A Quick Guide To Citrus Fruits

The Orange Family

The familiar oranges are the most popular of our citrus fruits. They are nutritional, versatile, and keep well. Popular varieties include Valencia, navel, temple, and blood oranges.

The navel orange is best as an eating orange since its sweet pulp tends to turn a little bitter when the juice is exposed to air. Valencia oranges are enjoyed for both eating and juicing. The blood orange is a hybrid with an orange and red rind and reddish flesh and some people think, a touch of raspberry-like flavor. The temple orange is a flavorful orange-tangerine hybrid.

As with most citrus fruits, choose oranges that are heavy for their size indicating juiciness and those without soft spots or defects in the skin.

• Orange tip: If you are squeezing oranges for morning juice, stop and grate the zest from several first. The zest can be frozen for months to be used in a variety of recipes from cookies to casseroles.

• Orange tip: When grating the zest from oranges or lemons, remove only the outer, colored portion of the rind. The white pithy layer is bitter.

Oranges have been crossed with other citrus fruits to create a wonderful array of related fruits. Citrus fruits related to or crossed with oranges include:

Mandarin oranges are small sweet oranges with a loose skin. They have a light orange color and a complex, sweet flavor. The Satsuma, Honey and Royal are the three major mandarin varieties.

Mandarins are often imported. In the United States, mandarins are grown in Florida and California but are sold mostly to canneries and unavailable to consumers. If you can find fresh U.S. fruit, buy it.

Tangerines are a type of mandarin orange. They are red-orange and have a distinctive flavor. They are usually available as early as Thanksgiving and include Fairchild and Dancy varieties.

• Tangerine tip: Add tangerine segments to coleslaw or tuna salad for a bright, unexpected treat!

Tangelos are a cross between a tangerine, a grapefruit and an orange. They are noted for their juiciness and mild, sweet flavor. Orlandos are a popular variety of tangelos.

• Tangelo tip: Freshly grated tangelo peel lends an exotic flavor to other foods.

Ugli fruits are a specific type of tangelo. They have a loose skin which is often discolored and pock-marked and is often odd-shaped. Don't let that fool you; it has a very sweet, citrus taste. It is seedless and is great for snacks or salads. They peel easily or can be cut in half and eaten like a grapefruit.

• Ugli tip: Children are fascinated with ugli fruits. Children find both the name and odd appearance intriguing and the flavor and texture of the fruit, appealing.

Clementines are a type of small, seedless mandarins with very sweet flesh. They are a cross between an orange and a Chinese mandarin. The taste is distinctive from both a mandarin and a tangerine. They are usually imported from Spain, Morocco, and other parts of North Africa.




Minneolas are a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit. They can be recognized by their pear or bell shape. They are about three inches in diameter and a bright reddish-orange. They are closely related to tangelos.

The Lemon and Lime Family

Lemons with their bright yellow fruit are our second most popular citrus. There are two major varieties sold in the United States, the Lisbon and Eureka, which are so similar that they are difficult to tell apart. You may find a Meyer lemon which a cross between a lemon and an orange or mandarin. They are less acidic and will taste sweeter.

• Lemon tip: Try squeezing fresh lemon on salads and steamed vegetables in place of part or all of the salt or butter. In doing so, you will reduce your salt and fat intake.

Rough lemons are, as the name suggests, lemons with a rough skin. Cultivated in the tropics, they are round and larger than domestic lemons but used the same way.

Limes are shaped like lemons but are green, smaller, and have both more sugar and more acid. There are two main varieties of limes: Mexican or Key limes and Persian limes. Key limes are famous for Key lime pie. Most limes in the grocery store are Persians.

• Lime tip: Use the rind of juiced limes to clean your copper-bottomed pans.
Leech Limes are larger than limes with a wart-like skin.

The Grapefruit Family

Good quality grapefruit have a smooth, firm, and shiny skin. Pick grapefruit that are medium to large and that feel heavy for their size.

• Grapefruit tip: When shopping, avoid fruit with a dull or wrinkled skin. Pick fruits that are heavy for their size. It's not necessary to avoid fruits with green on the skin as the color does not indicate ripeness.

White grapefruit have a smooth yellow skin and a flesh that is pale yellow and tart.
Red grapefruit are sweet, tart, and juicy with a pink to red flesh. Ruby, Star Ruby, and Rio Red are popular varieties.

• Grapefruit tip: Researchers have found that red grapefruits have more antioxidants than white grapefruits. These antioxidants are thought to lower cholesterol and reduce heart disease.

Pummelos, also called Chinese grapefruit, are the largest citrus fruit! The peel is thick and green on the outside, while the interior is either white or pink. Pummelos are slightly milder tasting than regular grapefruit and are very aromatic.

Sweeties are a cross between a pummelo and a white grapefruit. It is shaped like a grapefruit and juicy. Because it has less acid than a grapefruit, the sugar is more dominant and the taste is sweeter.

Expresso - From Coffeehouses To Your Kitchen

The java world is exploding out of this world nowadays. Coffee has never been better and never smelled so good. Who would have thought that it would take over the fast food industry? Or should that be quick beverage industry? Espresso is absolutely everywhere, even in the middle of nowhere. It's true! I buy it, and so do you. I personally cannot resist milky coffee with a shot of infused syrup. Oh, dear, who sells that iced mocha latte?

No matter which country you go to you can grab your favourite coffee on every street corner. Ever been to Turkey and slipped into a north-eastern village with no electricity and just the perfect aroma of Turkish coffee wafting up from the valley below? I have and so should you. Who says coffee isn't mobile. So, I think the really interesting part is how much are we spending on our favourite espresso? If you were to calculate it at $4 per cup and times that by 360 days, allowing for 5 days off – you do the maths! Ouch. When you look at it this way it may be time to bring your coffee-house into your kitchen.

Wouldn't it be perfect to have your own little espresso machine in your kitchen? Hey, now we are talking. Imagine waking up every morning or running in every evening to the aroma of your own home brewed espresso. If you have taken the time to look then you should have noticed that the supplies are everywhere. Just run up the road and grab your favourite flavouring, some milk, your favourite ground beans, and that quality machine. Frankly, I think just simply wandering into the kitchen, still in my pyjamas versus that horrendous drive to the coffee-house would be absolutely perfect. Don't you agree? Now I bet you do this already.




Can you imagine the gas costs you would save? Why not have your cake and eat it too? Your espresso machine will pay for itself again and again. You will eliminate that day by day bill for the lattes and espressos. The overall cost could go to a roasting machine next? Fancy one of those to add to your budding home coffee-house?

Finding that perfect quality machine, it is possible to get a commercial one online. There are some really reasonable ones just a click away. Why not have your coffee as perfect as you do after that long drive?

Coffee Products for Free if you Know How

Are you aware that you can find coffee products and connected coffee products for nothing? read on and find out how, that is the good news, the bad news is that if you require specific merchandise such as coffee gift packs or artistic coffee mugs then you are may not be so lucky. Quite simply a large number of food and drink firms and coffee makers give their products away for free via competitions and prize draws, the sad truth is the chances of obtaining the particular coffee items you need are slim however not impossible.

This may sound all very nice however how can the details of coffee competitions be located with ease? well this is basically far simpler than a person might suppose, the trick is to search in a specific way but you must always use inverted commas, for example try this query "coffee competitions" or "free coffee prize", if you do this you will get those exact results and if any coffee products or linked products are being given as prizes you could possibly be in with a chance of winning such things, Just think you might easily win something like a capresso coffee maker for absolutely nothing.

Where you aware that most consumers merely give items like coffee products and similar products away for no charge? you see so many people obtain food and drink goods and subsequently discover they don't want them. An individual may have received something like a carafe coffee maker for a gift but for some reason might not want it any more, for this you would need to try searches that include "free coffee" or "unwanted coffee" however you must not forget the inverted commas because they are the solution to accurate results.<




Some of the well known coffee makers very often run competitions and offer their own products as prizes, check out the coffee portals that list the manufacturers and see if some competitions are being run on their websites. You may end up winning products like Amaretto Dark Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans or bunn easy pure coffee pots and can exchange them on a coffee forum for an item you really require, also if you win some roasted coffee beans but really desire coffee maker bits it may very well be that a coffee company will actually accept such products in a part money part product swap for the particular food and drink items you are truly interested in buying.

Most of us find competitions on occasions but finding a coffee contest just when you actually want one is something that doesn't happen very often, if you want items like braun coffee grinders but are short of money then you should use your favorite search engine and discover what coffee products you can get in a competition.

A last word of advice, should you win an item such as a espresso machine then you can sell it on ebay as you might then utilize the money to purchase the coffee items you really need.

The Other Side Of Mexican Cooking

High-quality bell peppers, summer squash and cucumbers may not have arrived in the farmer's markets yet, but they're crisp, fresh and abundant at the supermarket-and most likely imported from Mexico.

Many people don't realize that Mexico exports far more than just chiles, avocados, tomatoes, limes and other produce you think of as being in Mexican food. Bell peppers in several colors, summer squash in many varieties, and different varieties of cucumbers are just as commonly available from our warm and sunny neighbor to the south.

Mexico has exported high-quality produce to the U.S. for more than 100 years. All Mexican produce undergoes strict quality and safety assurances before it crosses the U.S. border, so you can know it's safe and fresh. Plus, it's healthy: Red, yellow and orange bell peppers are high in beta-carotene and vitamin C. Standard-sized cucumbers are just 39 calories each. And yellow squash and zucchini are an excellent source of magnesium.

Try these vegetables in salads this month, or sliced on sandwiches, or in a stir-fry. You can even use summer squash and red bell peppers in your salsa.

Zucchini & Red Pepper Salsa

2 pounds zucchini (look for small to medium ones)

2 medium red bell peppers, seeded and cut into a small julienne

1/2 cup peeled, seeded and diced cucumber

2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

2 serrano chiles, seeded and minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Trim and dice zucchini, and place in a medium bowl. Add julienne of red pepper, cucumber, red onion and chiles. Dress with olive oil, lime juice and salt, and toss to incorporate. Gently stir in cilantro and serve with yellow or blue tortilla chips, round slices of jicama, or thin slices of French bread. Makes 8 servings.

Overindulge In Gourmet Chocolates

Many people spend tons of money on fine wines and often pay an extraordinary amount of money for a single bottle of wine. Not many people would guess that it could be true for chocolates as well, not even gourmet chocolate.

However, nowadays there are chocolate manufacturers that specifically target the higher end of the chocolate market. One of these companies is Amadei. Their chocolates have brought the term terroir to the chocolate world.

Terroir is most often associated with wines. It is used to describe the wine flavors and tones that are associated with a specific winegrowing region.

Amadei was established in the early 90s and is placed in Italy. Chocolate connoisseurs are going crazy over their gourmet chocolates.

Their unique gourmet chocolates like Chuao and Porcelana can easily cost you more than $200 for 1 kg!

Those prices are in line with what people would be willing to pay for an expensive wine. Just like money does not matter for the true wine lover, for the true chocolate connoisseur these prices are negligible if the chocolate is of outstanding quality. Amadei is unquestionably amongst the finest of gourmet chocolates around.

If those kinds of prices scare you off then a good alternative, but still an excellent choice, is the Godiva line of chocolates. Their dark gourmet chocolates will cost you approximately $70 for 1 kg. Apart from Godiva, there are also several other excellent gourmet chocolate choices, such as Valrhona, Scharffen Berger, plus other smaller local manufacturers. The Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory in Hawaii grows their own cocoa and produces their own chocolates locally.

If truffles are your weakness then you absolutely have to try the Amadei truffles. They are not as pricey as the chocolate squares.

It is very difficult to go wrong with chocolate. When you look for new and interesting choices that you haven't tried before you're bound to find more than what you can reasonably afford. Since chocolate is so popular, there are many websites devoted to the topic of gourmet chocolates.

Coffee Maker - Cleaning

Your coffee maker could be killing you. Well it is if your morning cup of coffee is a matter of life and death and you have a filthy coffee maker. When was the last time you thoroughly cleaned your coffee maker? Washing the pot is important but getting the internal components of a coffee maker clean is a task that shouldn't be skipped. Did you even know that you were supposed to clean it? A clean coffee maker can be the difference between a good cup of coffee and a nasty cup of sludge.

A clean coffee maker really makes a big difference in how your coffee tastes. Left over coffee oils can accumulate inside your coffee maker. Also mineral deposits can form especially in areas with hard water. These deposits are called "scale". There are two kinds of scale, lime scale and mineral scale and you don't want either one. Scale can affect the heating unit and the water flow of your coffee maker and reduce it's efficiency. How quickly scale forms depends on the quality of your drinking water. If you use bottled water to make your coffee, scale probably won't form as fast but you still have to worry about accumulated coffee oils. Better to play it safe and clean your coffee maker regularly.

Cleaning your coffee maker is not a hard task to accomplish and in fact it's as easy as making coffee. All you have to do is pour a pot of half vinegar and half water into the coffee maker's water reservoir. It goes without saying that white vinegar should be used. Steer clear of the red wine or apple cider vinegar varieties. Then just turn on the regular brew cycle. You're kitchen will probably have a nice salad smell while it's brewing which you may even like. If you're not a salad fan though, just remember that it's a small price to pay for a good cup of coffee.




Now rinse the coffee maker out by using only water this time in the water reservoir and running the brew cycle again. You may have to do this a few more times if you still smell vinegar.

Another easy way to keep the coffee maker clean is to put a glass marble in the water chamber. All the mineral deposits that would usually accumulate inside the coffee maker will instead accumulate on the marble. Every once in a while just remove the marble, wash it and then place it back in the chamber. How much easier could that be?

The best solution would be to clean your coffee maker with vinegar monthly while also using the marble method. Change the marble once a week and you're coffee maker will be in great shape.

If you have an old coffee maker and you aren't happy with the taste of it's brew, why not try cleaning it. A clean coffee maker will brew better tasting coffee.

How To Select A Coffee Bean Grinder

If you're currently wondering how to select a coffee bean grinder to suit you and your kitchen then you probably already know that there are various options open to you. In simple terms most coffee grinders will be spilt into two camps – blade grinders and burr grinders. So how do you choose between the two?

First, it's worth noting that you can buy both types of grinder as both electric and manual options if you wish. It's becoming more popular for people to buy electric machines on the whole as there is a big added convenience here so, for the purposes of this guide, we'll be focusing on electrical options rather than manual ones.

In simple terms the final decision you make when it comes to working out how to select a coffee bean grinder will, in most cases, come down to budget and to how seriously you think about coffee so this is worth bearing in mind as you read through this article.

So, let's take a look some of the pros and cons of the two types of grinder. If you want, you can learn more about coffee gridners here: http://www.coffee-n-beans.com/grinders.html


Blade Grinders

Blade grinders – as the name suggests – use a blade to chop up your coffee beans until they are ground. Most of these machines work on a simple principle – the longer the machine grinds, the finer the grind will be.

Pros

- Generally cheaper than burr grinders.

- Do an effective job of grinding your coffee beans.

Cons

-Can't give a completely consistent or even grind (this can have an adverse effect on the taste and quality of the coffee you drink).

-The blades on some models may overheat – especially if they are left on longer for a finer grind – which can again alter the actual taste of your coffee.


Burr Grinders

A burr grinder – often also referred to in some circles as a mill – works on a different principle to a blade grinder. Here the beans are crushed between the machine's moving wheel and its static surface. You decide on the level of grind by using pre-specified settings on the burr. Models vary between doser and doserless for coffee bean storage in the actual grinder.

Pros

- A burr grinder will give you a consistently even grind with no problems.

- These grinders and their grinding pres-sets are easy to use.

Cons

- A burr grinder will generally cost you more than a blade grinder.

- Some models clog easily and can be harder to clean.


So, when you're deciding how to select a coffee grinder – as you can see – you need to consider how important the quality of your grind and the resulting taste of your coffee is to you as an individual to a certain extent. This is what will dictate whether you opt for a blade grinder or a burr grinder at the end of the day.

Most blade grinders users will simply like a regular cup of coffee that has been ground at home for optimum freshness. If you simply like grinding your own beans for basic coffee drinking use then there's no real reason why you should waste money on a burr grinder when a blade grinder will suit your needs just as well.




It's very important to remember here that a blade grinder may give a more uneven grind but it still does an effective job. But you may not get the best grind – and therefore the best tasting cup of coffee – from the beans you buy in this case. One good tip that many blade grinder fans give is to give the grinding machine a little gentle shake every now and then as this will help distribute the bits of cut beans more evenly which may help your grind's consistency.

If, however, your cup of coffee is real important to you and you want consistent brewing results each and every time you grind your beans, then you will probably be better off looking at buying some sort of burr grinder to meet your needs. These grinders are adored by coffee aficionados simply because they treat your coffee beans and the grinding process consistently and will therefore bring out the best taste for every cup by making sure that each grind is even across every single coffee bean.

It's real simple to source and buy each kind of grinder – both in stores or over the Internet. Major coffee maker manufacturers such as Braun, Capresso, Alpina, Mr. Coffee, DeLonghi, Russell Hobbs, KitchenAid, Krups and Solis will all have a grinder line of some sort to choose from.

You may find – if you shop around a little – that you may be able to afford to buy a more expensive grinder for your budget as there are often great bargains and discounts to be had all year round. For this reason it's certainly worth while not rushing out and buying the first grinder you see but doing some price comparisons first to see what savings can be made.

It's equally important to read reviews to find out how specific models have worked for other people in the past. The Internet is a great source for these kinds of user reviews so once you've identified a few models you can log on and see how these machines have worked for others in their homes rather than just relying on manufacturer's 'blurb'. This will give you a real useful idea of how well a model/models may actually work in your own home rather than having to wait to find out once you've purchased a grinder.

There are certain things to look out for in these kinds of user reviews. For example, you should be looking to discover if other grinder users have found that their grinder:

- Gets clogged or blocked easily.
- Gets beans stuck in its mechanism.
- Overheats and leaves a bitter taste on the coffee.
- Is easy to clean and maintain.
- Gives a really even grind consistently.
- Is excessively noisy.
- Has a problem with static electricity.
- Gives you an easy way to pour out your ground coffee.
- Is well made and won't fall apart after a couple of uses.

If you can get the right kinds of answers to these questions then the chances are you'll find the kind of grinder – either burr or blade – that's right for you.

French Cheese Can Add A European Touch To Your Entertaining

France is certainly in the forefront of cheese manufacturing, with over 500 varieties of cheeses that are made in this region alone! While many of these cheeses are of the soft variety, French cheeses can actually be a healthy alternative to some of the cheese favorites that are frequently served in the United States. French cheeses are lower in fat while packing in the flavor because of the higher water content in soft cheeses that actually keeps the fat count at a reasonable level.

These delicious varieties of cheese can be a great choice for everyday, by using them in pasta dishes and sprinkled into salads. They also work well for entertaining, on platters offering a variety of cheeses with crackers and crusty breads for spreading.

French Cheese and Other Foods

French cheeses make a nice complement to a number of different types of food, including breads, fruits and honey. Soft cheeses like the popular brie taste delicious when paired with fruits like blackberries or figs. Blue cheeses work well with a number of fruits, as well as a variety of nuts for maximum flavor and variety. Try a salad sprinkled with blue cheese and chopped walnuts for a delicious topping.

Semi-hard French cheeses are delightfully paired with fruits like pineapple, kiwi and cherries. Chutneys are another nice complement to many of the cheeses today, and you can make your own or buy them in a variety of gourmet shops. Try placing a bowl of chutney next to your cheese platter for guests to serve themselves.




French Cheese and Wine

It is hard to think about the delicious French cheeses without considering which wine is the best pairing. Wine and cheese go together like peanut butter and jelly, but the question always becomes which wine is the right choice? Red wines are often the clear choice with French cheeses, but there are many white selections that will work equally well.

The best rule of thumb to keep in mind is to avoid a wine that is too light to mix with the pungent aromas and flavors of the cheeses that you will be serving. It is also a good idea to limit the number of choices in cheeses that you place on your platter to ensure that the ones you select will work best with your wine selection.

Stronger cheese flavors will require a more full-bodied wine, such as a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Shiraz. On the other hand, softer cheeses can be quite nice with a lighter and fruitier wine like Beaujolais.

When in doubt about the right wine to serve with your French cheese platters, ask someone at your local liquor mart for advice. Many of these stores will offer wine experts that will answer all of your questions.

Coffee Roaster Machines - Java on Demand!

Most coffee lovers have a strong liking to freshly brewed coffee. They are not very fond of instant coffee and sometimes may even consider it demeaning to have coffee right out of the can. They will either grind their coffee and stir a cuppa or have one of the new fancy coffee roaster machines which promise a quick fix from the bean to the cup in a few minutes without loosing the authentic flavour of the coffee.

These coffee roaster machines have become quite popular in the recent past. They provide café style coffee and are quite economical to maintain. Some of the key things you should look out while buying a coffee roaster machine for your personal use is the whether it suits your requirements or not. The first concern will be the size of the machine. If you have a small kitchen, you will need to pick up a compact piece and if you have a good sized kitchen then you can pick up a larger machine which has a higher capacity.

Apart from capacity, you also need to see what the accessories available with the coffee machine are. Accessories can make or break the coffee drinking experience and cappuccino lovers will agree that a frother (a pipe which passes steam which creates the froth in the coffee) is as essential as an in-built bean crusher. Apart from that you need to check if there is a condiments tray and if the coffee roaster machine comes with cups or not.

All the above are relevant with one main deciding factor when buying roaster coffee machines: the budget. Since there is a wide range of pricing to consider, it is advisable that you set up a ball park figure for the coffee machine as they can range from anywhere between $200 to $1500!

How To Select A Coffee Roaster

If you have decided to roast your own coffee then your first port of call will be to consider how to select a coffee roaster that is right for you. This decision is probably one of the hardest coffee-related choices you'll have to make – there's nothing worse than buying the wrong kind of roaster for your needs.

We're going to be primarily looking at automated custom coffee bean roasters for the purposes of this article. But, it's worth noting that you can roast your own coffee beans fresh at home without having to buy a roasting machine.

It is possible to roast beans in or on the stove, on a barbeque or fire or even, sometimes, in a popcorn popper. But, if you take your home roasting seriously and want some help with the process (the do it yourself approach can take a lot more time and effort) then a proper roasting machine may be your best option.

So, why do people roast their own beans at home? Well, it's basically all about freshness and the quality of the roast you will ultimately get. If you buy green coffee beans – i.e. beans that are unroasted – you can simply roast them at home when you need to use them in batches so they'll be ultra fresh. Green coffee beans are cheaper and last longer than ready roasted beans into the bargain. By the way, more information on bean roasting can be found here: http://www.coffee-n-beans.com/roasters.html

The ability to roast your own beans is a desirable must with many coffee aficionados – you can do away with stale coffee, get the level of roast you want when and where you want it and save yourself some money into the bargain!

In very simple terms there are two main types of machine to consider when you're deciding how to select a coffee roaster which are Fluid Bed/Air Roasters and Drum Roasters.


Fluid Bed/Air Roasters

If you want to roast your own coffee beans at home then the first thing you should look at is getting hold of a standard fluid bed based roaster. These machines are small, can be compact and are primarily designed for small-medium home use. So, they will roast your beans for you fairly quickly and with minimal fuss – you don't have to stand over them for example, as you would if you were home roasting on the stove top.

These kinds of roasters kind of work like popcorn makers in that they use hot air during the roast process. You can see how the roast is progressing in most cases so you can control it more effectively and you will sometimes also be given pre-set roasts to choose from in any case. If you're a home roasting 'newbie' then this kind of machine may suit you best as you will get a feel for the whole process as you go along – you can always upgrade to a bigger and more complex roaster at a later date when you have more experience. These machines are also cheaper than other options and are relatively easy to use in the kitchen.

There are a couple of downsides with this kind of roaster, however. You will find that some models won't roast that much coffee at once and will burn out if you use them too often. Some models also don't have such great controls or pre-sets (some don't have any) – so it may take a while for you to get used to using the machine if this is the case.





Drum Roaster

If the option of a fluid bed roaster doesn't seem quite right to you when you're thinking about how to select a coffee roaster then you could also look at drum roasting as an alternative. Drum roasters were once only seen in coffee shops and stores that roasted their own coffee beans but, nowadays, it's real easy to buy machines for domestic use.

Drum roasting machines can basically roast more beans at once – in most cases – than fluid bed machines as they are bigger. Most will work on a convection or conduction method. With this kind of machine you place your beans in a drum, close it up, set it running and wait until the roast is done.

This is more of a pro machine – although they are designed for use at home – simply because they can be more complex to operate than fluid bed roasters. But, the majority of true coffee fans will prefer this method over time as it is held to produce better results in coffee taste terms.

The downsides with many drum roasters is that they don't have a window so you can't always look inside them as you can with most fluid bed roasters. So, you may have to rely on your sense of smell or hearing (as you listen to the coffee bean cracks!) to work out when your roast is perfectly done. This is one of the reasons why these machines may not suit 'newbie' roasters to start off with.

Some of these drum machines can also give off a lot of smoke so you may need to sort out adequate ventilation or even do your roasting outside if this is the case. And, as you might expect you'll pay more for drum roasters than for fluid bed machines. At the end of the day you'll need to think long and hard about how confident you are with the home roasting process – if you haven't roasted at home before then you may be better off starting off with a fluid bed machine but if you feel more confident and need the extra functionality then a drum roaster may suit you better.

Whichever type of machine you choose to buy do remember that it's absolutely vital to read some user reviews on the Internet before you buy a roaster as these will tell you stuff the manufacturer won't. These reviews are written by people who have used these machines and they will give you a real good idea of the pros and cons of any machine from people that have used them regularly.

Some example tips to look out with for fluid bed roasters include:

- How well do the programs (if there are any) work?
- How easy is it to use and what kind of functions does it have?
- How well made is the roaster?
- How evenly does it roast?
- How well can you see into the roasting chamber?
- How noisy is the machine?
- How easy is it to clean the machine/parts?
- What happens to the chaff?

Some example tips to look out with for drum roasters include:

- How well do the programs (if there are any) work?
- How easy is it to use and what kind of functions does it have?
- Does it produce a lot of smoke?
- Can you see inside the drum from the outside?
- Does the machine get too hot?
- What happens to the chaff?
- How easy is it to clean the machine/parts?