Flutterby™! : Home Coffee Roasting

I generally buy the coffee that I home brew from Petaluma Coffee & Tea Company. I've heard that coffee is best within a week or so of roasting, and they move enough product and keep a low enough inventory that I figure I'm getting the freshest coffee I can. And, so far, I haven't been disappointed.

A friend of mine got a hot air roaster and has been experimenting with it. Not to be left out, yesterday around lunch-time, I went down to Petaluma Coffee & Tea Company, bought a pound of raw Sumatra Mandheling beans (at their suggestion), took the popcorn popper out to the driveway, and tried roasting my own.

First thing I noticed was that our popcorn popper wasn't getting a reasonable recirculation, right off the bat I was getting some char marks on the beans stuck down by the heaters, so I stirred continuously with a wooden spoon. After a few minutes of that the beans started cracking, what I believe they call "first crack". I was looking for a light roast, so after a minute or so of vigorous cracking (there's supposed to be a decent interval and different sound between "first crack" and "second crack", I'll probably do a dark batch to check) I deemed them done, poured them out on to a tray, and shook them to cool them. Did a second batch similarly and mixed both batches.

Color isn't uniformly dark, which means most commercial roasters would probably say I pulled them too early. Tasted a bean, it was moderately acidic but had a lot of other good flavors going for it. Despite the warnings about waiting, brewed me a cup, which frothed amazingly (I brew with a drip filter holder that sits over the cup), and it was still acidic but had a wonderful nose.

This morning the acidity is toned down, the frothing is lower, and the scent is wonderfully light. I don't know if I'm going to roast my own all the time, but it's not that big a hassle, and its reminding me that dark roasts are... well... I'm less and less a Peet's fan.