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Unpopular opinion: roasting your own beans isnt saving you money if you factor in your time and equipment
I see so many cafe owners in LA bragging about roasting in-house but after talking to a guy who bought a $15k roaster and spends 6 hours a week on it I swear his cost per pound is higher than just buying from a local roaster like Caffe Luxxe - am I crazy or are we overcomplicating this for the sake of looking artisanal?
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violatorres26d ago
Oh man, this is such a good point and honestly I've been thinking the same thing lol. I know a few people who went all in on home roasting and they're always talking about the savings but when you add up the cost of the roaster, the green beans, and the time it takes to actually learn how to do it right it seems like a wash at best. Plus you gotta factor in the wasted batches when you screw up which happens a lot at first. I feel like people romanticize the process but the math just doesn't add up for most of us regular drinkers.
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phoenix19825d ago
Totally agree with you on this. I tried home roasting once with a friend and we burned through three whole batches before we got one that was drinkable. Not to mention the smoke alarm going off every time lol. The savings just aren't there unless you're drinking like a pound a week or something.
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and violatorres nailed it with the wasted batches thing. i know a guy who spent like two months tweaking his roast profile and probably threw away 10 pounds of coffee during that time. if you're paying $6-$7 a pound for green beans, thats $60-$70 gone just learning. plus you gotta think about the electricity or gas you're burning running that roaster for hours. even if you're not paying for it directly, its still a cost.
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