Where Do You Buy Your Beans?

I buy from Black Dog and from Unclebeanz.

What about you guys?

[Tazziedevil]

I roast my own, mostly. I don't live in the US, so I can't really comment on unclebeanz, but luckily there is a good coffee roaster right up the road from me that makes some good stuff.
Posted via Mobile Device

I normally buy my green coffee beans from Sweet Maria's or Burman Coffee Traders. Both places have proven to have good quality coffees.

[MrJerry]

I steal them from myself! Killer Beans!!

[muziq]

Got some nice beans from Killerbeans, but mostly I buy from local (to me) roasters:

Texas Coffee Traders: http://www.texascoffeetraders.com/

Summermoon Coffee: http://www.woodfiredcoffee.com/

[King James]

Since starting to roast my own I've used the Green Coffee Buying Club (greencoffeebuyingclub.com)

[ghostrider]

I usually buy from Norm (UncleBeans), or SweetMarias. Marias is only 5 minutes from where I work, so it's pretty easy to just pop in and pick up an order. These are the only two sources I've found that have consistent quality with their beans.

I buy from the below link. also a great cigar site

http://www.leafandale.com/

sweet marias or coffee bean corral.

[goatfarmer]

Happened to stumble upon a local roaster, seems like the stars have to be in alignment to find the store open. Curious if there is a correlation between the color of the bean and the strength of the brew. Seem to recall being told the lighter the bean the stronger the brew. Imagine it would depend on type bean, and region. Like a strong blend for the french press, still searching. Sorry for stealing the thread.

[mosesbotbol]

Peets

Local Cafe that gets beans from some place in TX

Italian Grocers for Danesi, Illy, etc...

Supermarket - sells Peets, etc..

[Prozac_Puros]

MrJerry is my coffee pimp

I ordered a pound of Guatemala Antigua from Lakota Coffee Co. out of MO. Very good coffee!

[Buena Fortuna]

Originally Posted by goatfarmer

Happened to stumble upon a local roaster, seems like the stars have to be in alignment to find the store open. Curious if there is a correlation between the color of the bean and the strength of the brew. Seem to recall being told the lighter the bean the stronger the brew. Imagine it would depend on type bean, and region. Like a strong blend for the french press, still searching. Sorry for stealing the thread.

As the bean absorbs heat, the color shifts to yellow and then to varying shades of brown. During the later stages of roasting, oils appear on the surface of the bean, making it shiny. The roast will continue to darken until it is removed from the heat source.

At lighter roasts, the bean will exhibit more of its "origin flavor" - the flavors created in the bean by the soil and weather conditions in the location where it was grown. Coffee beans from famous regions like Java, Kenya, Hawaiian Kona, and Jamaican Blue Mountain are usually roasted lightly so their signature characteristics dominate the flavor.[1] As the beans darken to a deep brown, the origin flavors of the bean are eclipsed by the flavors created by the roasting process itself. At darker roasts, the "roast flavor" is so dominant that it can be difficult to distinguish the origin of the beans used in the roast.

A note on flavor: Describing the tastes of different roasts is as subjective as putting a wine into words. In both cases there’s no substitute for your own personal taste. As a guide, if you can see the oil on the beans as in the image above, you are more likely to taste the roasting flavours, than the individual characteristics of the beans.

Roast level - Notes - Surface Flavor
Light Cinnamon roast, half city, New England: After several minutes the beans “pop” or "crack" and visibly expand in size, this stage is called first crack. American mass-market roasters typically stop here. Dry Lighter-bodied, higher acidity, no obvious roast flavour

Medium Full city, American, regular, breakfast, brown: After a few short minutes the beans reach this roast, which U.S. specialty sellers tend to prefer. Dry Sweeter than light roast; more body exhibiting more balance in acid, aroma, and complexity

Full Roast High, Viennese, Italian Espresso, Continental: After a few more minutes the beans begin popping again, and oils rise to the surface. This is called second crack. Roasters from the U.S. Northwest generally remove the beans at this point. Slightly shiny Somewhat spicy; complexity is traded for heavier body/mouth-feel, aromas and flavours of roast become clearly evident

Double Roast French: After a few more minutes or so the beans begin to smoke. The bean sugars begin to carbonize. Very oily Smokey; tastes quite bitter. None of the inherent flavors of the bean are recognisable. Aroma of charcoal.

Grades of coffee roasting; unroasted (or "green"), light, cinnamon, medium, high, city, full city, Italian, and French.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_roasting

[goatfarmer]

Buena Fontuna, thank you, very interesting, also for the follow up resource. An interesting note, or at least for me, is Wikipedia is a non profit organization who rely, to a large extent, on volunteers to compile majority of the research, I am going to have to send them a few $, unfortunately too late to deduct from this yrs. taxes. Anyhow, again thank you!!.

[loki]

i need to find a place for green beans....but they have to have sumatra...my fiacee loves that stuff

[DocLogic77]

I buy green beans from sweet marias...I love the ratings he does...very helpful.

[novasurf]

Curious if there is a correlation between the color of the bean and the strength of the brew. Seem to recall being told the lighter the bean the stronger the brew.

It depends on what you mean by strength, goat. Is it caffeine jolt, overall taste, both? I've been in this for quite some time and strength means different things to different folks.

[cricky101]

The Bean Factory - Saint Paul. Love the selection for a small shop, and it's not too far from home.

http://www.jsbeanfactory.com/

I have purchased from Killer Beans in the past (very good). But yesterday I tried a Sumatra from Trader Joes. Not bad.