Roast Your Own

We are a house of coffee drinkers. During the week our ground of choice is Costco Colombian Dark Roast, but on the weekend we treat ourselves to whole beans, freshly ground immediately before brewing.  Often, we've roasted the beans ourselves.

It all started when Son Tony sent us some coffee he'd roasted for Mother's Day 2015. Later, he gifted us with the equipment to do it ourselves. (I was surprised to learn roasting can be done in some hot air popcorn makers, which is what we have). Tony's education had come from  the website Sweet Maria's, which sells a wide selection of green beans, roasting supplies, and brewing supplies.  The equipment gift included a personal roasting lesson.  Since that time Hubby Tony has been the main coffee producer, but I've been known to roast a bean or two myself.

My latest session was this weekend, to take advantage of the sunny, mid-60 degree weather. (Coffee roasting produces quite a bit of chaff and it's much easier to do outside.)  Before I started I gathered all the things I needed  for the project-the bag of green coffee beans, the popper, an extension cord, a measuring cup, a colander, a funnel with a large bottom opening, and jars to hold the roasted beans. 

After setting everything up on the table on the deck I got started.  Our popper holds a little over a half cup of beans.  After pouring in the beans I put the popper's plastic hood in place and turned it on.  A batch takes somewhere between seven and eight minutes.  After approximately three minutes the beans will 'crack', start smelling fragrant, and the chaff (dried husk) flies off. The darker roasts we like eventually do a second crack and get an oily exterior. 

I was using my phone's timer, but I still looked into the popper chamber to check on the color of the beans every once in a while to make sure there were no surprises.  When the beans were done I dumped them into the colander, agitated them until they were warm to the touch, then used the funnel to pour them into a glass jar. Freshly ground coffee gives off quite a bit of CO2, so I placed the jar lid on loosely and set it on the kitchen countertop overnight.  This morning I tightened the lid and stored the jar in the pantry.

In case you're interested, here's more information on the process:



Five years ago today: I Love A Challenge