Home Coffee Roasting

[mguerra]

I figured quite a few forum readers might be interested in this. If you like coffee, there is no better experience than drinking your own home roast. You buy the beans green, then roast them with a commercial or homemade coffee roaster. Let the beans rest for 12-48 hours, then grind and brew a little cup of heaven. Even the best coffee house coffee you get "on the outside" can't compare to what you roast yourself. For more info than you can possibly want, start here:
http://www.sweetmarias.com and http://www.coffeeproject.com Once you get into this, you won't be able to stand drinking coffee on the outside. Also, you won't want to drip brew coffee either, pressure brewing is the bomb. See: http://www.capresso.com for some great pressure brewers. Capresso isn't the only brand, there is Saeco, Solis, DeLonghi and others. Start surfing and you'll see. Basically you use an espresso machine to make coffee, and espresso and all the lattes and cappucinos. See also: http://www.homeroast.com/frameset-1home.html
This site has links to loads of other useful sites. This is an absolute perfect fit for KK people, well all ceramic cooker people, not just KK. My guess is a lot of us are food, wine, spirits, coffee, and cigar people.

[DavidS]

You are correct it is hard to drink regular coffee after getting into home roasting. Another good source for green beans is Burmancoffee.com. Sweet Maria is a great source for information about roasting.

Great looking picture on your first cook. Nice bark and smoke ring. You will have many more great cooks.

[DennisLinkletter]

AEROPRESS

Take your home roasted coffee and run it thru this innovative coffee maker designed by a lecturer in mechanical engineering at Stanford University.
Results are comparable to the $11000 Clover Machine that Starbucks is installing.

After I got mine, I bought ten and sent them to all my coffee drinking friends..



http://www.aerobie.com/Products/aeropress_story.htm

[Syzygies]

I prefer my home-fermented hot sauce to anything I can buy, but I buy wine. They do it better.

I've roasted coffee at a beach house. Nice psychological effect. If the alternative was supermarket coffee, I'd roast my beans all the time. In a major market like the San Francisco area, there are people who can do a far better job.

This is coming from someone who grinds his own flour for everything. You can't sell whole wheat flour without removing the germ first, which goes bad in days. But they leave the bran in, so it handles like sand and tastes like a roll of unbleached paper towels fell in. We sieve out the bran (if you want bulk in your diet, eat greens) and with the germ included we get a chestnut-colored flour that handles like white flour, tastes far better.

This is to establish that I'm nuts enough to roast my own coffee. I respect anyone who does such things for themselves. But it may not be worth it...

[mguerra]

Speaking for all the home roasting fanatics out here, I will say OH YES, it's worth it!! It's easy, fast, and you get exactly the roast you want, every time. I would say without a doubt there are not people who can do a far better job than you. Roasting coffee is much simpler than making wine, for example. Apply heat to the beans, stop when they look done. That's it in a nutshell. Of course we make it more nuanced than that in practice, but not much. Plus, as a home roaster you have access to every bean in the world. I almost hesitate to recommend it because some of the best coffees are in short supply and we don't need to increase the demand. But KK people deserve it !!!

[sanesmith]

mguerra,

A friend gave me (yup, my lucky day) a capresso machine today. Excellent coffee.....

Question, would you roast your beans in the KK?

Yes indeed, the good life: good food, good wine, spirits (and beer!), good tea and coffee, homemade lemonade, but no cigars for me!!

[mguerra]

Yep, you can roast coffee in a KK. By using the rotisserie. I have not done it, my Gene Cafe roaster works beautifully. But you would make a cannister to put in the roti, get the temp up to between 450 and 500, and figure out a way to monitor the roast progress. That would be the one problem, that you monitor the roast by watching it. But you need to keep the lid closed on the KK to keep the requisite temp. If I figure out how to do it, I'll post it. You CANNOT roast by time! If there was a way to reliably keep the effective temp at roti level with the lid open, that would do the trick.

[victoriacoffees]

I'm awaiting for the arrival of my grill, which should be this week, so I'm not posting from experience. Roasting on a grill of any kind can be done so long as you have:
1. a container for the beans
2. a way to aggitate them
3. a way to control heat and temp
4. an ability to listen to the beans

During roasting, coffee reaches two phases, first and second crack. First crack is when the bean nearly doubles in size. This expansion creates a "popping" sound similar to popping corn. They also release a bit of steam. This occurs around 365-390 degs. If the coffee reaches this temp uniformly, the louder the popping sound. This is good. As you enter first crack, lower the heat and let the coffee develop. You want a slow rise in temp from this to second crack. I shoot for 3-4 minutes before reaching second crack.

The second phase is called second crack, ingenious isn't it. This usually occurs between 430-440 deg and is not so uniform or pronounced. Sounds more like a light "snap" than a "pop"; its the last bit of moisture escaping from the bean. If you do not hear this phase, that's ok because you will know by an increased production of smoke.

At around 485, get your water hose ready 'cause the coffee will begin to ingnite! Seriously, introduce oxygen too quickly beyond this point and things will get ugly.

Depending upon your taste and coffee, roasting can be stopped any time after first crack. The sugars are developing and the acidic nuances of the coffee are enhanced between first and second crack. From second crack on, the carmelized sugars are burning off and the nuances are disappearing. Some coffees are horrible at this stage while others begin to shine. That's the fun, learning about each coffee.

When your done, have a wire strainer of some kind you can dump the coffee into and begin the "cool down" process. mguerra is right, let your fresh batch rest for at least 12 hours. You can brew your coffee once it has reached room temp but the flavors will be inconsistant. Not only that, the gases are highly active and may cause foaming during the brew process. Very messy.

Roasting your own coffee is great fun and your neighbors will love you for it! But as with anything, make sure your green coffee is current crop and high quality.