There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
For those that don't, where do you get your coffee? Finding a local roaster is always your best bet and of course grinding them yourself. There is a somewhat loose rule of 15 when it comes to coffee. Green are good for 15 months, roasted whole bean are good for 15 days, and ground coffee is good for 15 minutes. Like I said, this is a loose rule. I have no trouble drinking coffee that was roasted 4 weeks prior, but ground coffee I can actually taste a difference in less than 10 minutes. That's why my grinders sit next to their respective machines so I can go straight from grind to brew,
At work I grind by hand with a Hario Skirten and brew with an Aeropress.
I also brew for one or two at home with an Aeropress, but grind with a Capresso 560. If we need to brew a larger volume, I use a Technivorm into a thermal pot (no hotplate - that would age the brew very quickly).
And I am a big fan of metal filters, although I recognize some prefer paper. Filter material is mostly a matter of taste.
How do you like that Gene Cafe? My budget for my roaster barely covered getting Behmor, but I am wanting to upgrade in the next year or two.
I am the same way about volume brewing. Tecnivorm with thermal carafe and no hotplate. I have a cheap drip maker at home, and have been looking into the Bonavita 10 cup or just get another Technivorm.
I'm actually in the paper filter camp personally. It's easier to just toss a biodegradable filter and as long as you are getting high quality filters, it doesn't impart a nasty taste to your finished product. At home I compost, so if anything it's actually preferable to just dump the basket into my bin.
Roasting your own green beans is great but the chaff gets eeeverywhere. I have not revisited the process of DIY roasting since...
And based on the rough rule of 15 that @Caffiend mentioned, three-week-old whole beans are beyond the prime of their life anyway.
The Gene Café's settings are very straight forward: target temperature & count-down time. Maybe too simple. As far as I can tell, the rate of heat rise is not adjustable, so sometimes I step it up manually by starting with a cooler setting and then increasing after it reaches and holds that first temp for a bit. And I decrease the temp just after start of first crack to prolong the time before second. I usually stop just at the start of second crack. Many say it is hard to hear the cracks, but for me it is much easier than the i-Roast 2 was. But I bet the Behmor is easier.
When you stop the roast, it goes into a cool-down mode and you cannot remove the beans until the chamber exit air temp reaches 140degF. So I stop it a bit before the beans have reached my target, with the goal of them coasting there during cooldown. But I have also turned off the machine entirely when I stop the roast, quickly empty the beans into a colander for hand cooling, put the chamber back in, restart the roaster and immediately put it in cool-down. This lets the Gene Café cool itself down so it doesn't overheat, while I cool the beans faster manually in the colander by stepping outside and tossing it around a bit. This works very well in the winter. I've tried with fans in the summer, and while it is still better than cooling in the roaster, it's not the same as in the cold winter air. I have plans to make a vacuum cooler, as soon as I find the time.
How do you like your Behmor? When I bought my Gene Café it was less than $400, but their price has gone up significantly. Now the Behmor is much more affordable than the Gene Café, although I've heard that chaff collection is a bit of a concern.