Home Coffee Roasters

We had a thread in GD a few weeks ago about home coffee roasting, and I was surprised that we had quite a few members who roast their own coffee.

If any of you are around, check in, and name your favorite bean of the month....

Mine so far this month is an El Salvador Santa Rita - medium bodied, VERY aromatic, and it has a total caramel taste that even comes out in milk. I roast it to full city, a couple of cracks into 2nd. It even smells like hot caramel coming out of the iRoast - it's awesome. I think this is the coffee I'll be putting in everyone's stockings this year :)

If you're new at it, this is the best site to buy green coffee beans - there's lots of information on every origin, and they suggest the ideal roasting profile (although everything is subject to taste).

http://www.sweetmarias.com

I belong to a green coffee co-op that pools together members interested in a particular bean, and we buy 132 pound bags wholesale and share them out. It's non-profit and member-run (and it's where I got the Santa Rita beans - all their stuff is great).

http://www.greencoffeeco-op.com

You can find the home roasting appliances at Sweet Marias, or you can pick one up fairly cheaply on eBay.

roaster... I doubt if i'll get into roasting myself at this point

interesting topic tho.. I'll keep an eye on it and thanks :bounce:

we are admitted Starbuck addicts, particulary the bolder flavored ones (Arabian Mocha Java, Kenya AA, Anniversary Blend)....have tried many, many others - Millstone, Caribou, etc - we really like em dark and rich (we use a French Press, 2 tbsb beans per 6 oz water....)...been intrigued by the Home Roast thing. Convince me!

First of all, there's price. Starbucks is making a small fortune from you - the same Kenya AA you're paying eleven bucks a pound for can be bought from two to four dollars per pound in unroasted form. Plus, something like Kenya AA can have a wide variation from farm to farm - when you roast your own, you can find the exact estate you prefer, and buy that exclusively. I found a Kenyan that has the characteristic wine notes and a very strong berry aftertaste, and I've stayed with it. Starbucks Kenya AA just doesn't stand out to me.

Second is freshness. Roasted coffee starts losing flavor after about 2 weeks, which is why, if you don't roast yourself, it's better to buy from a small local roaster who doesn't ship out thousands of pounds a day. Generally, depending on the bean, the coffee will be at its best about two days after you roast it, and there's a huge difference in taste (there's also a big difference in aroma; I can smell a pot of coffee brewing from almost anywhere in my house). Green coffee can be stored for up to two years, so you can always have some on hand and roast it when you need it.

Third, you can control the roast yourself, so if you prefer it darker, take it as far as you want. You can experiment with blending to get a combination of tastes, or stick with single origins - and a lot of excellent estate coffees aren't carried by Starbucks. I drink a lot of Indian Mysore Nuggets, which is a very spicy, slightly earthy coffee and it's probably too much of an acquired taste for Starbucks to mass market. I also love Uganda Bugisu - it has a huge milk chocolate taste, is very rich and smooth, but it isn't something Starbucks carries. You'll find a lot of terrific single origins that you never knew existed.


Fourth, it's relatively simple and most small appliances built for coffee roasting take around 10 minutes or less, depending on how dark you're shooting for. Some require more attention that others - I usually monitored the Fresh Roast+, but since I switched to different Hearthware models I just set it and let it run. Most of them are fairly cheap - under a hundred bucks, or less if you can find a new one on eBay (I'd avoid buying a used one - you don't know how much punishment it's taken). Sweet Maria's also has a page devoted to roasting devices people have put together themselves, and some are pretty ingenious and very cheap to do. A lot of people roast coffee in standard home popcorn poppers that sell for about fifteen bucks, so it doesn't have to be a big investment.

Finally, you'll find that your friends and family will never again want to drink anything else but your coffee, so keep some extra beans on hand for the inevitable moochers.

So, give it a try, and I think you'll be surprised by the results.

you would recommend....one that does not break the bank? And a good source for green beans?

It depends on how much coffee you consume, because different models roast different amounts. A good starter unit is the Fresh Roast, which is both inexpensive and easy to use - the only drawback is the 3 oz roast load, which is enough to make about 12 cups of coffee. Still, it's a very fast roast, so you can make enough to last you the week fairly quickly. It's also very good for darker roasts. They're at http://www.sweetmarias.com and sell for $70.50 without beans, or $80.50 with a 4 pounds of beans included.

If you drink a lot of coffee, you can occasionally find an Alpenroast on eBay - it's a small drum roaster that roasts 1/2 pound at a time, and it also does well with dark roasts. It'll cost you around $250, but the larger capacity might be worth the money.

I have an iRoast, which has a much larger capacity than the Fresh Roast - it does an even cup of green coffee per roast, and it's programmable, so I can customize the roast profile. You can find it at Sweet Marias, but http://www.coffeebeancorral.com sells it for a little less ($170.00).

There are tons of very inexpensive ways to roast - a lot of people roast coffee on their gas barbeques, using a roasting chamber that fits onto the rotisserie (cheap, and does about a pound a pop). People modify popcorn poppers. Check out the forums at http://www.coffeegeek.com (look under 'home roasting') if you want a little more information on some home-grown ideas to roast without buying a roasting appliance.

You can find beans very cheaply at http://www.greencoffeeco-op.com I can find some excellent estate coffees there for under two dollars a pound (I think they have one up there now that sells for ninety cents a pound).

my hubby says go for it, we consume ALOT of coffee, and are soon moving away from our favorite coffee roaster: so the alternative is to just blend our own. And then I get to call it DAKOTA'S BLEND!!

re: home roasting - does it stink up the house? I notice whenever I walk near a coffee roasting shop, the smell is sometimes like burned beans.

Thanks for the tips! I am a certified coffee-holic.

It doesn't necessarily stink the joint up - I like the smell of roasting coffee - but it will produce a certain amount of smoke.

If you have a good exhaust fan over your oven, that's the best place to roast. If you can clear a small corner of your garage, that's another good alternative for the Alpenroast, provided it doesn't get too cold where you are.

When you perfect the Dakota roast, let us know what you put in it, I'd love to try it!

I did a blend for the MoveOn bake sale that was okay - I used 1 part Brazil Monte Carmello (dark), 1 part Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (medium), and 1 part Tanzanian Peaberry (dark). I called it "Halliburton Black Gold". Raised some good money for our friends at MoveOn.

My dad just brought me back a half pound from Hawaii, just seeing if other people noticed a big difference. It's 100% Kona, Kula Peaberry from Kona Red Mountain Coffee estate. Anyone else tried this? I guess a very small percentage of coffee beans grow as single beans, keeping in the flavor.