Break Time: Coffee Roasting

We're going to divert a touch from the general reflections on watching your health and give you an example of a hobby. If you read Ann's blog today, you'll see that she highlights the value of building a tool box as you start up a new hobby and building it by chatting with folks who are involved in it.

Well, today I need to engage in my hobby, as it is something I do both for fun and it provides a benefit: I roast my own coffee. Do I do this because it's cheaper than buying already-roasted coffee? No. Eventually, the equipment purchases might break-even and then buying unroasted (green) coffee will save money.

For now, we're not going to pretend that this is cheaper. I do it because I like it.

So, how did I start? First, I started with one of these: 

First Coffee Roaster

Mine has a different brand name on it, and you cannot buy one from the same link on Amazon that my order history shows, but a very similar device is here. This took about an hour a batch, and ultimately led me to realize that I wanted more control. Still, you can follow easy directions here and it takes a *lot* to burn the coffee if you use a stirring roaster like this. Set it, let it run for an hour. It's not easy to remove the beans from the roaster, though. One of these, though, can also be used to roast peanuts, cashews, cacao beans...so we still have ours.

After roasting in one of these for a couple of years, I wanted something a bit more focused. The friend who first showed me home-roasting uses one of these, FreshRoast.  Specifically, mine's a FreshRoast SR800 with an expansion tube. I bought the package from Amazon that had all these accessories, based on the assumption that the salesmen knew more than I did. Probably wasn't true. The great thing with the FreshRoast is that you get more fine control over heat and time. The AMAZING thing about the FreshRoast is the chaff basket at the top which helps you have a cleaner bean result after it's over. That's very, very helpful.

That's equipment. Your equipment will include guidelines on how to get the results you want along the grading of coffee roasts. I personally like a "Viennese" or "Full-City" roast, though a bit of flexibility is in order.

Now, if you just want to buy everything from Amazon, you can get "Green Coffee Beans" there. Some of mine have come from there, I've enjoyed the beans I've gotten from Smokin' Beans brand there. 

However, you could also go with a specialty coffee show. Burman Coffee Traders has great varieties. They are also a reasonable source for equipment and have some good how-to guides available. 

The other thing you can do is check with local coffee sources to see if they sell Green Beans. My personal favorite coffee comes from Leiva's Coffee in Little Rock, Arkansas. I have met the owner, I've been to his shop--both the old one he got started in and the new one that has a fancy coffeeshop attached to it!

I love the mission and the work that Geovanni Leiva is doing through coffee. And he sells green beans (coffee ones) for as good of a price as I get anywhere. Almost all are sourced from the same general group of coffee farms in Guatemala as his roasted products come from. So, when I'm low, I get green beans from him. 

(Also, I still get roasted coffee from him, especially flavored coffees. His Dolce Amaretto is my favorite.)

The beans I do not get from Leiva's are decaf beans. This is another place where the health concerns match up with the hobby: I need to cut back on my caffeine. I decline to eliminate coffee and 100% decaf is a bit bitter. Plus "cut back on" does not mean "eliminate" and I like the coffee. So I buy decaf, usually from Burman, and roast decaf and regular beans and make my own blend.

A few tips as you get started:

1. Watch your beans as you roast them. Especially if you're using something quicker like the FreshRoast. The 15 minutes you are roasting are NOT multi-tasking minutes. Focus. 

2. If possible, roast outside. There's a bit of smoke, just enough to lightly color your ceiling. If you do a lot, you definitely want somewhere ventilated. In the winter, if you live where it gets cold, you'll want a warmer area. Right now in the South, it's too hot and humid. Roasting is pushing back moisture and you're going to need to be inside for that.

3. Roast THEN blend. Different beans from different sources roast slightly differently. And decaf roasts differently. So today I'll do two batches: regular and decaf, then I'll blend it.

4. Don't skip the "let the beans degas" step. They get bitter quick if you seal them in early.

5. Remember, there's a lot of heat here. Be careful with yourself.