I'm happy to report that I am now drinking a cup of my very own home roasted Ethiopian Yergacheffe. My apartment still has that smoky charred bean smell that I love and reminds me of a street in Coyoacan, Mexico City where early one morning, my girl M and I stumbled into a coffee shop with a small red drum roaster doing its thing in the corner. We drank cappuccinos and wandered the relatively deserted streets, watching the city wake up. My roaster is one of those that appears to be a hyped up hot air popper, and unfortunately only roasts 3oz. at a time, which means I have to roast every day to keep up with my habit. I did some research about home roasting, but couldn't find the book that I have around somewhere that goes into wonderful detail about all sorts of methods. I figured I have plenty of raw beans, so I'll just experiement. I ended up roasting these for 10 minutes, and I think I should have gone a bit longer as my coffee is tasting a bit flat, and on first cupping has too many sour notes. (I've decided that to really know what I will like best I have to taste it nekkid first--a cupping--and then prepare it the way I usually make my morning coffee which involves chocolate and sugar). I can't tell you how much fun it is to watch the beans go from green to yellow to tan to brown, and I'm not going to let any timer tell me when my beans are done--I'll just know by looking (after more experience, of course). I normally brew in a french press, but I think that tomorrow I'll continue in the spirit of experimentation (aka goofing around) and grind my remaining ounce up fine and brew it in my cute little eye-talian one cup espresso maker.
Where did you get that charming do-dad?
Posted by: nobody, no where, no how | 2004.01.02 at 14:11
In a little town in Calabria.
Posted by: nina | 2004.01.02 at 14:51
I tried home roasting with a small machine, and gave up after a while since I could never get the beans evenly roasted. Apprently that is much easier with a commercial size roaster. I hope you have better luck than I did.
Posted by: John | 2004.01.02 at 17:05
How much did your roaster set you back? Good place to purchase? I will do some research! I love coffee - especially Cafe Du Monde from New Orleans. Never cared much for Kona.
Posted by: Cowtown Pattie | 2004.01.03 at 08:31
I got my roaster as a gift. I'm guessing it cost about $100-150. I'm sure mine was purchased on the web. Try my coffee geek link on the sidebar as a place to start. And while I loved drinking Kona by the beach, I agree that it's not the nectar of the gods as they claim.
Posted by: nina | 2004.01.03 at 08:45