Truth be told… most of us like what we do, but we don’t live or love it. If we are a normal balanced person, (like me of course) we work to live, not live to work. Coffee does help bring the two realms a bit closer. When I wake up I like to melt into the day, kind of like when I add cream to my coffee. It swirls and slowly blends to that nice rich creamy coffee color. I don’t want to wake up to a server crash or that a website got hacked…but sometimes that is just how it starts. Ah…. but then there is still my coffee to help bring me back to the normal tasks at hand. Thanks coffee!!!
Have you ever tried roasting your own coffee beans? Well let me tell you; it’s one of the things I enjoy doing for a few reasons. Did you know that green coffee beans can last 10 months to year? Well, try that with your roasted beans. They start rotting the moment they are roasted.. and how long ago were the beans you are using roasted… a month, two, three or maybe six months… yuk! We drink 3 to 5 day old coffee and you can too!
So how do you get into roasting your own coffee beans? The simplest and least expensive way that I’ve found is using an air popcorn popper. You can even find used ones in your local thrift store. There are two concerns to look for when hunting down you’re coffee roaster. It should be around 1250 watts and has to have little vents on the side of the bottom. These vents blow the air in a circle. Stay away from the models that have a screen bottom that just blow hot air straight up.
How can you tell that your beans have had enough of the hot air? When roasting, it is important to not put too much green bean in your popper. Probably between less than 1/2 cup and 1/3 cup will work best. I run two at the same time to give me enough roasted coffee for 3 to 4 days. My set-up is to use two large bowls, one under both poppers to catch the chaff. The other to help toss the beans to separate the left over chaff from the beans. Once the beans at put in, plug in the popper and soon the beans will start to spin. In just a short time you will start to smell and see some chaff coming out of the popper. Then there will be some loud “popping” sounds (this is called first crack). You are now roasting your own coffee… you should be smelling some wonderful aromas. After “first crack” the beans take some time off to roast a bit more… no sound except the beans going round and round. After a little bit of time the roasting goes into “second crack” stage. This is where your personal taste is going to decide how long to continue to roast or to stop. If you want to know the proper lingo, just google “coffee roasting” and a plethora if information will be at your finger tips. Experiment… and enjoy.
