December 28, 2005
Home Roasting
As a coffee fanatic, (or at least one who would love to be able to call himself a coffee fanatic) I have always heard that the best coffee in the world regardless of the bean is coffee that is fresh roasted.
By "fresh roasted", I don't mean vacuum sealed by Foldgers with little lame crystals imbedded in it. I mean cooked in your own home for consumption shortly after completion. This Christmas, Tara made that a reality for me. After much searching she found an excellent source for "green" uncooked beans and the instructions needed for home roasting.
Armed with a metal collander, a professional grade kitchen thermometer and an unused popcorn popper (seriously, that's what you use) I set out to make my first batch of home roasted coffee. I selected from the sampler that Tara got me, the El Salvador Monte Leon "Miel", that 'Sweet Maria' calls "thick bodied, sweet malty, with raw honey flavors".
Here is the result of my first attempt:
Surprisingly, the coffee is very evenly colored and the smell is fantastic. I believe I was successful in achieving what is called 'Full City Roast', although I may have pushed it a bit far and gotten more of a Vienna Roast. Either way, it's my first shot and all the equiptment is new so more experimentation will have to take place.
Comments
well done. i have yet to take the step into roasting myself, but i may have just been inspired. yet it is still so easy for me to walk a few blocks and down to my local coffee roaster and get fresh morning roasted coffee.