Three (edit - more now, while I was typing) very good replies there. Exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for. I need to reread them carefully, and as suggested, do some serious thinking. Which, of course, is hard with my level of (or absence of) knowedge of roasting. Which is why I so apreciatd those responses.
I also very much taken the point about home bread making, and home pizza making, etc. I’ve done both, though pizza is rare here these days, and overall, my results tend not to match a ‘proper’ professional, but certainly blow mass market/supermarket efforts and chain pizza takeaways clean out of the water. That’s probably as much due to fresh good quality ingredients as any skill on my part, though. I still prefer results from a proper artisan baker, probably due both to skill and to the temperature profiles of large bread ovens, But getting hold of that, here, isn’t easy and my own efforts are a good second choice.
And that’s perhaps the justification for giving it a go.
I wasn’t going to go here, but in answer to Doram and “depends what you want to achieve”, perhaps I should add some context. DaveC already knows.
I have stage 4 cancer. That means, if you don’t know, terminal. What I don’t know is how long. So far, treatment is going well, and the signs are it could well be another 5 or even 10 years. This is largely due to a very new chemo treatment, every day, which is only about 4 years out of trial phase, and I’ve been on it for nearly two years. It is likely that, at some point, that will stop being effective, but it’s really just too new to have a good grasp of when that might be. When it does happen, and it could be years, there are still more treatment options but they may not be as gentle in terms of chemo side effects.
Therefore, what do I want? Well, it’s more a case of… if I want to do it at all, best not to hang around too long before doing it. My overall mobility has decreased, and chemo side effects make me less inclined to, for instance, eat out and even going out for a coffee is a bit of a trek. Anything coffee-related, of course, I can and pretty much have to do at home, so it hits that point too.
It’s therefore partly about having (another) hobby, It’s partly something I’ve always intended to explore, but work and lifestyle (lots of foreign travel) prevented in the past, and partly, of course, about drinking good coffee.
In any event, this no doubt explains why I seem to be in an undue hurry, running (and doing parkour, in the form of roasting) before I can walk. If I don’t do it pretty soon, I might not get the chance at all.
It is certainly why, for instance, I have no interest in “dipping my toe” into the roasting waters, with things like popcorn makers, etc. It is at least conceivable, though hopefully not, that I just don’t have the time. It also explains my “don’t much care what it costs” statements. We’re not rich but do okay, the family are okay financially whatever happens, and I have a budget, for lack of a better term, for ‘indulgences’, be it scales, roaster, new camera, whatever.
So, I really appreciate the time and effort you guys are putting it to answering my endless list of questions.
Also, hopefully, these discussions will be a record of the ‘journey’ I’m on, coffee-wise, and raise some questions for anybody else thinking about it, whether it be “expensive” scales, roasting, or whatever.
Thanks, all.