Questions about roasting schools

[Jmsronan]

Hello Everyone,

I have been looking at roasting schools from what I can see it looks like The Roasters Guild (SCAA) is the place to be and in time maybe that can happen. In the mean time I have looked at the Boot Camps on-line course, specifically the Pro course and also the Ivy League School of Roasting in San Diego. I was looking for feedback from those of you that might have done either of these. I appreciate the time

jeff S. ie jmsronan

 

[John P]

I have not done, but Willem Boot comes highly recommended and is regarded as one of the best in the business. If this is training that seems suitable for you, I would not hesitate.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

I heard great things about Willem Boot.
He sets bars for the roasting industry.
If you can dish out some cash to go to his school, that would be the best. However, roasting is also an art. You would need to roast for many years to be good at it but will take life time to perfect it....

Good luck.

 

[vrbicycles]

I attended Boot Coffee in March, it was a great class and learned alot. I took the class in anticipation for a cafe I'm opening soon.

A couple things to keep in mind about me, from a coffee person( worked for SBUX for many years) and not a roaster. I was overwhelmed with the learning curve for roasting but the team atmosphere made things click quickly for me.

I learned about roasting, logging, troubleshooting roasts, grading, sorting, cupping- the right way, equipment..... it was alot to take in but well worth the knowledge and team environment to prepare me for my business.

I highly recommend the class. Willem and Jodi are a great team and reviewed alot of fantastic info. I have been in touch with a couple of folks since the class and they all say that the class has accelerated their learning and execution in getting better results. Since then I purchased a Behmor 1600 and roasting at home in the meantime. I would have been lost and confused had I not attended the class beforehand.

I recommend the Boot Coffee.

vrbicycles.com

 

[CoffeeJunky]

I recommend doing some research and watch youtube video before you go into those classes.
If you have some knowledge and ideas about roasting, brewing, and cupping it would be easier to take it all in.

 

[Jmsronan]

Thanks all for the insights.

I have spent hours scouring up everything I have been able to find. Including probably more than 20 hours reading posts here in the forum. Unfortunately I work on the road but I do get long stretches of time at home in between. Ordering a Gene next week so it will be home when I get there the first week of June. I also have several books waiting for me. Going to roast like a mad man while I'm home. As far as school, since I am on the road I think I am going to give the Boot Camp on-line courses a try. Specifically the Coffee Pro class. Then I have time in my schedule after the first of the year to go to the actual classes. Seems like a good progression to me.

take care, jmsronan

 

[LBBeans]

I'm thinking of taking the Boot online course as well. I'd love to hear about your experience in the course.

 

[Jmsronan]

I think I might get through my hometown this weekend. At least I hope so. I have 3 books waiting for me and will be ordering my Gene next week. Will read the books, which include Kenneth David's book and "The Art and Craft of Coffee" by Kevin Sinnott. Want to read and probably re-read them before I get home June 7th. Then I'll have a little over 2 weeks to roast pretty much every day. Then I am starting the Boot Camp on-line class. I will surely report back on what I think. Hopefully by the time I start it I will have enough info to wrap my head around the class.

stay tuned. Jmsronan

 

[farmroast]

I'd suggest a manual Hottop or Quest M3 over a Behmor or Gene. Better to have something that has more manual control and acts more like a real roaster. Home-Barista roasting section has an active group of highly experienced amateur roasters with a lot of experience with higher end home roasting equipment. Plus a large archive of solid roasting info. There are modifications that can also be done to add monitoring and data saving capabilities.

 

[Jmsronan]

Thanks Farmroast for the insight. Ah if only money grew on trees. I had looked at the Hottop. Had not looked at the Quest M3 but I did give it a good look after your post. My quandary is that I am on a very tight budget and have allowed myself about $1000 towards this little venture, at least for now. ie. this year. The Quest is obviously out of my price range for now. The Hottop at $800ish I could swing but that would eat up most of my budget. As I said in a previous post, I work on the road. In fact I have been gone a month and was lucky enough to be able to get home for all of about 48 hours. Home yesterday at 1:00 PM have to leave tomorrow morning at 3:30 AM. So since I spend so much time gone I was really interested in taking the Boot Camp online courses. Specifically I would like to take the Coffee Pro on-line course, which includes the basic ( beginner ) course as well as the advanced course and the "Crafting Quality at Origin" course. Now don't think that I believe that I am going to learn to roast from on-line courses. but given the reputation of the "Boot Camp" I would imagine that there will be a lot of good information to be learned. So given a budget of $1000 the Gene Cafe and the Online Course keep me at budget. And since I can do the on-line courses while I am on the road then I feel like I am working towards my goal during the time that I am not home and am unable to be roasting. That was the real reason that the Gene Cafe became my first choice. I realize that the Hottop has characteristics more like a commercial roaster. However, for someone that has never roasted a single batch of coffee in their life, my guess is that there will be plenty to be learned from the Gene. And when the time comes and and I can add to my budget, I am sure I can sell it and I can move up to a true "commercial Like" drum roaster.

Just trying to get the best bang for my buck based on the situation that I am in.

All my best, jmsronan

 

[farmroast]

jmsronan,
I just don't think the beans will be able to teach you what you are looking to learn with a gene. With your budget and time considerations I'd still suggest getting the hottop and spending your learning time on online coffee forum roasting sections reading what's archived and asking questions. Again, the amateur roasting section at Home-Barista can both help you using the hottop as well as most of what you will ever need to know about roasting, from really serious and talented amateurs. And it's free. After that you'll be in a much better position to decide where you want to go with roasting and then consider whether or not you want/need to take the advanced Boot course.

 

[EspressoErb]

The other thing you might try is getting a popcorn popper and using it to learn a few things. I had a commercial roaster tell me once not to discount the lowly popcorn popper and he was right. You quickly learn about the basic roast process and you can see and hear the beans. I started with a cheap popper and then moved straight to the Quest M3 when I needed a larger roaster.

 

[Redswing]

back to the original question of this thread, i'm wondering if anyone has any advice on taking a course like 'boot camp' before or after roasting for a while. i have been roasting at home for quite a while (3 yearish), and am in the market for a small commercial roaster. i'm almost committed to a san franciscan 6 pounder. i'm wondering if i should just take my knowledge from home roasting combined with the knowledge i will get from roasting for a morning with the owner of coffeeper, bill kennedy, and then just roast for a while on my own. i get the feeling that the classes will be more meaningful if i roast for something like 6 months first. any thoughts? anyone out there taken boot camp courses have input on my sequencing question?