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Coffee roasting at home

Well I’ve been trying my hand at coffee roasting. It’s been a lot of fun. The image above is a recent batch of Aged Sumatra Lintong. It’s the darkest I’ve taken any roast so far. It’s still by no means as dark as Starbucks. I’d guess it’s around a Vienna roast.

This is my current favourite. It’s Ethiopian Harar - Lot 7039 “Horse.” The interesting thing about this one is that it has a hint of blueberry in it’s flavor. It’s kinda funny. Actually by the time your mind registers blueberry the taste is no longer there.

Here’s a photo of my current setup. I don’t actually roast in the kitchen. I tried that the first time I tried roasting. My friend Jeff was over, and we couldn’t get the roast going out in the garage. So, we moved it inside to the kitchen. I had heard that the smoke can get in to everything, but we were desperate. Since then, I’ve been roasting in the laundry room. I can open a window in there and there’s an exaust fan.

I’ve been purchasing my recent beens from Sweet Maria’s. They have an excellent section that explains all the beans they sell, and they are very particular about their beans. For example, I’ve always been a big fan of Guatemala Antigua, but they don’t carry it because they have not cupped any decent lots.

Anyway it’s been a lot of fun. And it’s a little less expensive than home brewing (beer) — which I’m hoping to try again. I’ve just got to purchase more equipment for that…