Getting ready for toady's FIRST run here.. writing up my steps down right now.

What is up with the developer mixing order?
The cookbook recipe style is: Soda > Vit C > (Salt) > Coffee, but I read some folks use variations.

I am aware of watching poor dilution, so I seem to like js999's idea of individual 22 deg. mixes, then combine, and cool down to 20 deg. Again, is there a wrong mixing order?

Maybe I should relax a bit.

Fairly new to this myself. I've used that order and it works. I premix each of the Coffee and Ascorbic Acid into 30% solutions which I keep at room temperature until I'm ready to use them to develop film. The Sodium Carbonate (Soda) I keep in a 20% solution because it tends to solidify on me otherwise. Each of these I mix with Distilled Water heated up to regular coffee brewing temp 'cause it seems to help dissolve them. Note that the water is heated WITHOUT any chems in it 'cause it keeps my electric kettle clean. Soda is the hardest to dissolve, and if you're having a problem, my guess it'd be here. DO NOT try storing these in a refrigerator. I did, and they'll resolidfy on you.

I mix these together usually adding the Soda first, and then the Vit C, and with the Coffee going in last when I'm ready to use them.

The other thing you may want to do is check your developing time with some test films of whatever your main B&W shooting film is to make sure that you are happy with the resulting negatives. Zonies would go bananas, but you don't have to... and just pick the shots you like best.

Good luck! and have fun. Once you get it down, it seems as good as any developer out there.

I like to dissolve de sodium carbonate first to make sure no "grit" is left; then the vitamin C to neutralize it, and then the coffee

Dissolving sodium carbonate is very difficult. This is why I use an electric kettle to heat it up and store it in a 20% solution so that it's ready to go pre-dissolved at room temperature - later. Ascorbic Acid and Coffee aren't a big deal, but for the same reason, I pre-mix them with hot water and let the cool for use later. The one key to using Potassium Bromide - CHrs type formulas - is that here most folks recommend dissolving it into 90% rubbing alcohol to make a 10% solution. Then it's a quick fill using a metric drugstore shot and you're done. Reconfiguring formulas to % solutions isn't hard. I make a 30% coffee solution by putting 300 grams of Instant Coffee into a 1000 ML container. When I'm mixing up the Caffenol-CHrs which takes 40G of Coffee this means I pour out 134 ML of my 30% Coffee Solution. You can work a spreadsheet for this, but once you do, it gets pretty convenient. You'll also find that just about everything in life.... let alone photography... looks and calculates precisely, but the lattitude is far more forgiving. Don't worry, have fun.

wow, you guys are hard-core.

Well, I *finally* did my first two 135 rolls, a practice run.
The above advice was very useful, like the warm mixing, and everything went very smoothly.
I wrote a detailed step-by-step for myself, and followed that.

I took inspiration for jantz's slightly relaxed ways, did not agonize much about agitation method and timing, and also used the Ilford rinsing method.

Thanks all!

Delighted to hear it. Yep... there's really no point in sweating the details. Development is like so much else: LOOKS more precise than it is.... no matter what folks tell you. Lab folks suggest this often, and if you're operating high volume machinery like a dip tank, I guess it can be and probably ought to be. But for most of what we do, I find it is "mostly in the ballpark of" measures and times.... and you'll still get great results - B&W and C41. FWIW, welcome to the Java Club!

Jay !
So glad it is working for you
half the ordeal with caffenol, any type .. is
finding the right ingredients ... once you have coffee, washing ( or baking ) soda and Vit c you are golden

Have fun !
John