Coffee Roasting

"My drug of choice is caffeine."

I've never been able to "wade" into anything.  Not only do I have to dive into something, but get me up as high as you can.  I'm not a Bud man ... give me a Porter or a Stout.  Heck ... I'll just brew it myself.  Wine?  I don't want no stinking Chablis ... give me a hearty mug of Mead.  Never mind ... I'll make that myself as well.  Matter of fact as I type this I have a 7-gallon batch of Pepper Mead bubbling right now.

This is my new Hearthware Coffee Roaster ... Gourmet model.  Looks like a coffee pot ... sounds like a vacuum cleaner ... smokes like my old 1949 Ford!  But I love it.  I've always been a flavored coffee drinker.  Could never acquire a taste for regular commercial coffee.  Even when I got the roaster for Christmas I was already thinking about how to make flavored beans.  But after trying my first cup of Columbian Supremo I was amazed.  Bold, flavorful, and very aromatic.  I never thought unflavored coffee could taste so good.  I'm hooked on roasting.  I'm still learning but a mere 7-minutes roasts green coffee beans to my desired level of roasting.  I've went as long as 9-minutes and talk about dark!  According to some information 6-7 minutes gives what they call "origin" flavor of the coffee.  Much beyond that you get the flavor of the roast.

Green coffee beans, like those to the right can be stored for long periods of time.  Many months.  But once roasted they begin to lose their flavor and aromatics.  If you look closely you can see lighter areas on the beans.  That is skin that will come off as chaff in the roaster.  The top of the roaster has an attachment that collects the chaff as it is air forced to the top, leaving just the roasted bean behind.  Coffee beans come in various sizes and shapes and from many areas around the world.

   The roasted beans to the left are actual beans I roasted in my roaster.  After roasting, it is recommended they "rest" for a minimum of 4-hours before grinding.  Depending on the bean and roast they reach peak flavor from 12 to 72 hours.  My first batch I roasted I immediately ground and brewed.  I thought it was fantastic.  The roaster only holds 1/2-cup of green beans which yields about 12-ounces of coffee.  For me that lasts at least 3-days.

Coffee beans I've tried:

My favorite?  I like them all but the edge goes to Tanzanian Peaberry, Sumatra Blue Lintong, and Yemen Mokha Ismaili.

Here are a few of my favorite coffee roasting links.  Sweet Marias is a good place to learn about roasting coffee and coffee in general.


Sweet Marias


Coffee Bean Corral