Posted Fri May 4, 2012, 3:38pm Subject: Melitta Coffee Roaster
While I'm in a holding pattern for a new roaster, I borrowed a Melitta Aromaroast (got it for someone who I thought would be just as into roasting and never used it). I looked it up and it was pulled from the market almost as soon as it was introduced. I can see why, you can't watch the beans if you follow their directions. And their directions are pretty lame: put in beans, turn to roast (it has two settings roast and off) and wait x minutes depending on the type of roast you want. This was the roast I got after about 4 minutes. Not too bad. I thought there'd be more smoke. I think I will need to let them go a little longer.
Posted Sat May 5, 2012, 9:28am Subject: Re: Melitta Coffee Roaster
I concur with Randy. Are you sure they roasted? Split a bean apart and see if it roasted inside.
Len
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
Posted Sat May 5, 2012, 11:21am Subject: Re: Melitta Coffee Roaster
I'll do that and post the result. Maybe grind some up and see how it looks. Some of the beans do have an oily sheen to them. They're a little darker than the photo, but not much.
Posted Sat May 5, 2012, 11:39am Subject: Re: Melitta Coffee Roaster
These do pop up often enough on eBay. I found one at my Goodwill in the box for four bucks so I took it home - I posted some blogs about it on ROASTe - mine will roast OK but the capacity per roast is small - still it's quiet and relatively smoke free so it was fun using it inside this winter. : )
If I saw one at a thrift store for $4 I probably would get it to sit on a shelf next to my Hearthware Gourmet, Hearthware Precision, iRoast2, and the first Hottop in the USA. But to roast coffee? Fugedaboudit! ;-)
Posted Sat May 5, 2012, 1:05pm Subject: Re: Melitta Coffee Roaster
atalanta Said:
I'll do that and post the result. Maybe grind some up and see how it looks. Some of the beans do have an oily sheen to them. They're a little darker than the photo, but not much.
If you find the beans tough to grind they are likely under-roasted. If they smell a bit like grass (lawn grass) that would also be an indication of under-roasting.
Len
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
Posted Sat May 5, 2012, 1:05pm Subject: Re: Melitta Coffee Roaster
I used the one I have, and found the results interesting - air roasted in 8 - 10 minutes can bring out acidity and brightness nicely if it is in the bean to start with. I have adequate line voltage (over 120 according to my Kill-A-Watt meter) so baking doesn't happen - notice the cracks in the roasted beans in my photos added to the blogs.
I can compare it to other methods (heat gun/metal bowl, pop corn popper's, Stir Crazy/Turbo Oven, and Behmor) too. If the roasts were a lost cause I would not use it or blog about it. It's rep as a bean baker may be earned, or maybe we know more about line voltage thanks to an active internet roasting community than they did in 1982. Maybe these quit heating very well quickly into their life cycle - mine was purchased new in the box so time will tell how long the element holds up.
50g green nets 42g of roasted coffee, so just enough for a 24 fl oz pot of coffee, 3 traditional doubles, or 2 large espresso doubles is the yield - I wish it could handle larger batches.
(Click for larger image)
I chew coffee beans with my teeth while gargling with 195 F water to enjoy coffee. What is this "coffee brewing" device you speak of?
Posted Sat May 5, 2012, 3:32pm Subject: Re: Melitta Coffee Roaster
I cracked a bean and the color was consistent - no "raw" look. Actually, I've been checking the bowl and the smell is good. We're going to grind up some and try it in the press tonight.
I liked the blog posts. I'll have to fiddle with it some more, get the roasts to last a little longer. I don't have a kill-a-watt yet so can't speak as to that aspect. I did stir the beans until they had lost enough moisture to be carried aloft by the fan. I didn't in the first batch so there are a couple burnt beans in there. Roasting decaf outside, I could get away without the chaff collector.
Ground and brewed some this morning. The smell was lovely as they ground and the color nice (photo attached). The taste is fine, but there's an aftertaste that's odd. It's not bad, I can't quite place it. Probably some baking since it was my first roast with it.
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