The pros and cons of Roasting Coffee in House versus finding a Local roaster
Whether you`re already a dedicated coffee-lover or discovering the brew for the first time, you may be a bit overwhelmed by all your options. You can buy already-made coffee from a local shop, but it may become an expensive habit fast and your coffee won`t be as fresh as it could be or made to your exact preferences.
You can brew coffee at home in a standard coffee pot but, as with the pre-made stuff, the can of grounds you get in your grocery store may have been sitting for weeks or even months before you brought it home. The quality of coffee roast declines rather quickly, with the resulting brew declining as fast as a week after the beans are prepared.
If you want fresh coffee made exactly how you like it, you have two distinct options. You can invest in a roasting set-up for your home, roasting your own beans and grounding fresh, or get grounds delivered from a local coffee roaster. Before you make your final decision, you should weight the specific pros and cons of each approach.
Home Roasting
Home roasting may come with some significant start-up costs, depending on your preferred method and you`ll have to buy the beans yourself. Manual roasting is less expensive than automated styles but opens you up for batch losses in the form of human error.
Manual roasting requires less equipment and is often done over a stove top, but you`re doing everything by hand. You`re responsible for controlling how the beans move, the roasting time and the temperature throughout the entire process.
You`ll have to handle a lot of trial and error runs in the beginning as you improve your manual method and discover what works best for you, so you may waste a lot of coffee beans at first, but once you`ve got your method down, you`ll have freshly roasted beans for your coffee in decent batches without the cost or upkeep associated with special equipment.
Automated roasting methods and tools vary widely and each come with their own set of drawbacks and advantages. Air roasters, for example, are smaller and less expensive than drum roasters, but drum roasters cook the beans at a slower pace, which is ideal for flavor and can handle a larger batch at one time.
Coffee Delivery
Local coffee delivery takes the roasting out of your kitchen but gives you similar quality in terms of the coffee, providing you`ve found a good and reliable roaster. How much fresh coffee delivery will cost you depends on the prices in your area, the vendor and the types of coffee you`re after, but in general, it`s often less expensive to buy coffee as opposed to roasting it yourself.
Since roasting at home involves the use of machines which may break down and introduce human error into the equation, buying from a local vendor instead cuts out a lot of side costs. You don`t have to cover bean losses because you made a mistake during the roasting or replace or repair your roasting equipment.
Coffee delivery still comes with its own drawbacks, primarily the lack of control. Since you`re not controlling the roasting process yourself or personally selecting beans, the coffee may not be exactly to your personal taste preferences.
Before you decide how to get your fresh coffee, you`ll need to research local bean, vendor and equipment prices to determine the cost basis in your particular case. Vendors such as
Caffee Society and
Chris's Coffee have equipment available for you to consider and you may want to speak with local roast shop owners as well.
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Ray Williamson Posted on: 2013-09-20 12:00 AM 
