberry from KennyG.  This coffee is absolutely fantastic and my favorite of the three he sent.

With all this coffee talk, I had been craving a cup with a morning cigar since last night.  I don't have the fresh roasted coffee, but I still had a Java latte with my morning brew and it was a nice way to start my day.

Thanks for answering my questions above too.

I keep wanting to get into roasting my own,  but I've just got so many irons in the fire and so many things to aquire...

I know that it's just me, but decaf just seems like it is "pretend" coffee.  There is always some kind of chemical bitterness associated with decaf no matter what blend I try.  

Quotemb2456 - 4/10/2011  2:09 PM

I know that it's just me, but decaf just seems like it is "pretend" coffee.  There is always some kind of chemical bitterness associated with decaf no matter what blend I try.  

Mike B.  I would agree with you about prepared decaf coffees. I can guarantee the decaf coffees I roast do not have that "chemical" taste.

The first time I drank some decaf I had home roasted I truly thought they must have mixed up the beans and sent me regular (not decaf) beans. To test it I drank 3 cups of that decaf at 9pm. I had no problems sleeping, so I knew it was actually decaf.

The Sumatra decaf has been the best so far, but I'm roasting Peru decaf as a french roast (very dark ) and it is delish !

I Kenny, I you don't mind, I was wondering what make/model is your roaster?  I'm looking to buy one soon and was looking at the I-roast because my friend has one and it seems to work pretty well. I'm surprised that the price of premium unroasted beans is quite a bit less than store-bought roasted beans, and not nearly as delicious!

Quotekennyg - 4/10/2011  4:10 PM

Quotemb2456 - 4/10/2011  2:09 PM

I know that it's just me, but decaf just seems like it is "pretend" coffee.  There is always some kind of chemical bitterness associated with decaf no matter what blend I try.  

Mike B.  I would agree with you about prepared decaf coffees. I can guarantee the decaf coffees I roast do not have that "chemical" taste.

The first time I drank some decaf I had home roasted I truly thought they must have mixed up the beans and sent me regular (not decaf) beans. To test it I drank 3 cups of that decaf at 9pm. I had no problems sleeping, so I knew it was actually decaf.

The Sumatra decaf has been the best so far, but I'm roasting Peru decaf as a french roast (very dark ) and it is delish !

Mike, I have the same issue with every decaf my sensitive palate ever encountered, no matter where or who it came from ... until I tried the kennyg sumatra decaf.  It was outstanding! Better tasting than regular coffees you would get most anywhere else.