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hobo finds wrote:Free Coffee.... http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbeat/h ... ar-AAgbm2Z

A nice brand too! Nickelless' favorite.

Look for it on ebay tomorrow

rickygee wrote:You can check this website for some ideas: http://www.stilltasty.com/ They say a couple of years for unopened ground coffee and a year for instant. IMHO it will last unopened considerably longer.

I've used the Still Tasty site for about 6 years now and have to admit that it is a very impressive site. Lots of good free info and they get into pretty good depth with what they say on the site.

I've never tried that brand of coffee, but I have heard good things, and now I must have some!

I was watching videos online and coffee was mentioned as a good prep item to have on hand. In the past I tried to store a few extra cans for "just in case" moment. I don't seem to have any trouble using the extra up well before any printed expiration date.

Yes, I keep about a year's worth on hand, but this is only one item in a larger general category that I have posted on before which I call investing in food. This makes sense as long as we aren't in a deflationary economy.

To the extent that you have space, buy all non-perishable items - but it has to be things that you actually use regularly - on sale and/or in bulk, and then "shop" your own pantry/storage when you run out. The next natural extension of this includes the many possible paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, paper napkins, tissues, etc), various sizes of plastic bags from sandwich bags up to 45-50 gallon construction debris and lawn/leaf bags. Do NOT buy things that you might use - waste of time (unless they are survival products, and that's a different category).

My wife and I have been married almost 6-1/2 years, and I have had so much coffee stashed away among our preps that I haven't had to buy coffee for the homestead since we've been married. I have at least another year to go before I will start to worry about restocking.

I buy green coffee beans, they keep forever. Bought in bulk, they cost around $4/lb. Fresh-roasted coffee is way better.

I used a Nesco home coffee roaster, https://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.NescoCoffeeRoaster.php, and wore out two of these over the years. This type was a very good one, but now they are out of production.

A couple months ago, I bought this one from Nesco, https://www.nesco.com/product/coffee-bean-roaster/. It does smaller batches, its controls are not as variable, but it seems to work well.

Anyway, that is my SHTF coffee plan.

Nice, thanks for the link! I've been planning on trying a roasting using a stovetop popcorn popper over a propane burner (outside - because I had heard the process creates a lot of smoke). Does this one create much smoke? I can always do it in the garage if it does.

68Camaro wrote:Nice, thanks for the link! I've been planning on trying a roasting using a stovetop popcorn popper over a propane burner (outside - because I had heard the process creates a lot of smoke). Does this one create much smoke? I can always do it in the garage if it does.

The first time I used the new one the smoke alarm went off, but no smoke was visible. Since then I run it on the stove top under the vent hood, exhausting it outside. I spent around $95 including shipping. I think it is worth that price in convenience. From its design, it think it will outlast the older roaster I had.

I roast 50/50 Sumatra and Yirrgacheffe. Its a good blend I make from the two bean origins. I prefer one SE Asian and one African. It balances the flavors.

Just ordered one and will give it a shot.

When coffee is roasted the outer skin of the bean flakes off and is called chaff. The new Nesco separates it from the beans fairly well, but some remain mixed with the roasted coffee beans.

I made a chaff separator using an old air popcorn popper that I got at the thrift store for $3. Pour in the beans and chaff, put a small 3" metal screen strainer upside-down over the 4" diameter popcorn well.

Put the top of the popper back on and run it for 20 to 30 seconds. The chaff will blow out and the beans stay in the well. Point it at the sink with running water and the chaff will make less mess.

68Camaro wrote:Just ordered one and will give it a shot.

Nothing like freshly roasted coffee!

I should have reviewed more carefully what I wrote about the chaff and separator.

The majority of the beans, those in the well of the coffee roaster, are good to go, they will not have much chaff at all.

The roaster's top has a chaff separator that works only so-so. Too many beans get into it, maybe 20 to 50 beans. They are mixed with the chaff from all the beans.

After roasting, lift off and dump the top of the roaster into the popcorn rig to clean up those few beans.