OK, so which one of you mounted a Vulcan cannon?

Absolutely correct. I take my own home roasted coffee, small manual burr grinder and brewing paraphernalia with me when I have to take overnight trip. I have not bought a cup of coffee for years.

 

My friend also pays about $5/lb for his green un-roasted beans. It's less than half of what you'll pay for a pound of snobby coffee that will go stale in a less than a week. Roasting coffee is the only way to go if you really like the stuff (vs. need it as an addict).

 

Yes, except some of premium coffees in high demands, like Jamaican Blue Mountain, Hawaiian Kona, or Panamanian Geisha. Even for those high premium coffees, the cost is still fraction of what you would pay at any coffee shops. I've read an article that Panama Geisha was sold at some exclusive Starbucks several years ago for limited time. They sold out within a few days even though the price was something like $80/lb. Peeking behind the veil of Starbucks’s $7 coffee - The Washington Post BTW, I had a chance to buy green Panama Geisha from one of my coffee trader some times ago at very reasonable price at ~$18/lb. Guess what. It was probably one of the worst coffee I have ever tasted. It did not taste like coffee at all. With very high floral tone and light fragrance, it was more like herbal tea at any of roasting profiles from cinnamon to city to Vienna. My favorite coffee has always been Sumatran with full body and low acidity but full of earthy complex flavors. At that moment when I sipped home roasted Geisha for the first time, I thought "bet even Dunkin Donuts coffee tastes better now" though not that I've had Dunkin Coffee before. lol

I've been roasting at home over 10 years now, and I drink 5~6 cups a day. I have saved enough on beans and even far more over store bought cup of coffee, I can afford to buy better roaster now.

 

So what took the place of Fred's House of Pancakes?