home roasting coffee bean notes

proposed tt post 22apr2015

hr.

bq. _"I'd like to see someone with fresher roasts ..."_

As usual, the DIY approach helps here. 

Sure, you can buy an expensive home roaster, but you can also roast  coffee beans rather nicely  by "using an old air popcorn popper.":https://www.sweetmarias.com/airpop/airpopmethod.php

I have not done any home roasting  in a while because we buy our coffee beans on Saturday mornings at the Toledo Farmers Market from "Bea's Blend":https://www.facebook.com/BeasBlendSpecialityCoffees who I think still roasts  in West Toledo.

For home roasting, we buy the green coffee beans from "Sweet Maria's.":https://www.sweetmarias.com/store/ Select the beans that match your preferred roast type and flavors.

!http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2873/9684930931_6a9fdbd902_o.jpg 360x270!

*++Roast outside.++*  On our first try, we roasted  inside. Besides the smoke, the outer skin or whatever on the beans floats up from the popper. 

Some of my roasting notes:

* remove the plastic cover that you would normally use on an air popcorn popper.
* we added a tin can extender to the cylindrical hole that holds the beans (popcorn).
* added 2/3 of a cup of beans to the powered-on popper.
* began stirring beans immediately in popper to get an even roast, and stirred vigorously the entire time.
* the thin, paper-like outer husks of the beans begin coming off and floating up out of the popper within the first minute.
* at approx the 2 min and 50 sec mark, first crack began.
* more of the outer bean husks float up after first crack.
* first crack continued for 30 seconds or so, and then it got quiet again.
* I turned off the popper around around the 4-minute mark.
* dumped beans into a colander and tossed the beans to cool them to the point that I could touch them.
* placed beans in a bowl or on a plate, uncovered, overnight.
* ground and brewed beans in the morning. placed leftover roasted beans in an air-tight jar that rested on our counter.



#home #coffee #howto