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by John Roche

(from Ground Control Issue #21)

It's hard to believe that five years ago I was happily enjoying canned coffee brewed to "perfection" in a cheap drip coffee maker. When the drip machine broke, I purchased one of those nice "espresso" steam toys on sale. After the unexpected demise of the steam toy, I went searching the Internet for a better espresso machine. What I found turned out to be something far more valuable...

alt.coffee!

As home roasters, some of you may already be familiar with alt.coffee, the Usenet newsgroup dedicated to everything (and I do mean everything) related to coffee. For those of you seeking information, lets just say that whatever you may wish to know about any aspect of coffee, it can be uncovered here. It makes no difference whether you're a complete novice or an experienced professional roaster or cafZ¹ owner; you'll meet them all in alt.coffee.

If you're like me, you may quickly find yourself becoming a "regular." I discovered the newsgroup several years ago with the simple question about which espresso machine I should purchase. At the time, I didn't know a tamper from a grouphead or that people actually roasted their own coffee at home. I didn't really know what constituted a good espresso but naively assumed a $400 dollar machine would produce it for me. I soon discovered that although I'd been drinking coffee for over 20 years, I didn't know nearly as much as I thought. Well, let me invite you to the world of alt.coffee, a free education in all things coffee.

One of my earliest encounters in alt.coffee was with someone named "Coffeekid" (AKA Mark Prince). Mark, a Canadian and website designer by trade, runs one of the best non-commercial websites you'll encounter on coffee and is one of the newsgroup's most active contributors. Mark was instrumental in my early education about espresso, espresso machines and home roasting. He soon became my self appointed mentor. Mark took the time to answer many of my beginner questions both within the newsgroup and via email. If you spend even a little time in this newsgroup, you'll soon discover that Mark is representative of a larger group of coffee aficionados and professionals who freely offer their advice and opinions on a daily basis.

One of the things that makes alt.coffee such a great place to spend time is the generous welcome and advice one receives when entering the group, regardless of your level of expertise. The group as a whole recognizes that everyone has to start somewhere in their journeys through the world of coffee (or specifically: roasting, espresso, vac pots, etc). However, this doesn't mean that someone else is going to do all the work for you. There is an expectation that you will do some research, reading and/or experimentation on your own time. In the end, it all amounts to a free flowing forum of coffee information and as a home roaster it will soon become your best resource for improving your craft. Confused about how to roast a particular bean? Want to know how ambient temperature affects home roasters? Is degassing roasted coffee necessary? What about upgrading your grinder? Well, you've come to the right place.

There are many home roasters on alt.coffee who roast in poppers, Alpenrösts, Hearthwares, Fresh Roasts and custom designed and/or modified roasters of all kinds. The degree of assistance that can be obtained from fellow roasters should not be underestimated. You'll encounter professional roasters and coffee shop owners like Barry Jarrett of Riley's Coffee & Fudge in Fairview Heights, Illinois. Barry uses a home roaster as a sample roaster in his shop and is always more than willing to share his knowledge. Just this morning I found Barry commenting on the differences between short and long roast times and the surprisingly small differences between roasts in his large commercial roaster and his 2-ounce Fresh Roast. Another contributor on this subject and a multitude of others is Dr. Joseph John of the California based JOSUMA Coffee Company. Dr. John is a professional roaster and creator of, in my opinion, one of the finest espresso blends on the market: Malabar Gold . As a home roaster of Malabar Gold myself, nothing is better than being able to go to the source for occasional clarification and advice.

Make no mistake however; you'll find plenty of highly opinionated folk in these here parts. I840COFFEE (AKA Don Schoenholt) is the founder of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, roastmaster and Chief Executive of Gillies Coffee Company, America's oldest coffee merchant. It's unlikely you'll find anyone more serious (or opinionated) about coffee. Don's workdays are consumed by his passions: roasting, cupping, blending, researching, selling and writing about coffee.

If you're considering, for example, the use of Robusta in an espresso blend, you'd best check out the alt.coffee archives for a mini-education in Arabica vs. Robusta beans. In many respects, Alt.coffee is a home away from home for a wide variety of coffee professionals literally from around the globe: growers, retailers, distributors, roasters, brokers, and Mom and Pop cafZ¹ owners, to name but a few.

Sound a little intimidating for your average Joe? Relax, in my experience, the coffee aficionados and newbies far outnumber the professionals and no one is trying to sell you anything. Herein lies the unique nature of alt.coffee; a place where people with diverse backgrounds and various levels of expertise can join in on the same discussions. The novices need not stick with the novices and the professionals are as likely as anyone to answer a beginner's inquiry. Many people new to Usenet and/or alt.coffee start off as "Lurkers" (i.e., one who reads the newsgroup but does not actively post). This is a great way to familiarize oneself with the group and get a sense of who's who before jumping in. The newsgroup has no mandate or requirements (other than being about coffee) and is open to all; it is by no means only for coffee professionals.

I've met a great many fellow home roasters and aficionados in my travels through alt.coffee. Randy G (AKA Randy Glass) is an active home roaster, Rancilio Silvia owner and espresso fanatic. He has chronicled his coffee adventures in a wonderful Internet Novelette Espresso! My Espresso! Another fellow home roaster is deCadmus (AKA Doug Cadmus) who in addition to his frequent alt.coffee contributions maintains 2001: a Coffee Odyssey . Danny (AKA Danny McNulty) in the UK knew nothing about coffee several years ago but has since built his own home roaster and even more impressively; an espresso trailer otherwise known as "Danny's Coffee Bar." Of course, not everyone has a website or dreams of entering the coffee business; many contributors are just coffee lovers looking to improve their knowledge and skills. Some people visit alt.coffee several times a day while others just stop by when they have a question or two. On any given day in alt.coffee, you'll find a variety of subject matters open for discussion.

If you've never participated in a Usenet discussion group, now's your chance. Alt.coffee is just one of thousands of informal text based discussion groups (newsgroups) waiting to be discovered on Usenet. It also has the added advantage of being one of the friendliest groups I've ever encountered on the Net. It's not a live "real time" discussion, so there's no pressure. There are some minimal Usenet rules and basic "Netiquette" (Internet etiquette) should be practiced when posting. I can honestly say that I've learned more from my friends on alt.coffee than from all my coffee and roasting books combined. After a little less than two years in alt.coffee I'm now in a position to give back a little to a group that taught me so much by offering my advice to newcomers looking to start home roasting or researching their first espresso machine. It's been a rewarding journey. So, what are you waiting for? Why not stop on by for a virtual cup of alt.coffee? I guarantee it'll be the best thing you ever did to improve your cup.

John Roche is jroche@nyc.rr.com

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(One of the things that make Alt.coffee so fantastic is the ability to search by key words. No matter how specific your question, someone has probably touched on the subject before. Once you get to http://groups.google.com type 'alt.coffee' for the most recent activity.

Use the search function to look up your particular subject in this form: alt.coffee floaters.

For very specific searches try something like: alt.coffee caffeine Harvard or, alt.coffee defects grading sumatra , alt.coffee blending espresso or, alt.coffee Sanka history etc...

You can also be time specific to find only the most recent postings.

Be sure to prefix the question with 'Alt.coffee' or you will be searching every usergroup in the entire archive. If someone used the words 'Grading' + 'Sumatra' in alt.barneythedinosaur it will be included in the results of your search.)

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