Originally Posted by steve_wmn
If you really want to experience the best possible coffee buy the best possible coffee unroasted and roast it at home. A $20 popcorn air popper makes a decent entry level roaster and really good beans can be found at
Sweet Marias, among other places. Good, thorough instructions on how to roast your own beans are there. A good starter bean would be their Java, Sumatra or Sulawesi. These are low acid beans that work well at a wide range of roast levels. Brazils are another possibility. Brazilian beans are a primary ingredient in Illy espresso blends.
Personally, I tend to drink a lot of East African beans roasted fairly light and brewed in a presspot. But a do have a decent espresso machine (Gaggia Classic) and a Zassenhaus hand cranked burr grinder.
I've been roasting my own beans for some time now. I took a stainless steel trashcan, pop-rivited some stiring vanes inside and pop-rivited a stainless bowl on the end. I roast in my gas grill using my rottisserie to turn the contraption. I did the popcorn roaster thing for a while and a retail type hot air roaster, but they do such small batches it's a real pain. I can roast up to 2lbs at a time. I only use about 1lb a week for personal use, but I've made a lot of friends since I started roasting.