I have been roasting coffee for about five years; first in an electric popcorn popper and then on my gas grill with an aluminum pan and wooden spoon. Three years ago my husband gave me an electric roaster for my birthday. It is a coffee roasters dream! Until I started roasting I knew nothing about the roasting process and the origin of green coffee beans.
First, it is necessary to purchase green coffee beans. My source has always been Sweet Marias. I have nothing but praise for this company. Their products and consumer service are great. It is always a good day when a new shipment of coffee is delivered; these are 20 pound bags.
The burlap bags recycle into all kinds of great projects including pillows!
I use a Hottop coffee roaster. This machine allows you to roast about 1/2 pound of green beans. Basically, you choose the setting and the machine does all of the work. Filters are necessary and need to be replaced periodically; you can see the dust in the filter on the right.
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| The roaster preheats and is ready for beans at 167 degrees. |
Coffee beans are a little like fruits and vegetables; there are different seasons and production times and each has a distinctive flavor. If you look closely at the three varieties you can see a slight difference in the size and color of the green coffee beans.
As the coffee roasts it "cracks" twice; first at about 300 degrees and then at about 380 degrees. The roasting beans also produce "chaff". Different varieties produce different amounts. My roaster collects the chaff in a tray which must be emptied after every roasting.
I prefer strong, dark coffee so I always select varieties of beans that roast at a high temp. I normally roast for about 22 minutes with the temp reaching about 390 degrees. At that time, the roaster dumps the beans into a tray and stirs them for about 5 minutes to cool.
Here are the same beans after they are roasted and ground. Again, if you look closely you can see a difference.
The only disadvantage I have found to home roasting coffee is that it is very hard to go back to the "other side" and buy commercially roasted coffee. This is the best coffee EVER. If you would like to try home roasting without investing in a roaster, please see my blog from April 2015 on roasting with a Whirley Pop popcorn maker.
Here is the finished product; packaged and ready to go!
Enjoy!
