coffee roasting course?

[lightspeed]

I am looking for a coffee roasting course... not necessarily to start a new business, but would not rule it out. I would prefer west coast location. Anyone have recommendations?

[tangomonster]

Coffee Courses : Roasting Coffee : Courses for Professionals

Coffee Testing, Coffee Product Development, Training, Field Testing: Coffee Lab International

Roaster Services - Consulting for Coffee Companies - coffee roasting training programs - signature blend development - specialty programs for producing countries - cupping and tasting - sensory analysis - blind tasting - scaa - quality management - c (this is in California)

Coffee Roasting Overview and Concepts Workshop (portland)

[kevink]

As a semi-retired specialty coffee taster/buyer/roaster with three decades of experience I'd advise you to hold on to your money for now and give some more thought to your level of interest in coffee roasting.

You might start by spending a big chunk of time on the web site of this excellent company who specializes in selling small quantities of green (unroasted) coffees and home roasting equipment to enthusiast consumers:

Home Coffee Roasting Supplies - Sweet Maria's

That web site is easily the best source of information on coffee origins, brewing equipment and techniques and so on available anywhere. From there you can either try your hand at home roasting (recommended) or if you're reasonably certain you want to roast on a commercial scale contact a supplier such as Ambex or Probat. Training in use of the equipment is usually included with purchase.

Another learning opportunity on the West Coast is the annual Specialty Coffee Association of America convention and exhibit, which is in Portland this year, in April. It would be well worth attending.

Feel free to PM me for more information if you'd like.

[audreyh1]

I learned to roast coffee on my own - all from that Sweet Maria's website. They had great tutorial info and I was very happy with the results. Really the best coffee i have ever had in my life. I roasted in a tiny "air popper" type roaster, and really my only complaint was how small the batches were. It did create a lot of smoke so I always did it outside. I quit only because we moved into an RV.

I might upgrade to a larger roaster someday. When I have time!

Audrey

[kevink]

Audrey the Behmor roaster Sweet Maria's sells costs $300 but will allow you to roast a week's worth of coffee at at time - indoors. It will pay for itself pretty quickly given that great green coffee costs less than half of so-so roasted. The only problem I can see is that space is so precious in an RV and it takes up the same amount of counter space as a good-sized toaster oven.