the NEGG

I have been roasting my coffee at my home for over a year now. It is a great way to save money: depending on where you buy the coffee, you can save up to %50 off the cost compared to coffee bought already roasted. The taste of freshly roasted is unbeatable and well worth the extra time it takes to roast at home. You know your coffee is fresh when you open the air tight container, you can actually hear the gas being released: almost like opening a carbonated beverage. Roasting coffee produces a lot of smoke, so I recommend putting the oven vent on and opening all the windows, or just take it outside. Just bear in mind that if it is cold out, the roast will take longer to complete.

Don’t worry, you do not need to spend tons of money on coffee roasting equipment to roast coffee. All you need is green coffee beans, a spoon, colander, container to put the coffee, some sort of timing apparatus, time (perhaps the most important element here) and any one of these depending on your chosen method:

Stove and a skillet
Air popcorn popper with vents on the side (this will void the warrantee)
Whirley pop popcorn popper
Oven and cookie sheet

Keep in mind that each method has its own recommendations, technique and precautions so I will try to cover them all in later posts. But in the meanwhile, I purchase my green coffee from Sweet Marias and Deans Beans.

Good luck and enjoy your fleshly roasted coffee.