Home-Roasted Coffee Beans

The Wear-Ever Popcorn Pumper circa 1980s?

I should have put this on my 30-Before-30 list. Because I could totally check it off with flair. A friend of mine posted a link on my Facebook wall a few months back about roasting coffee beans at home with popcorn air popper. I knew I had to try this. We have a popcorn popper dating back to Pat's childhood, and we may have used it to make popcorn once in the last six+ years.

The first thing I did was order some green coffee beans. Sweet Maria's had good prices and sampler packs. The amount of choices was a little overwhelming, plus I love getting surprises and it was cheaper per pound for a sampler -- so that's what I did. Now, I've had these bags of coffee beans sitting in my kitchen for weeks before I've had the chance to start roasting.

Can you get over the color of these beans?

There's a number of websites offering advice for the home roaster. Using these as my guide, I set up my air popper. I don't have a metal colander, but this is the insert to a pasta pot. I put a damp paper towel inside to catch the chaff. (Those who suggested this as a great backyard activity -- yes! But only if you have a backyard.) It does pretty well for the most part, though the counter still got pretty messy.

Chaff.

Using the stopwatch on my iPhone, I kept count of the minutes until I heard the "first crack." Having done a few rounds of this now, I can tell you it's consistently popping around 2 1/2 to 3 minutes. This crack is loud and unmistakeable.

The Home-Roasting Set-Up

A few minutes later, the "second crack" happens but it's quieter. I hear the beans continuing to crack when I turn the popper off. I've been roasting between 6-7 minutes. If you like a really dark roast, go longer. I'm still fuzzy about determining what is "Full City" and what's "Full City+" but I think I'll begin to notice the finer differences after more practice.

Once I turn off the popper, I wipe out the "colander" of chaff and pour the beans in. Pour with care. The popper and the beans are quite hot. Swirl the beans a few times, then let them cool.

Once the beans have reach room temp, I put them in a foil coffee bag with a vent so they can "de-gas." Others have suggested putting them in a glass jar with the lid not too tight. Let them de-gas for about 24 hours. Then they are ready for brewing. And PS - no surprise, but they smell A.MAZING.

Look how pretty!

I haven't actually made any coffee with them yet, but soon! Can't wait to report back on that.