Save money and roast your own coffee

**checkerkitty** · 09-22-2007, 11:46 AM

I have been roasting my own coffee for over 2 years now. I didn't even know this was a possibility. DH drinks a pot a day. We were buying coffee from Central Market, an upscale grocery store here in town. Some of the beans were running $12.99 a pound and up. Foldgers and the like were too acidic for him. Starbucks has a burned taste to him. Anyway, a customer of mine (before SAHMdom

) told me he roasted coffee at home. I didn't believe him. He gave me some info and I looked into it. We haven't looked back.

I spend $3.50 a pound for organic, fair trade green coffee beans. Shipping wasn't too bad. A pound of green coffee makes, for us, 12 days of full strength coffee. Full strength for DH is pretty strong, according to other people who drink our coffee. We have a 10 cup coffee maker that we fill to the brim with water so when the reservoir is filled there is still some water left in the pot. We use 3- 1/8 cups of coffee per pot (6 tablespoons). If you like your coffee weaker or reuse grounds, you'll save even more money. And yes, you can get even Kona coffee and Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee as green beans.

Home roasted coffee is like no other. It has a smoother flavor. It is not so acidic or bitter. Coffee beans loose their freshness and peak flavor quickly, once they are roasted. Coffee beans are no longer considered fresh after 2 weeks or so. Green beans, however can be stored for a year or more very easily.

Roasting only takes me about 8 minutes per batch. I have a small home roaster. I can do a pound of coffee a day. I just set it up and walk away or do kitchen things while the roaster does its job. Each type of coffee will roast at a slightly different speed so I recommend watching the first batch so you can stop the roast if it is going faster than you expected. I have some that will roast in 6 minutes. I dump my roasted beans in a glass jar then let the roaster cool before the next batch.

Roasting is fun since you can control how dark the beans get. You can go all the way to espresso and French roast if you want. The darker the roast, the more of the natural sugars you burn, though. Just listen for the "first crack" of the beans. Coffee is not considered done until you hit "first crack". It sounds alot like popcorn popping. The beans will expand and darken as they roast.

Since I can't post urls yet, you'll have to bear with me. Check out these sites by adding the 3 w's and a period to the beginning to the address after to copy and paste it into your browser:
deansbeans.com/coffee/products/home_roasting.html
This is where I ordered my beans from last time. I bought the 5 pound bags so paid $3.50 per pound.

freshbeansinc.com/default.htm
This is the roaster I have. This is the company that makes them. They sell them rebuilt for $60 but that does come with a 1 year warranty on the mechanical part of the roaster. I've had mine for over 2 years now and the top is just starting to show some cracking. That is the only problem I've had in all that time. You can google "fresh roast plus 8" and find them all over the web. There are other roasters, too. This one was the cheapest for me to start with. When this one bites the dust, I may upgrade but then this has been a great roaster, so who knows.

sweetmarias.com/
sweetmarias.com/instructions.html
Sweet marias sells beans and has info on alternate roasting methods. I've roasted in a popcorn popper as well. The coffee roaster makes it easier, though, IMHO. You can also roast in a cast iron skillet and even on a gas grill.

I've also bought beans from these places and was very happy with the quality of the beans:
coffeebeancorral.com/
breworganic.com/

You can also google "green coffee beans" and find lots of other places that sell green beans. I do try to buy only fair trade beans, though. It's nice to know I'm helping farmers so far away

. But that is a personal choice!

You will also need a coffee grinder. A burr grinder is the best choice. I bought mine on clearance at Kohl's for $12. Blade grinders can actually burn your beans. They work great for spices but aren't so great for coffee. Burr grinders crush the beans instead of chopping them.

Roasting coffee is very easy and the results are FANTASTIC. I don't like coffee, but I will drink and enjoy a cup of home roast. I have gotten at least 4 different people hooked on home roasting after they tried it ONCE. It really is THAT GOOD.

I hope this info is useful to someone. It's made a difference to my family!

Christy

**Odilia** · 09-22-2007, 03:57 PM

We also roast our own, and it's fabulous! I roast on the stovetop as I'm too cheap to fork out $$ for a roaster.

I've always ordered from Sweet Maria's, but I'm definately going to check out the other sites you recommend.

Thanks for posting!

**checkerkitty** · 09-22-2007, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by Odilia

We also roast our own, and it's fabulous! I roast on the stovetop as I'm too cheap to fork out $$ for a roaster.

I've always ordered from Sweet Maria's, but I'm definately going to check out the other sites you recommend.

Thanks for posting!

What's your stovetop technique? I'd love to know how you do it exactly! Thanks for the post. I'm glad I'm not the only one around here who does this!

**LisaInND** · 09-22-2007, 04:57 PM

We roast our own beans as well. I have a hard time drinking any other coffee, now that I am spoiled by our own fresh roasted. We had a fancy, individual cup Starbucks coffee machine at my previous company which was supposed to be such a great perk. I couldn't drink the coffee because I, too, think it tastes burned.

For any of you who consider yourself coffee snobs, I recommend you try roasting your own beans. You may be hooked for life.

Lisa

**Odilia** · 09-22-2007, 06:24 PM

checkerkitty, I use a popcorn popper and basically follow the directions from Sweet Maria's. I've gotten to where I can tell pretty reliably by the smell when the coffee is where I like it. Depending on the bean I go close to 2nd crack and sometimes past 2nd crack. There have been a few beans that we've preferred with a lighter roast, but we are mainly dark roast people here.

**James** · 09-22-2007, 10:15 PM

Originally Posted by checkerkitty

What's your stovetop technique? I'd love to know how you do it exactly! Thanks for the post. I'm glad I'm not the only one around here who does this!

There's a video on Youtube that shows stovetop roasting. Just search "stove top roasting."

**ravenmaniac** · 09-22-2007, 11:02 PM

Wow, thanks for sharing. I love coffee. Between my husband and I we can go through 1-2 pots a day. I'm going to check this info. out and start roasting my own coffee beans. This also sounds like a great idea for gifts. Why not roast your own coffee and give it to people? With creative packaging and a few added related items, it could make wonderful gift basket with a personal touch.