Roasting my own coffee

Nerdtendo

This is something I've wanted to try for quite some time. I've been looking around a bit, and it seems the cheapest and easiest way for someone new to get into roasting their own beans is by using a solid cast iron pan on the stove top, then grinding them with a hand grinder. I don't want to drop a hundred bucks on a roaster to only use it once or twice.

Anyone had any experience with oven or stove top bean roasting? Any tips for a beginner, and a good choice of bean to start off with (decently priced, but still worth it if you're going at it yourself)?

John Matrix

My Dad does this, he has a cheap machine that he uses. Be warned, however, it does require proper ventilation or you'll smoke out the whole house. Bare in my my Dad's always looking for the best cheapest option for everything, so while I'm not sure exactly what he has, some sort of simple machine rather than a cast iron pan is probably a good bet.

MichaelLC

Yeah, you're not browning them, you're roasting using hot air.

It certainly works, and this site has some good info, but you'll probably want to at least use a popper of some kind. John isn't kidding about the smoke, either. and there's a non-zero chance of fire - as with any cooking - if the chaff is blowing around.

Sulawesi would be good beans, though might be hard to hit the right spot in roasting.

mts

i thought i saw ona some food tv show them using an air popper for popcorn