Mustang Parts
   Carrying Saleen wheels and Bullitt wheels.

Sunday, March 06, 2011

DIY Coffee Roasting 101

I have been wanting to try roasting my own coffee
beans, for the experience, and to see if I could notice much of a difference between fresh roasted beans and store bought beans.

Equipment:
1 $10 popcorn air popper, purchased from CVS on clearance.
1 extension cord, to allow outdoor roasting
1/2 lb green Sumatra coffe beans, from local coffee store.~$5.00

Procedure:
I poured about 5 tbsp of green coffee beans into the popper and ran it while watching the color and listenign for the "crack". The beans started cracking about 4 minutes into the cycle, and had turned a nice medium brown color by about 4 minutes. I dumped them out on a sheet to cool.As the beans roasted, chaff (the skin of the coffee
beans) popped
up out of popcorn machine and floated away.

Results:
The beans are not as uniform as I would like, perhaps because I put a little too many in the popper. As a result, some of them got more cooked, as they rotated in the middle bottom of the pot, while the ones in the top middle of the pot probably cooked less.
After I ground the beans, I got an excellent fresh coffee aroma.
I brewed using my Bodum French press. The
result has a very robust, earth
y flavor. There is a slight "soapy" flavor, which I think may come from some of the under-roasted beans.

2 comments:

David W. Greene said...

Some of the beans do look under-roasted; see if you can get all of the beans past the 'first crack' and let them get darker than what's in the photo. You're on the right track!

Anonymous said...

"There is a slight "soapy" flavor.."

Or you might have been using too much soap to wash out your coffee pot and coffee maker, try using white vingar instead.