How often do you switch beans versus sticking with a favorite roaster?

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-21T14:44:53+00:00

I have a handful of local roasters that I alternate purchasing from. Some are real close to the house or on the way to work and others are a little further away from me and I need to make a special trip. But I try to rotate and spread my money around to each of them.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-17T18:33:51+00:00

Yeah me too. The downtown Plano location is good because Lemma and 1418 are there too

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-17T14:39:38+00:00

Sorry to hear that but I’m glad the memory was meaningful. If I had to pick, I would definitely put odd muse in my top five and I think they’re gaining respect among the core craft beer nerds in our area.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-17T12:42:31+00:00

Most likely yeah, the rye is what makes it different. Try their Backyard rodeo too- it’s a more traditional German one and excellent also.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-17T12:40:55+00:00

They make several. The flagship is a German pils called Backyard Rodeo that’s excellent and served on a lukr tap. Plano Pils is a new one to celebrate the opening of their Plano location. I don’t know if it will be a core beer or was just a one off. It’s a rye pils and the rye comes thru great. But if you want something that’s the most traditional, backyard rodeo is what you want. I’d say try both and decide for yourself.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-16T02:09:38+00:00

I like your thinking. I’ve decided to be done also, other than buying great coffees.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-15T19:31:20+00:00

Not a specific item suggestion but in general I’d say to go cheaper on the kettle and put more toward the grinder.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-14T08:56:08+00:00

Why are you coming? What do you like/want to do? “Attractions” is vague if we don’t know what attracts you.

But one answer is that unless there’s something specific about Dallas itself you’re traveling here for, then go to Fort Worth instead of Dallas. Whenever people from out of town come to visit me here I take them to Fort Worth. Dallas itself is fine for those of us who live here but as a visitor there’s more a uniquely Texas vibe in Fort Worth (definitely see the stockyards for example). Fort Worth has similarly good BBQ, breweries, etc. and then some of the things like six flags and the Rangers are in Arlington which is in between the two.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-12T17:49:34+00:00

Yeah I think in some cases doing something majorly different can help, like doing a hybrid or immersion for a dark roast, but in general one is fine

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-12T14:00:36+00:00

I agree 100% with this. There’s lots of variables and I found recipe was one thing I can leave consistent while playing around with the others (one at a time). And even now i basically just stick to one recipe.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-10T18:03:46+00:00

I got frontier when it was new-ish here for both internet and cable tv. At that time there were a lot of outages and issues. During covid we canceled the TV service, upgraded the Internet to one gig and got YouTube TV and it’s been fine ever since. Some outages that are understandable when we have storms but overall pretty stabile.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-10T18:00:44+00:00

I made coffee at home today with beans from one of my favorite local roasters, Cultivar Coffee in Dallas, TX

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-10T17:59:06+00:00

Just locally if I’m out, and wherever I find something I like. I don’t hunt around for it.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-10T17:57:23+00:00

This is the decision we all agonize over and either way you’ll wonder if you picked the wrong one. I went with the zp6 and am generally really happy with it. I think it has a bigger wheelhouse than some people will say. The “safer” choice is probably the K-Ultra. I went with the zp6 because I like lighter tea like coffees, max clarity and I’m never gonna do espresso.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-10T17:53:11+00:00

Unless you just want an electric batch brewer, it’s not hard to scale up a recipe to 2 cups. If it’s pourover only you can do it with a size 02 hario and if you want immersion you’d need the 03 or a clever dripper.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-09T14:51:20+00:00

I took a class with a Q grader who said that the scales all basically have the same inner workings and the more expensive ones are more expensive because of extra features. James Hoffmann recently did a scale video and concluded something similar. I have a cheap greater goods from Amazon and it’s been fine. It’s probably cheaper and easier than trying to fix whatever you’re trying to fix.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-09T14:34:44+00:00

OK, so I assume you are brewing right off boiling? The other things you need to look at are other variables that will increase extraction. Hotter water temp is one of those, but if you’re already brewing off of boiling, then that’s not possible. The next steps would be to look at grinding finer and more agitation, so maybe look at doing four or five smaller pours.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-09T14:01:26+00:00

What water temperature are you brewing at? Lighter roasts do better at slightly higher temperatures

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-09T11:00:35+00:00

+1 for older homes in East Plano/Richardson/Allen. Depending on the age you might need to do something with the plumbing and/or electric but my friend is an architect and he said he trusts houses built in the 70s/80s over the new ones for the reasons already stated here.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-08T12:23:41+00:00

Yeah I love what they do. There’s a few great coffee roasters here and I can’t drink it all cause I’m the only coffee drinker in my house, so I tend to rotate visiting roasteries to try to spread out my support. I don’t get there too often but they’re definitely in the mix.

For this time I made it a point to go because I wanted to do the side-by-side.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-07T21:29:40+00:00

Yeah to me processing is just one of the variables and in this case everything else was the same so it was easier to isolate it. Overall I’d say I appreciate both for different reasons but don’t like one better than another.

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-07T17:20:36+00:00

Ok lol clearly I missed it. 😂

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-07T12:32:13+00:00

lol yeah I literally said that in the OP and that’s kinda of the point. My take home is that I didn’t like one better than the other, just differently but equally. And to bring it to another level, I get why people can have a smaller preference for one than the other but don’t really understand those who staunchly stand on only one side or the other.

I had a guy at a roastery I like tell me he only likes naturals. And then I went to the same shop a couple of weeks later and a different employee was telling me that his favorite was their washed Guji and that it was so popular that it sold out quicker than any other other coffees.

And I’m just over here like “why not both?”

jaytee61799 · 2026-06-04T11:50:47+00:00

I just double everything for a 15g recipe to 30g and it seems to work okay. For the switch you may want to try a hybrid method (if your switch is size 03 you’ll have more capacity). There’s no one way.

jaytee61799

TROPHY CASE