Smoke Gets in Your Eyes :: First Time Roasting Coffee
Posted on 08. Jun, 2010 by ArtofExtraction in Roasting
I began roasting coffee at home the way that many people, from what I have read, began home roasting: with a side vented hot-air popcorn popper. As I said in my first post, the first time I had ever seen someone with home roasted coffee I was intrigued. I did some research on line (Sweet Marias has a wealth of information) and learned that many people used a popcorn popper. I remembered that I had seen our old popcorn popper in the basement just a few days earlier (cleaning up after our basement flooded). I went downstairs, found the box that had some old small kitchen appliances and pulled out the popcorn popper.
I was in luck, it was a side vented hot-air popper. Some hot-air poppers blow the hot air straight up from the bottom through a screen. Other poppers vent in hot air from the side creating a “cyclone” action that not only heats the beans, but keeps them moving in a circular fashion. I took it upstairs, cleaned it up, opened a can of soup (which I forced myself to eat) at both ends, cleaned the can, and placed it on top of the popcorn popper to create a sort of chimney. In the meanwhile I had ordered some green coffee beans (a sampler) from Burman Coffee Traders in Madison, Wisconsin.
So far, so good. To this point I was doing quite well, and was pretty pleased with myself. Once my green coffee arrived (after what seemed like months – although I think it arrived the next day or the day after that) I took the popcorn popper over to the counter near the outlet, and plugged it in. I measured out what I thought would be an appropriate amount of coffee beans, dumped them in the popper, and hit the switch. For the next few minutes (I am going to guess three or four minutes) things were still going quite well, and I was still rather proud of myself. Then the beans began to roast. I had no idea that roasting coffee, unlike popping corn, would generate that much smoke. There I was, all alone in the house, coffee roasting – and progressing quite quickly – and the smoke detectors beginning to scream at me as if to remind me how stupid I really was.
I wasn’t about to leave the coffee to fan the smoke detectors or pull the batteries, so I stood there roasting coffee in the midst of what sounded like an air raid. After about seven or eight minutes the coffee was ready to be cooled, I dumped it into a colander and raced outside with my smoking colander of coffee beans in hand. Once I had sufficiently cooled the beans it was time to go inside and stop the wailing smoke alarms. At that point I am not sure if I was glad no one else was home, or disappointed, but it really did not matter. I had roasted my first batch of coffee beans and twenty-four hours later; I was hooked.
Comments
17 Responses to “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes :: First Time Roasting Coffee”
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Joe
08. Jun, 2010
You could kill two birds with one stone and make coffee and popcorn together.
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Joe Brand
08. Jun, 2010
Too funny. The popcorn would float to the top and out before the coffee was done. Coffee smoked popcorn. You may just have something there.
Joe Brand´s last post… Add this to the desert menu
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Jason Coffee
08. Jun, 2010
that would be an amazing innovation. Then you could pair the popcorn next to the coffee.
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ArtofExtraction
09. Jun, 2010
It does appear from a few posts in the forums that coffee and popcorn make a good combination. Maybe I will have to give this a try. I do still have the popcorn popper.
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Joe Brand
08. Jun, 2010
I love it! I started similar to you and ready everything I could. Sweet Marias is a wealth of information. I burned out my first two popcorn poppers. I leave that story to a future blog post. Thanks for the post.
Joe Brand´s last post… Add this to the desert menu
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Jason Coffee
08. Jun, 2010
I can’t wait to hear that story. Let us know when you post it up, in our forums: http://coffeecupnews.org/forum
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ArtofExtraction
09. Jun, 2010
You are right, Sweet Maria’s does have a great deal of information. It has proven to be a valuable resource for me on a number of occasions. I subscribe to their YouTube channel and watch most of their videos as well as reading much of their information about coffees, cultivars, regions, beans, etc.
I too would love to read your story.
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BaristaJim
08. Jun, 2010
How many beans did you use? I’d love to try this, but I’m scared I’ll use either too many or too few beans.
The metal can chimney was an amazing idea! Kudos to you!
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Jason Coffee
08. Jun, 2010
That line made me wont to grab some beans and roast away!
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ArtofExtraction
09. Jun, 2010
BaristaJim, I’m not sure exactly how many beans I used. If I were to use the popcorn popper again I would probably weigh out the beans (I have learned a lot since those early days), but the bottom line is, put in just enough beans to allow them to keep moving. If you put too many beans in they will not move and circulate — you do not want that. If, by chance, you get a few too many, use the handle of a wooden spoon to keep them moving. As they roast, loose moisture, and become lighter, they will begin to circulate on their own.
I hope you do give it a try, and I wish you luck if you do.
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coffeeadventures
08. Jun, 2010
Great article Neil. Gave me a few laughs.
You never really said how that tasted. Was it good or bad?
coffeeadventures´s last post… Le Whif Coffee Inhaler Thoughts
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ArtofExtraction
09. Jun, 2010
It was a little darker than I would have liked, and certainly darker than I roast now, but they were great compared to anything else I had ever had. Compared to the roasts I do now, it was probably not good. It was, however, good enough to keep we going back to roast more.
I’m glad you enjoyed the article. I hope they are not only entertaining, but that they motivate others to try it. I’m sure it’s not for everyone, but I think it could be a great thing for many people.
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Rex Choi
08. Jun, 2010
Too funny..
I always did want to try this but never got the nerve to try.. then our popcorn maker broke and we never replaced it.
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Jason Coffee
08. Jun, 2010
I think you can replace the popper for like $15… Give it a go and let us know how it turns out?
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ArtofExtraction
09. Jun, 2010
Jason is right, it is not all that expensive to replace a popcorn popper — although the best ones for roasting coffee usually go a little higher on sites like eBay because coffee roasters have a tendency to buy them up. But hey, for a $20.00 investment in a popper and a few bucks for some green coffee and you are there.
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Patsuriku
08. Jun, 2010
Wow amazing you inspire me to try it myself
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ArtofExtraction
09. Jun, 2010
Patsuriku, go for it! As much as it sounds like you love coffee I think you would love to roast it as well. If you’re looking for a really great hobby, this is it. It also gives you something that makes for a great gift you can give to others for special occasion, or for no occasion — although if you give them coffee for no occasion it will make it a special occasion.
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