Homeroasted coffee beans.....in a popcorn popper!

Piston · January 03, 2009, 12:05:06 PM

Hey guys, some great recipe's on here.....
in my search for the freshest cup of coffee i could find, i came across roasting your own. i couldn't resist trying it out for myself so i went out and bought myself a popcorn popper and started roasting my own coffee. has anyone else tried this?
coffee beans start going stale shortly after being roasted, after about a week they are basically considered "not fresh" one way to ensure you have the freshest coffee available is by roasting your own. there is a ton of information about this on the web and i got a lot of mine from www.sweetmarias.com
basically you buy green coffee beans (there is an overwhelming amount of different types) and get yourself a popcorn popper, throw the coffee beans in it, about a cup at a time, wait about 3 minutes....after that you will hear a slight "pop, or crack" sound, that means the beans are starting to roast.
after the first "crack" you give it about 2-3 minutes for a mild roast, 3-4 for a medium, and 4-5 for a dark roast. once they're done, you wanna take them out and cool them off quickly. i actually found that by putting them in a strainer and using my shop vac to suck air over the top and through the bottom of the strainer works pretty well.
after that just grind and brew. I started doing this last winter and have done it off and on since. the coffee beans are cheaper green but when you include shipping they're just as much as store bought. your not gonna save enough for a new sawmill by brewing your own but its a fun little hobby and a good way to share some time with the wife. one important thing to note is that you can't use just any popcorn popper, it has to be the type that blow hot air in from the bottom, not an electric warming plate type. also, you WILL make some smoke and a strong coffee scent, so if your wife is anything like mine, you'll be doing it outside :D However, in the really cold weather the popcorn popper may not be hot enough to get the beans up to temp. i've been doing it in my heated garage in the colder weather.
there is no science to it, its basically trial and error to see what you like. one other tip, most coffee brewed in restaurants in the U.S. is made from arabica beans, so it may be a good bean to start with.
after the coffee is brewed for breakfast, get going on some homebrewed beer....lunch is just around the corner!!! 8)

Tom · January 03, 2009, 02:56:32 PM

Brdmkr is one of our resident coffee roasting gurus.

That's Broad maker, board marker, board maker, bird marker, etc, etc.... or something like that. :D :D

Mooseherder · January 03, 2009, 03:40:28 PM

Proof breadmakers a coffee roastin' guru! ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4huCEnURmQc

Piston · January 03, 2009, 05:11:03 PM

Quote from: Tom on January 03, 2009, 02:56:32 PM
Brdmkr is one of our resident coffee roasting gurus.

that is SO much cooler than the popcorn popper..... :D .....i may have to try to rig something up like that!
i wonder how he made that rotiseree strainer/barrel/whatever its called.....

brdmkr,
any tips for a newbie???

musikwerke · January 06, 2009, 07:41:20 PM

I've been roasting my own coffee for about 25 years. I have a Sirocco Roaster that was made by Siemens. Unfortunately it's no longer available and used ones, when they are available like on eBay, still fetch a pretty hefty price. If you need an alternative to a popcorn popper and are a serious coffee drinker, check out this site.

http://www.sivetzcoffee.com/

ohsoloco · January 06, 2009, 08:33:51 PM

Piston, that sounds like something I would try....I love fresh coffee. Does roasting the coffee in the popper ruin it for making popcorn (as far as flavor anyway) ???

Piston · January 07, 2009, 10:37:23 AM

Quote from: ohsoloco on January 06, 2009, 08:33:51 PM
Piston, that sounds like something I would try....I love fresh coffee. Does roasting the coffee in the popper ruin it for making popcorn (as far as flavor anyway) ???

well, im sorry i can't answer that because i don't pop too much popcorn, i would think if you do it only a bit it wouldn't change the taste much, but if you start using it more than just a few times i would imagine you would get some coffee flavored popcorn......hey maybe it will be a hit, i just heard on the news this morning that they have pina colada flavored popcorn now....although i think i'll stick with the traditional flavors.

i'd say you'd be safer to have a dedicated one for beans and a different one for coffee. it really is a good way to experiment and have some fun with a very minimal investment.
i'm not too dedicated to it and mostly roast just for fun, try it out, you'll like it. ;D

Dave Hanny · March 05, 2009, 08:05:46 PM

This is great stuff.

Thanks for the ideas guys!

JimMartin9999 · April 16, 2009, 09:18:31 PM

You can roast coffee beans in almost any pan. I say roast but it is more like frying. Just keep them moving around until they have the color you want. Experiment, because the flavor of the brew changes a lot depending on how oily the beans get. Really fresh roasted and ground coffee foams up like beer when you pour hot-- almost but not boiling-- water over it. The taste seems to be concentrated in the foam. You can use paper towel and a funnel over a coke bottle and get great coffee.
Once you use a pan for coffee beans is is useless for anything else; the residual oil affects the taste of everything, and not for the better.
Freshly roasted and ground coffee is a real experience.
If anyone is interested, I´ll explain how to make Turkish coffee which is similar to expresso but better.

ohsoloco · April 20, 2009, 07:54:53 PM

Shoot, yeah, what is it, and how do you make it

I love espresso, but I don't even bother buying whole beans to grind at this point. I just put some maxwell house coffee grounds in my grinder to make them a finer grind for my espresso maker :

I know it could be a lot better :D

JimMartin9999 · April 21, 2009, 05:27:06 PM

First of all you gain a lot by roasting the beans shortly before you make the coffee and secondly, you gain a lot by grinding the beans just before making the coffee. A slow grind doesn´t heat the beans as much andallows you to keep some of the flavor which evaporates in a fast, hot grind.
OK. The next step is to have a small Turkish, copper coffee pot, called a dzezva (pronounced "jezva." Sorry, my ancestors are from Yugoslavia and I only know the word , dzezva.
This pot holds about four tablespoons full of water. Put a full teaspoon of sugar in the water, boil it, pour off half, put in one heaping teaspoon full of coffee, bring it to a boil again. Be careful here because the smaller top of the pot makes it likely that the coffee will shoot up in the air and you don´t want your face over it.
When it starts to boil the second time, take it off the fire, pour back in the water you took off a few seconds ago, and then just let it start to boil again. Again, be very careful.
Wait about a minute, pour it into a small cup and enjoy some of the best coffee you will ever have.
Naturally, the quality of the coffee beans is important but I have had good results making this kind of coffee from green beans gotten from Kroger´s.

ohsoloco · April 22, 2009, 12:00:26 AM

I couldn't wait for the answer and did a search for it earlier today. From what I read you want to grind the beans VERY fine, like a powder. Sounds like a lot of the flavor is in the foam. Mmmmmmm

JimMartin9999 · April 22, 2009, 08:17:50 PM

Yeah, right. Grind the beans very fine. And that brings up the problem of grinders. There is a grinder twith a blade that spins around the top of six inch high, four inch in diameter grindere. This is NO good. It chops the beans, creates a lot of heat which kills the flavor. It also doesn´t get the coffee fine enough.

We are talking about loving coffee.

Fla._Deadheader · May 17, 2009, 01:35:57 PM

How much y'all paying for GOOD Coffee Beans ???

zopi · May 17, 2009, 02:05:28 PM

Was a lady from Columbia down in NM when I was growing up..anyway, she roasted her own beans in a comal (iron skillet) and had some sort of cocoa that she would mix in with the grind...I don't know what she was doing, but it was *DanG good!

Are you guys making coffee in a french press, or cowboy fashion or some other too complicated means? :D

beenthere · May 17, 2009, 04:08:22 PM

Nothing Harold.

Fla._Deadheader · May 17, 2009, 04:41:35 PM

Didn't know you could grow Coffee in West Konsin. OH, I get it :

:

beenthere · May 17, 2009, 05:58:47 PM

Piston · May 17, 2009, 08:33:56 PM

Zopi,
I make it in a french press, I use one of those larger ones because those little 6-8oz ones just don't do it.

I haven't found a place nearby in central MA yet that sells green coffee, so I usually buy from sweetmarias.com. Anyone know of another good supplier?
As far as price, It varies so much each time its hard to say.

Fla._Deadheader · May 17, 2009, 08:44:24 PM

MIGHT be making a trip to Fl., in June. Could carry a bunch on the plane, if y'all are interested.

Trying to see what y'all are paying. This is roasted OR green, whichever. ;D