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    Derek
    Scythe Expert
    Dash  ·  
    Feb 24

    Mmmm... Coffee....

    in Now Playing

    ☕️ Coffee Roaster arrived today! Despite us having owned a cafe for 4 years (would've been longer without COVID), this solo game has confirmed two things:


    Why I love drinking coffee...

    Why I was in charge of the music entertainment in our cafe...


    Because I apparently SUCK at roasting coffee!! 🤣


    Kind of like playing Viticulture: Essential Edition with a nice glass of wine, playing Coffee Roaster with my morning coffee is something I'm going to quite enjoy I'm sure. 😀


    I knew this game was going to be a "puzzly" one. But wow it's going to offer plenty of plays and challenge for quite some time, let me tell ya! There's the puzzly aspect for sure, but there's also the "push your luck" element to it that's very present;


    When to keep roasting vs when to stop and give your cup a taste test. 😮 Tough choices.






    I love the insert that comes with the game. No need for a storage organizer of any kind for the components. This truly is, "grab your cup of coffee, do a minimal setup and away you go". The pic (right) shows the empty tray. You know exactly where everything goes as you punch out the components during the unboxing.


    As you play and beans are roasted, you're swapping out some beans for more roasted ones, but it's all right there for you right out of the box. I love it.








    The game comes with 22 varieties of coffee beans to play (i.e. various difficulty levels). Each bean has a different setup, scoring/bonuses AND on the back side there's a world map and facts about each specific type of bean. Love it!! Great reading with the morning coffee as well. Create and learn!



    Here's the board setup with all you need. Thermometer on top, along with roasting chart. Your roasting board with "immediate effects" and "cup" effects, your cardboard trays and your cup itself for when you're ready to test out your roast.


    I've played two games so far with Sao Paulo (Brazil) bean, and one with the Sierra Maestra bean from Cuba. The rulebook says, if you get a score of 9 or less, stick with a beginner card for your next game.... 🤔 Ya, that's not really an issue for me. I scored 9, 6 and 6 in my first three games. So I have a long way to go to become a better coffee roaster. 🤣


    It's great though! Games are quick. It's thinky. And even can be a little stressful at times... or is that just the coffee jitters??? 🤣



    gif

    11 comments
    11 Comments
    Z
    Zerbique
    Mar 01
    •

    OK you got me, I just grabbed it for 30€, shipping included.


    I celebrate Lent (even though I'm non-Christian) and don't buy anything during 40 days (I may do an exception for the Iron Helm crowd sale though), so this really is a "Fat Thursday" purchase!

    Like
    C
    Cadet Stimpy
    Mar 01
    •
    Replying to

    I hope you enjoy your coffee roasting experience!

    Image Source: stylemotivation.com


    I can't decipher much in the picture above, but I recognize crème fraîche (Z, is it pronounced krem fresh?). A little dab in scrambled eggs makes 'em wonderfully smooth. 🙂


    P.S. If you're a non-Christian, why do you celebrate Lent? 🤔

    Like

    Z
    Zerbique
    Mar 01
    •
    Replying to

    @Cadet Stimpy Yep, krem fresh (I would never have thought to write it like this to make it phonetically transparent!).


    I celebrate Lent because having an "anointed" time in the year, during which you try to live more frugally, try to get rid of all of your habits to realize how non-essential they may be, try to think and reflect on things and achieve higher purpose, makes me a lot of good. I did shake off some addictions thanks to this, but not all, evidently. But mostly it helps to sort out what is really important to me (e.g. coffee, so I stopped not drinking coffee during lent) and what is only an entrenched routine that you're better out of it.

    Like

    C
    Cadet Stimpy
    Mar 01
    •
    Replying to

    @Zerbique Good luck on your journey through Lent. Your goals are worthy! 🙂

    Like

    D
    Derek
    Feb 26
    •

    gif

    Like

    C
    Cadet Stimpy
    Feb 25
    •

    Sorry to hear fu*kin' COVID shutdown your Café. I can't imagine it'd be worth it (but I'm no Coffee Connoisseur), but have you seen this coffee on Amazon? About C$138 (€96/£80.8)/28g ($108.33/oz). I don't think I'll be buying any.


    The owners of Atlin seem quite adventurous and have origins in France and the Netherlands? What a coincidence!

    Like

    C
    Cadet Stimpy
    Feb 25
    •

    They make "home models", but the commercial ones can get big. Commercial ones are priced from small car to big house range. Here's a 10Kg model on ebay - only $19,250 (C$24,555/€17,125/£14,364).


    Image Source: ebay


    Here's a 180Kg model.

    Image Source: ozturkroasters.com

    Like
    D
    Derek
    Feb 25
    •
    Replying to

    I've seen a home model roaster in person. When we were close to opening our cafe in 2017, we nearly had a local roaster who roasted out of his home. We loved his coffee. But in the end, the idea of going commercial scared him, so we had to find another coffee roaster.


    Before we decided to close our doors due to the pandemic chaos, we found an amazing family run roaster in British Columbia. Atlin Mountain Coffee Roasters. We love their story, how they roast their beans, where they live and run their business... Wow! I sure enjoyed taste testing a ton of their samples a couple years ago that's for sure! 😉 We've never had such a hard decision to make because we loved nearly ALL that we tried.


    We still drink their coffee, despite the cafe being closed. ☕️

    Like

    D
    Derek
    Feb 25
    •

    Oh wow! Definitely a difference in aesthetics for sure

    Like