Seasoning Beans

memzey

Hi,

I’m based in Hertfordshire and am looking for 5 or 6 kilos of cheap beans to season some new burrs with. Any suggestions on where to source them or anyone with that amount willing to sell? They won’t be drunk, literally just for seasoning the burrs.

Thanks!

dfk41

memzey Ask your go to roaster. They all have them! Alternately Costco and the like

Adrianmsmith

memzey season some new burrs w

What grinder and burrs do you have

Tal

Is seasoning proven to make a considerable difference out of interest?

Adrianmsmith

Tal Is seasoning proven to make a considerable difference out of interest?

None at all. Total waste of money and the farmers time and efforts.

Obviously anyone who goes to the trouble of doing it will say there is a big difference. Otherwise they would have to admit they totally wasted their time and effort and money 🤔

Just to be clear, I am not saying that there is a very slight improvement in the burrs after running a few kilos through. I just think it’s ridiculous that you would go to the effort of wasting beans rather than just drinking your normal beans from day one. If anyone says they are undrinkable after the first 100g then sorry I have no words…..

dfk41

I think these days on the whole burrs are better. I have nothing to back that up. I have put 3 kilos through my new Eureka and am not noticing any difference but others might not agree!

Dusk

I think it’s a waste of coffee! Perhaps just use slightly cheaper (but still drinkable) beans for the first few kg’s until you feel satisfied that it’s suitably seasoned

Tal

Dusk that would certainly be my tactic!

Inspector

It reduced static on my Sculptor greatly. it was almost non existent after running 5-6kg beans. I cant remember taste wise if it made any better tasting spro.

I just bought some cheap beans and drank them.

There was an offer on A1 coffee on their 5kg bulk beans, was about £30 odd quid. To my surprise they weren’t bad at all to be fair.

memzey

A hotly debated topic no doubt. To my mind there is a definite break in period with flat burrs during which the consistency of grounds and shots pulled can be extremely variable. Same beans, dose, grind setting, machine, etc. might result in a 32 second shot on a Tuesday at 7am and an 18 second gusher on Wednesday at the same time. I can give 5 or so seconds for weather conditions changing but that kind of shift is something more than humidity and temperature. On my current burrs (Ti coated, similar to MP geometry) this inconsistency went after I’d put 4KG or so through them. I think the SSPs I’ve ordered might take a little more.

On that topic, the lovely folks at https://campbellandsyme.co.uk/ have helped me out with about 3.5KG of beans that they were going to dispose of. I’m on the hunt for a few KGs more to be sure. Hopefully another local roaster will be able to help. If nothing else, it has been quite informative to speak to the local roasters near me. They’ve all been a joy to speak to and I’ll make an effort to try at least a bag from each of them next year.

dfk41

I have had dozens of grinders over the years. Many I bought beans to put through, more recently I have not bothered. I have heard folks say that if you look through an HD lens you will see sharp spikes and the like. Others will say the burrs cannot perform satisfactorily until the burrs are seasoned and coated with coffee oils. Hard to argue with any of that, except to say it is bollocks! If you have the taste buds capable of detecting the taste differences between burrs at different stages of their life, from new to old then I genuinely feel sorry for you!

Whether you think you can or whether you thin k you cannot, you are probably right anyway……..

Adrianmsmith

dfk41

It is only “not bollocks” when trying to justify the time, money and effort you put in to it to the easily impressed newbies usually found on facebook groups (and the better half of course) 🤓🤔😎

Adrianmsmith

I wonder, do those fancy mains leads, that make your amplifier and other hifi components sound better , make your grinder produce more consistent grinds due to smoothing out the harmonic distortions produced by the varying flux in the motor winding produced by standard mains leads. 😎🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️ ….. and make burr seasoning quicker.

Thinking of also swapping the standard motor capacitor for one of those fancy flux capacitors offered on ebay😎

memzey

Adrianmsmith The grinder is a DF64v Gen2. The current burrs are the Ti coated MP-alikes that come with it as standard. You can get these for a few bob on Aliexpress and are neither terrible nor particularly good. My new burrs are SSP Cast Labsweet V3 Red speed,

I should say I’m very pleased with the grinder itself. The machine is very sturdy, well put together and provides for very repeatable performance. This is important for me as I have several beans on the go at any one time, and therefore am frequently changing burr gap and need to reliably return to a known setting. I have read of some variability in the quality of DF machines but I appear to have won on that particular lottery. The burrs themselves are nothing to write home about and can mask the differences between roasts and beans more than I am comfortable with, so I wanted to switch them up.

Adrianmsmith

memzey

Thanks.

Not joking now either and obviously the df83 v is a different offering to the df83 v 2 i had ….

I cant change my mind as its well documented its the one grinder ive had that put me off the brand for ever . maybe unfair but it was the most (only) inconsistent grinder I’ve had .

Niche duo was a much better offering as was the bella barista 64mm grinder with ssp burrs

Hopefully your ssp burrs will perform well in the df.

Reviews paint the v in a much better light 🤓

dfk41

I think the Chinese standard burrs could probably use all the help that you can give them! I was not really talking about them when I was saying I did not bother seasoning.

memzey

The Chinese burrs definitely improved their consistency over their break in. Just checking my order history since I got them and when they settled down and I think it was probably closer to 7KG that got them there.

I keep a dated record of each setting and recipe for every bean I buy and all of the roasts that I still regularly use have required a finer setting from new to seasoned. For example, Rave Fudge Blend required a grind setting of 21.5 pre-seasoning and now are at 18 and stable. Similar with their Signature Blend. Similar with lots from Darkwoods and Wogan.

To be clear; I’m not trying to convince you or anyone else about breaking in burrs and am certainly not ruling out that I have this wrong and something else is playing out here. That’s definitely possible. It’s just that all of the evidence I have points to the opposite and I prefer my judgement to be informed by evidence rather than ignoring it and following some influencers on instachat or some such.

Anyway, who knew there were so many little roasters in Hertfordshire? Turns out there are loads.

dfk41

memzey I know you are not trying to convince anyone matey……I think the long and the short is that some burrs will benefit and perhaps some will not, but it is an individual belief rather than a blanket approach. I have not bothered seasoning the burrs in my new Eureka Atom. I cannot really detect any difference between them an the taste on my well used Mythos…..but of course others may!

memzey

The ever so friendly, chatty and knowledgeable Culainn at https://www.consciousspeciality.com/ was able to help me out with a few kilos more. I’ll definitely be picking up a bag of something from him in January - possibly this one -> https://www.consciousspeciality.com/product/kiandu as it looks like my jam.

I’m set now. All I need is for those burrs to drop through the letterbox.

Adrianmsmith

memzey

Well I for one would not be wasting any coffee beans during the so-called seasoning.

Well I would but 100 g maximum and then start making real coffee.

I’m sorry but I just do not get why you would want to.

As I said before, I’m not saying cup number 50 will not be better than cup number three or cup number four (obviously two cups are needed for darling in) but with my human taste buds and the fact that humans do not have strict taste memory recall it’s just impossible to say.

One thing I can definitely say is cup number three will be more than perfectly drinkable and be better than anything you will buy in Starbucks or Costa. Just using your normal everyday beans. No need to change or waste beans for a new grinder but that’s just my opinion.

memzey

Adrianmsmith I understand. You don’t get it. You would do something different. I’m fine with that. You’ve said as much more than once. I will do as I see right and you will be fine with that too. The one thing I’d call out however, is use of the word “waste”. The opposite of waste is what is happening here. These are beans given to me for free which would otherwise be going to landfill or the roaster would have to pay for the disposal of. I am providing a purpose for beans that would otherwise be wasted. I’m not seasoning my burrs to burnish my eco-warrior credentials but calling it a waste of beans is incorrect.