Kudos to the Coffee Community

The coffee community typically gets a bad rap. Most consider coffee lovers, “coffee snobs.” But since beginning this blog in October 2008, I have received comments, especially from home roasters, that are extremely supportive. I’m just in an appreciative mood right now. So thanks to Rich at Aldo Coffee, Phil and John at La Prima, Derek at Bongo Java, Stephen Leighton, and many others.  While I’m at it, thanks to my brother-in-law for letting me smoke up his house, and to John and Chris at work for helping me brainstorm while on our coffee breaks at work. My point is this: I really like having this blog.

Roasting with a Cheap Popcorn Popper @ Brother-in-laws

This is a long overdue post since it occurred about three weeks ago. I have actually succeeded in roasting coffee at home. But for the sake of documentation and posterity, I’m still going to include this  post.

So after seeing Derek working his roaster and getting some green Sumatra coffee beans from Bongo Java for ourselves, my brother-in-law and I were fired up to give home roasting a try. Hopefully this would be a better experience than my personal fiasco with my oven.

Target Chefmate Popcorn Popper

CHEFMATE POPCORN POPPER–So I went to Target and purchased a cheap Chefmate Popcorn Popper for $14.99. According to what I read on the internet about roasting with a popcorn popper, I was expecting to get a reasonable roast after 5-7 minutes. So I went to the deck at the back of my brother-in-law’s house, just in case a lot of smoke was generated again. I had a metal collander to pour the beans into, when it was time to cool them off. I was ready.

I poured a quarter cup of beans into the popper and turned it on. It was actually quite exciting to hear the whirring of the hot air blowing and the beans swirling around in the popper. I waited for the first crack – should sound like popcorn popping. I don’t think I heard anything until about 8 minutes. So it’s late. Second crack should come in another minute or two. Well, not knowing any better, I stopped the popper after 10 minutes. Poured the beans out into the collander, let them cool.

beans cooling in the collander

The beans actually looked a little too raw. I let the beans sit for 5-6 hours and made some coffee in my french press with it. Verdict: still tastes green and raw.

10 minutes in Chefmate Popcorn Popper

I tried it again in the popper, letting it go until 20 minutes.

20 minutes in Chefmate Popcorn Popper

These beans were a little darker than the 10 minute batch. But again, after making a cup, the beans still tasted green and raw.

Judgment on the $14.99 Target Chefmate Popcorn Popper: NEVER GOT HOT ENOUGH! The amount of watts that the popper put out was not high enough. So I cleaned it up and returned the popper to Target.

Roasting with Derek @ Bongo Java Roasting Co.

Derek @ Bongo Java

Over Christmas and New Years, my family and I went to Nashville, TN to visit my brother-in-law and his family. My brother-in-law and I went to check out a local roaster called Bongo Java. We saw Derek roast three batches of coffee: a blend, a central American coffee, and a Sumatra. We could tell that Derek must have been experienced since he could talk to us very casually, but when the critical time came to watch the roast of the beans, he was right there. He never missed a beat. Derek was very cool and helpful.

We left with a pound of green Sumatra beans. Derek’s advice was “Don’t start a fire.”

If you ever go to Bongo Java Roasting Co. in Nashville, don’t forget to check out the bathroom. The animated painting is intense!

Bongo Java's men's room