Newby - Home Coffee Roaster

Just arrived .. green coffee beans (pic by Mrs. Mac)

Here's what green coffee beans look like (pic by Mrs. Mac)

Our shipment of green coffee beans arrived this week.  We purchased beans grown organically in Bolivia for $4.99 a pound, including shipping.  They have a AA rating.  Being a newby roaster, I still have much to learn about the process.  It is rather exciting to roast beans at home .. and the more often you do it .. the better you are able to judge how well they are roasted.

Make sure your skillet harbors no previous cooking flavors :) (pic by Mrs. Mac)

I am using a big black cast iron skillet on top of the stove and have my exhaust fan turned on high to remove the smoke.  Some people use pop corn poppers .. others use bread machines with heat guns (used for paint removal) .. I'm using a method surely used by my great grandparents.  So far .. so good.

The beans start turning color and the skins pop as moisture is released (pic by Mrs. Mac)

And I must admit that this particular organic-fair trade coffee is good .. yes .. I'm still limiting myself to a cup a day .. with no problems .. which is rather hard to do ;)

Once the beans are roasted, it's important to remove them from the pan to cool .. and to remove the chaff.  Transferring them between two colanders in a breeze outside (or using a blow dryer) removes the chaff.  Now you must wait about 24 hours for the full flavor to develop (the hard part;)

So far .. the family gives a big thumbs up for the process .. and the outcome .. I roast only enough for one week's worth of coffee, storing the beans in an airtight glass jar .. once they have developed their flavor after resting 24 hours.  I thank my friend Maria for sharing her coffee roasting venture.

links:
Invalsa Coffee Company
How to Roast Coffee At Home
How to Store Green Coffee Beans (prior to roasting)
Why Organic & Fair Trade Coffee?
Fair Trade Coffee
 

It took about 20 minutes for the beans to roast .. (pic by Mrs. Mac)