Was a bit overzealous in roasting Ethiopian beans as I attempted to roast 1 cup in ELF. The roast took over 19 minutes to complete. The roast chart below shows the last 16 minutes of the roast as I accidentally turned off the roast at the 3 minute mark.
It was about six (6) minutes into the roast that I realized 1 cup of beans was way too much to roast at a time. The beans were still green when they should have been a golden to light brown at this point. Looking back I think the better choice would have been to stop the roast and split the batch in half. Instead, I foolishly carried on.
There was hardly any noise for first crack. The second batch was the usual 1/2 cup size and it roasted much better. Planning on sticking with 1/2 cup roasts. Both batches were mixed together after roasting.
The coffee has a slight nutty flavor and very little body. Although the coffee was not bitter, it did taste stale as it had no pronounced flavor. I can't pass judgement, however, until I have a batch of properly roasted beans.
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| 1 cup roast |
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| 1/2 cup roast |
This fall I will be looking at purchasing a different car. Typically I've driven economical cars as I usually only drive to work and back as well as perform taxi service for the kids. This time I want to drive something a little more fun. I've narrowed my search down to the following cars:
- Mini Cooper Clubman. Still my top choice. It's stylish, sporty, and fun. My only concern is the maintenance required as well as maintenance costs.
- Ford Focus ST. Sporty and reliable although I don't think it is quite as stylish as the Mini Cooper. More reliable than the Mini but it appears difficult to find cheaper used ones.
- Mazda MAZDASPPED 3. Same qualities as the Ford but a bit more stylish
- Lexus IS 250. Stylish and reliability are strong points. Not as sporty as the others. Only comes in an automatic which is a bit of a bummer as I typically drive manual transmissions.
Two other cars I'm considering, but are real long shots:
- Pontiac GTO. GM placed the Corvette engine in these cars built between 2004-2006. They are reliable and fast but dear god are they boring looking. Not really ugly but just boring. They look like a typical Pontiac. This would also mean I would drive a car at least 10 years old while I can get all the others in 2009 or newer models.
- Chevy Volt. This seems out of place with the others but used ones are available really cheap. I'm still doing research but if I can someone tinker with the programming of the car to adjust how much power is channeled to the tires from the electric motor, which I want to program to be all of the electrical power, then this choice moves nears the top of the list.
