Posted: 1/31/2012 6:23:53 PM EDT
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Do any of you guys roast your own coffee? If so, how? I just started teaching myself how to do this. Its awesome. All you need is a skillet. I used an antique cast iron pan just like great grandma used to use. I had a gift certificate to use to a homebrew supply so I ordered some Brett Lambicus, some Fuggles and Goldings and 2# of Costa Rican Estate decaf for the wife and some Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (no reason for the type other than it sounds neat)for me. I did a little interwebz reading and watched me some youtube videos and said "Self! How hard can it be!" Well, BOTH my initial batches, one reg. one decaf turned out freaking GREAT! Here are some pics I took of the process.
Green Beans 
Starting to turn color after a few minutes 
First Crack 
Cracking and jumping happliy 
Cooling and de-chaffing 
After they cool, put them in a jar with the lid loose so the co2 can escape for a few hours, then grind and enjoy! I don't know why I didn't start doing this years ago. PLUS, green coffee beans are supposed to last dang near forever (for the prepping side of this equation) |
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Tons of places sell them. Lots of home brewing suppliers sell beans. I have a friend who recommends WWW.sweetmarias.com. I'm going to try www.dansbeans.com the second place I listed has really good prices on organic, fair trade beans. (Organic is important to me, no I'm not a libtard hippie commie)
Google comes up with a crap load if places that I didn't list. |
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I recently started roasting green coffee beans.
It is a lot easier than I thought. A bit more of an art than science. I use a whirley-pop popcorn popper. ($20.00 at Bed, Bath and Beyond) and roast them on one of my Coleman stoves out on the deck. Green coffee beans: 
Beans starting the first crack: 
Once I get them to a nice chocolate brown color, I dump them into a colander. Then pour them between the colander and this mixing bowl to remove the chaff. This is my first roast of some Ethiopian coffee beans: 
Let them rest for ~24hrs and grind away. We order from sweetmarias.com. Fast shipping and a nice selection. |
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I'll plug Roastmasters as at least with 1 and 2 lb selections you get them in a heavy vac-sealed bag with zipper after you tear the seal open.
I've ordered plenty from Maria's too and was happy. I just really like the vac sealed touch Roastmasters adds. |
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Another place I have ordered from is mredepot.com.
They run out, but I see they have it back in stock. They usually offer two Costa Rican coffees packed in cans (size #2.5, I think) with O2 absorbers and desiccant. The price is competitive with other online places and the bonus is the packaging for LTS. I have few cases put back. I opened a can and they are well packed and easy to store. I originally thought it would be crappy beans, but a quick internet search shows Costa Rican coffees get good reviews, these included. Packed 12 - 19.2oz. cans to a case: 
and no, I am not affiliated with mredepot in any way. |
| I will add http://www.smithfarms.com as a source of excellent coffee, including green beans. |
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I did it last year using an air popcorn popper outside as the smell and smoke sometimes got out of control inside. The popper finally broke down from too much use. I should have let it cool down more in between batches. I still have about 5 lbs of green beans and I will just use the skillet to do them.
It does taste so much better than anything you can buy from a grocery store. 
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| Hot air popper is the way to go. You can get them for about $20 on amazon. A batch takes about 5 minutes - best coffee you'll ever drink. Whirly pop and skillet methods work, and you may not have a choice but if you do get an air popper. I measure about 3.5 oz per batch - too much and the beans don't move, too little and they dry out and burn instead of roast. |
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Quoted:
I've been roasting my own coffee for well over 10 years now. You cannot go wrong buying from Sweet Maria's. +1, sweet marias is great. I recommend the sampler packs for those starting out, they have a good deal on shipping too. I still roast in my air popper... One of these years it will burn out and I'll have to get something more high tech :) One note... I use a giant chop stick (bamboo) to stir while roasting. It also knocks all the chaff off and the popper blows it out. This is definitely something you'd want to do outside. |
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I use modified Welbilt "The Bread Machine" and heat gun for roasting coffee.
The bread machine was purchased used for $8. I ripped out the electronics and wired a switch that runs the stirrer. A round heating duct cap is used to hold heat in the bread machine pan. 2 holes made to fit the heat gun and a smaller hole for a thermometer in the cap. 2 colanders and a fan are used to cool the coffee quickly. Total time to roast 1 pound is about 25 minutes. Includes time to take everything outside, roast, bring all back in and clean up. Makes excellent coffee!! I also order from Sweet Maria's, great information there. |