Before I get into the difference between a city and French roast, let me clear the air. I have nothing against Starbucks -- really I don't -- even though I usually refer to it as Charbucks. I'll even occasionally have a vente (or whatever fancy name they give it). But it irks me that people think you have to pay several bucks for a cup of quality coffee. I was never really that fond of SB, but after discovering homeroasting, I realized why, and what I had been missing.Homeroasting is, simply put, roasting your own coffee from unroasted green beans. When I tell people about it, either I get back blank stares and the inevitable, "why?", or I pique their curiosity. Certainly, it's not for everyone. If you only drink your coffee with gobs of cream and sugar, you need read no further. Ditto if you only drink mocha caps with extra whipped cream. But if you enjoy a good cup of black coffee, with maybe a modicum of sugar, and don't mind a little bit of work, allow me to take you on a rewarding java journey. As an aside, once I got my my small group leader Dave homeroasting, despite previously being a big SB fan, he now agrees he would never go back again. In fact, his coworkers complain when he doesn't have homeroast available at work.
I've been roasting for several years now, and for those of you who know how frequently I fall into (and out of) hobbies, it is indeed a testament to the quality that I persist with homeroasting to this day. That's not to say that you can't make a decent cup of coffee without homeroasted beans -- you can, but it's a little harder. The problem with pre-roasted beans, even whole, is the taste begins to degrade in about a week or so, even in those fancy nitrogen-flushed canisters or bags, and even if you store in airtight jars or the freezer. And forget about pre-ground coffee. So unless you can buy fresh roasted coffee, get it home, and grind it within a week -- well, you get the idea. To put it more succinctly, here are some good reasons for homeroasting:
Homeroasted coffee is as fresh as you can get it; preroast coffee degrades quickly in quality Homeroasting allows you to experiment and have complete control over the roast levels; some beans do better darker, and some lighter You can try coffee from every corner of the world, for cheaper than preroasted You can store green (unroasted) beans for about a year without significant loss of flavor; try that with regular coffee You can expand your appreciation of coffee varietals greatly, kind of like wine appreciation And most importantly, homeroast tastes better than preroast
Some of the reasons you might not want to try homeroast: you'll need to obtain roasting equipment (though this can be quite cheap); you'll need to roast somewhere other than indoors (the smoke from roasting is, surprisingly, not that appealing); you'll end up spending more money buying new equipment in pursuit of a better cup of coffee; and you'll buy way more green beans than you need, just because you can :)
