D. Armenta
PlagmanIs coffee addictive? If you roast your own, YES!!
Making my living as a professional musician, I don't make the kind of scratch to spend $500-$1500 U.S. on a home roaster setup to roast my own beans. I do need my morning coffee, though, and prices for roasted beans are going up again ($13.75 U.S. for 2 pounds of regular arabica, not gourmet--that's under a kilo!)
Last week I stumbled on a site that uses low-tech, low cost methods for roasting and became very interested. After trial and error my best friend and I have come up with our own variation that costs next to nothing and saves quite a bit of money as well.
I'm just nerdy enough to crunch numbers and research the chemistry involved in roasting. I am now paying an average of $3.00 U.S. per pound by roasting my own beans, taking into account time, energy and investment. That's not even the best part, though...the resulting coffee is better than you will ever find in any store, no exaggeration.
Now a short disclaimer: do NOT start doing this without knowing that you will be addicted to your own fresh roast from now on. Coffee you drink from any other source will taste like mud--literally. Also addictive is the roasting itself--working outdoors, smelling the roasting beans...heavenly.
Because I have a real affection for the orble nation I am going to share the edited (non-nerdy) results of our own intensive research...
**This is a venture you want to do outdoors or on a porch; smoke and chaff are produced which can make a mess indoors.
Materials:
-One standalone camping burner with propane canister (burner cost US$4.00, came with 1 canister. New canisters cost US $2.75 per 2-pack. We get an average 14 roasts per canister)
-One grill/grate swiped from barbecue or oven
-One good-quality stainless steel 10-inch frying pan (US$20.99 at K-mart if you don't have one already) Cast iron (scrubbed well to remove previous seasoning) works well also.*** Don't use coated pans, such as Teflon or Silverstone. You need a good solid pan that distributes heat well. This pan must be dedicated to roasting and not used for anything else; it takes on a fine brown sheen after a few roasts.
-Bricks, cinderblocks, old crates, whatever--to make a stand for your setup. Wood is fine, but don't use cardboard or anything that catches fire easily.
-A comfortable chair or stool. I use a drummer's throne, which is the perfect height to sit and roast for us..one of those adjustable office chairs would work well, or whatever you're comfortable with. Each roast session takes us 13 minutes from start to finish.
-Green coffee beans. I started with www.CoffeeBeanDirect.com
and went on to research other green bean suppliers on the web as well. CoffeeBeanDirect is very reliable and good quality, but I am ever searching for even lower prices.
Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea have been producing some very fine beans, so you can probably get them even cheaper in AUS.
-Green beans, depending on the type, average about $5./6.00 per pound..BUT..green beans increase in volume by a minimum of 25% after roasting. A half cup of green beans yields 3/4 cup after roasting, with some beans yielding as much as 50% more!
-Box fan and metal colander or screen stapled to a frame (Fan is optional-I use it because it cools the beans very quickly and blows any chaff away)
Okay, that's the setup. Next post will go into techniques!
Last week I stumbled on a site that uses low-tech, low cost methods for roasting and became very interested. After trial and error my best friend and I have come up with our own variation that costs next to nothing and saves quite a bit of money as well.
I'm just nerdy enough to crunch numbers and research the chemistry involved in roasting. I am now paying an average of $3.00 U.S. per pound by roasting my own beans, taking into account time, energy and investment. That's not even the best part, though...the resulting coffee is better than you will ever find in any store, no exaggeration.
Now a short disclaimer: do NOT start doing this without knowing that you will be addicted to your own fresh roast from now on. Coffee you drink from any other source will taste like mud--literally. Also addictive is the roasting itself--working outdoors, smelling the roasting beans...heavenly.
Because I have a real affection for the orble nation I am going to share the edited (non-nerdy) results of our own intensive research...
**This is a venture you want to do outdoors or on a porch; smoke and chaff are produced which can make a mess indoors.
Materials:
-One standalone camping burner with propane canister (burner cost US$4.00, came with 1 canister. New canisters cost US $2.75 per 2-pack. We get an average 14 roasts per canister)
-One grill/grate swiped from barbecue or oven
-One good-quality stainless steel 10-inch frying pan (US$20.99 at K-mart if you don't have one already) Cast iron (scrubbed well to remove previous seasoning) works well also.*** Don't use coated pans, such as Teflon or Silverstone. You need a good solid pan that distributes heat well. This pan must be dedicated to roasting and not used for anything else; it takes on a fine brown sheen after a few roasts.
-Bricks, cinderblocks, old crates, whatever--to make a stand for your setup. Wood is fine, but don't use cardboard or anything that catches fire easily.
-A comfortable chair or stool. I use a drummer's throne, which is the perfect height to sit and roast for us..one of those adjustable office chairs would work well, or whatever you're comfortable with. Each roast session takes us 13 minutes from start to finish.
-Green coffee beans. I started with www.CoffeeBeanDirect.com
and went on to research other green bean suppliers on the web as well. CoffeeBeanDirect is very reliable and good quality, but I am ever searching for even lower prices.
Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea have been producing some very fine beans, so you can probably get them even cheaper in AUS.
-Green beans, depending on the type, average about $5./6.00 per pound..BUT..green beans increase in volume by a minimum of 25% after roasting. A half cup of green beans yields 3/4 cup after roasting, with some beans yielding as much as 50% more!
-Box fan and metal colander or screen stapled to a frame (Fan is optional-I use it because it cools the beans very quickly and blows any chaff away)
Okay, that's the setup. Next post will go into techniques!
four-dollar camping burner with propane canister under a grill from my barbecue
Build your setup with stuff from around the house!
Otherwise it is tea.
Ice cold Amber tea (beer and skittles)
When selling your house the advice is to roast the coffee indoors before inspection.
Good post
Damo
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You don't know what you're missin', old friend.....
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The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan