Termux by itself can be a good linux shell standin if you're used to working from a command line. I like using it for vim or emacs-nox more than I like any android text editor apps that I've tried. Plus, Midnight Commander is a top notch file manager.
bismuthbob
joined 2 years ago
I could be wrong, depending on your sense of taste. Once I cross the divide between bad coffee and good coffee, my ability to be a nuanced critic of flavor takes a nosedive.
Here's a follow-up thought that you can take or leave. Having tried both head to head, I think that there is a flavor difference between what I do with my oven and a good high-temp low-time roast. Personally I think that the difference is minor, especially when you compare the flavor of either method to most of the coffee that you can buy from a grocery store. I suspect that the high-temp low-time issue is emphasized online because (if it is accepted as both true and important) it favors the purchase of specialty gadgets. Please try both and draw your own conclusions.
Debian (usually Sid) and Arch.
I like how it turns out using this method, although I suspect that there might be some bean varieties where it wouldn't work out. I tend to brew with a moka pot and the resulting cup has a delightful depth to it. You can cut the time considerably by raising the oven temp.
I generally don't do that because I tend to get a less even roast and/or end up with a darker roast than I want due to inattention. If the human element in my equation were more reliable, I'd be roasting at well over 400F.
I agree with you on the pitting. I can't avoid it whenever I go dark with my roasts, regardless of roast temp or method.
Oven-Roasted Coffee
Health and Safety Tip: You should only attempt this method if your kitchen is well-ventilated or if you have easy access to a closed circuit, self-contained breathing apparatus. Seriously. Smoke is a natural byproduct of the roasting process and you're going to have to deal with it somehow. Consider turning off your smoke detectors during the roast. Open all of the windows. Learn to love the intense smell of freshly-roasted coffee because it will stick with you much longer than the smoke does.
Time: How long do you want your coffee roast to take? I personally don't care. I want an even roast with minimal or no manual intervention. Using the bottom rack of my oven results in the most even roast at a temperature range of 380 to 415 degrees Fahrenheit. For this demonstration, I've set the oven at 385F for two reasons. First, this extends the roasting time so I can easily show you the roast level over time. Second, I get the best consistency of roast at this temperature. Even if it takes a while, I don't have to stir the beans and I can wander off and do other things while I wait. If you are in a hurry, increase the temperature and stir as needed. Onward to the process!
Process Overview:
I use a large baking pan. For the beans, I get 20-pound bags of coffee from Sweet Maria's. Different beans behave differently when roasted. I routinely get Costa Rican beans because I like the taste and I want to eliminate variables. This batch is tagged as Costa Rica Honey Palmichal Vecindario.
I preheat the oven and use the bottom rack. My oven has a convection bake option, which makes the temperature more even throughout the oven, but especially at the bottom rack level. A friend of mine has a very similar oven (Same brand, same production year), but he gets better results without convection and by placing his coffee on the middle rack. Ovens differ, so you may need to tweak the settings for your hardware.
At this temperature (385F), we have some waiting to do. I have some pictures below at 20 min through 45 min to show the gradual progression of the process. It is easier to see the progress if you zoom in on the pictures.
Start
20 min
Note how some of the beans on the edges appear to be roasting faster than beans further away from the walls of the pan. At higher temperatures, this effect is much more pronounced. At this heat level, it all evens out eventually.
30 min
40 min
45 min
Oven lights are not ideal for photography. Here is a picture of the beans cooling outside in natural light.
The chaff doesn't burn at this roast temperature, so it remains on the bean and I make no effort to remove it. I now have enough roasted coffee to service my caffeine addiction for several days!
I'll take some pictures while I'm roasting today and eventually post a deep dive that goes through the process of roasting in a conventional oven.
Interesting! I'm seeing online that it has a range of temperature settings. Among my local friends who roast, that's where I see a lot of variation. What's your typical roast temperature?
I roast a few pounds at a time at 385F/196C on the bottom rack of my oven. It all roasts evenly that way, no need to stir. It takes a whole lot longer than your roasts do, but the volume makes up for it.
That's the trick! Learn what not to do until you find something that works. I always use the same rack height, the same temperature setting, and the same baking pan. It took a lot of small ruined batches to find a good setup. I use an oven as well.
Neat! That could be very useful for everything that works well within the limitations of vnc.
Edit: I've tried this out! I loosely followed the guide on a Kindle Fire and I'm much more impressed with the results than I thought I would be. No Libreoffice in the default repository, but I'm impressed with the responsiveness while running Abiword in XFCE4. Initial impression is that the app selection is hit or miss relative to running full-bore linux on a desktop computer, but I'm still experimenting. Firefox installs and I was surprised to see that youtube videos were playable to an extent. Much less laggy than trying to run vnc between two separate devices. I'll probably keep this setup if for no other reason than to have a desktop version of firefox on my tablet.