Home Roasting Coffee On The Back Porch

I needed some roasted coffee beans and just got a big batch of different beans from Burman so on a hot July afternoon I set up my Gene Cafe Roaster and did a pound of beans (but not roasted beans) in 2 batches with their BCT Espresso Blend. I gave it a medium roast, nothing too black or oily this time.

The roaster is pretty easy to use you just have to watch the amount you put in it to start and watch for getting the right amount of roast on the beans. Too little or too much is no good. Actually too much is a fire!:)

I have had this roaster for a long time and it suits my needs. You can get started with a popcorn maker. Here are the basic instructions on home roasting coffee.

Warning: it's as addictive as the end product!

Home roasting is fun and saves you lots of money buying coffee from all over the world at 1/2 the price per pound of what you find in the stores.

Espresso Machine Tune Up

Espresso Monkey is Happy!

My Saeco Aroma (now discontinued here is a similar budget priced option) got a tune up thanks to parts and instructions from Seattle Coffee Gear. They include a brew screen (the old one - YUCK) a brew head gasket and more. It took about 20 minutes + time to run some descaler.

Is it hard to do? No but it helps to watch this video or find one for your machine. When you are done there should be no leaks from your portafilter and the coffee will taste better!

They have kits to do this for lots of machines maybe give your machine a tune up as well. The end result is much happiness! Mmm the coffee tastes great!

They have some good videos on coffee machines. Here's how to descale mine