So first let’s talk about WHY you should roast your own coffee: Buying high grade, single origin coffee from your choice of countries costs the same as buying mid-range pre-roasted coffee from Costco. The benefits are you get to choose the beans and country of origin, control the depth of the roast and most importantly control your freshness.

Coffee has fully opened up a few days after roasting and has already lost its peak of freshness after a few weeks. Roasted coffee has drawn out many of the oils from the bean and can go rancid much like nuts left in the pantry too long. So just because your coffee is safe to drink after being stored for weeks or months doesn’t mean you are getting good tasting coffee. It only takes 5-10 minutes to roast your own coffee and the supplies aren’t hard to get.

Jeff and I were first introduced to roasting our own coffee by Jeffs brother. He had a real appreciation for a good cup of joe but had moved to a remote part of Arkansas that did not have easy access to speciality roasted coffee. He decided to learn to roast his own. He started with a popcorn popper and then moved on to a modified bread machine. He convinced us of the glories of freshly roasting coffee and the rich aroma that comes from a freshly roasted brew. Suddenly the world of coffee was opened up to us in its full complexity. Coffee is like wine, full of nuances and subtleties distinguished by tantalizing different areas of your tongue and palate. Coffee, like wine is affected by appellation (the soil and weather it is grown in) so that each region and plant brings its own flavor notes. We buy our green (unroasted) beans from Sweet Maria’s in Oakland California, you can place an order online and have it shipped to you.

You can buy a years worth because the green unroasted beans have a very long shelf life, unlike once they are roasted and the oils have been drawn out. When you go online (www.sweetmarias.com) the list of coffee is vast and the flavor notes dizzying. Choices like cocoa notes (my favorite), brown sugar, molasses, peach, green apple, pistachio Cookie and much, much more.

Jeff bought a bread machine at a thrift store and took the heat sensor out. Basically you want an all-metal bread basket and you don’t want it to heat up, just stir. That’s the basics of coffee roasting, it just needs even heat and to keep moving so that the beans won’t burn. That’s why Its difficult to do it over the stove, it just burns too easy. If your going to use a popcorn popper just make sure it has the heat vents around the edge of the inside, not on the bottom. A popcorn popper works for small batches (like 1/3 cup of coffee at a time) and is a good start for someone wanting to try the world of coffee roasting.

Jeff propped a construction heat gun up on a camera tri-pod and roasts his coffee this way. You don’t want any plastic coverings or parts involved because they will melt. You can also just buy a simple (or elaborate) coffee roaster from Sweet Maria’s for between $160-$1600, but this s a Homestead DIY blog so we do it in a rigged up bread machine. Jeff placed a piece of cement board that he cut to fit and outfitted with a hole for the heat gun, this keeps the heat inside and allows for a more even roast. When I have to do the roasting, I just use the popcorn popper because it takes less skill. We have a good friend who opted to buy a $160 unit from Sweet Maria’s and she loves it!

Now that you have your method of roasting, how long do you roast it for? Most of us are used to a very dark Full French Roast but you should be aware of the stages previous to the French Roast and give them a try to test out the skill set f your pallet. Here they are in order of light to dark:

1. City+ (435 degrees fahrenheit ) This means the coffee has cleared first crack, listen while the beans are roasting and you will hear what sounds like rice crispies when they get wet. This first crack is the physical expansion of the coffee bean as water and carbon dioxide split and CO2 outgassing starts. Whew! I know that is very technical but isn’t it fascinating that such complex stages are going on in your morning brew? The stage between the first and second crack is a short period ( 15 to 30 seconds) where a chemical reaction is happening to the beans. The coffee bean gains heat until its woody cellulos,  the bean structure itself, begins to fracture,  that is when you hear the Second Crack.
2. Full City Roast, (444-454 fahrenheit) means on the verge of the second crack. The beans are have a slight sheen of oil and the edges are softer. The internal bean temperature for second crack normally is 446 degrees farenheit. Second Crack is the physical fracturing of the celllose matrix of the coffee. Full City + is where the coffee has barely entered 2nd crack. A few snaps are heard, and the roast is then stopped. Second crack may continue into the cooling phase – this is called “coasting”. The more effective and rapid your cooling – the better your ability to stop the roast
3. The Vienna Roast to Light French stage (465 fahrenheit) is when you hear the second crack underway. It is where you begin to lose the “bean of origin” characteristics and notes, these being overtaken by the roast character. A dark or heavy roast is at odds with buying coffee for its distinct origin qualities. Dark roast coffees tend to taste more like each other, as the differences coming from the distinct origins are hidden by the carbony roast flavors. However many of us prefer our coffee at this roast and some coffees are excellent at this stage .As a side note, “Espresso” is not a roast. Northern Italian style espresso is usually roasted to 440 – 446 fahrenheit internal bean temperature. Southern Italian roasts are generally a Light French Roast or a little darker.

1. Full French roast (474 fahrenheit) by now the second crack is very rapid and nearing its end. By this time the sugars are heavily caramelized (read:burned) and are degraded; the woody bean structure is carbonizing and the seed continues to expand and loose mass. The body of the resulting cup will be thinner and lighter as the aromatic compounds, oils, and soluble solids are being burned out of the coffee. This is beyond what any self respecting DIY  coffee roaster will roast.
2. The next stages are carbonized, dead, charcoal, imminent fire.

We have been roasting our own beans for several years now and have never reverted back to buying roasted beans. We love getting to know the sciences and chemical reactions behind our food and learning to master one more step in becoming self sustaining. Not to mention training our pallet to distinguishing notes and flavors that you never knew where there before. Now we drink our coffee black and really taste it. Try it, you’ll love it!

Of course this is just the tip of the coffee iceberg. There is so much more to know, like Coffee cupping, or coffee tasting. This is observing the tastes and aromas of brewed coffee. This is a professional practice similar to wine tasting.  A standard coffee cupping procedure involves deeply sniffing the coffee, then loudly slurping the coffee so it spreads to the back of your tongue. The coffee taster then attempts to measure the coffee’s taste, such as the body (the texture or mouthfeel), sweetness, acidity, flavor, and aftertaste. Since coffee beans carry the flavors from the region where they were grown, cuppers may attempt to identify the coffee’s origin.

There is also the way the beans are processed after being picked. Are they “dry” or “natural” processed? This is where the “cherry” or fruit is left on the bean to dry and then is removed. Or is it “wet” processed, where the pulp is washed off the bean. Both have sub processes and carry different notes to the flavor of the bean and have pros and cons as far as environmental and taste benefits.

But I will leave all of that for you to delve into deeper on your own. For now we will sit back and enjoy a steaming cup of coffee, freshly roasted and ground and dream of the exotic places it came from and all of the hands that harvested it, dried it, processed and packed it. What a life it lived before ending up in my cup!

Recipe Index:

Desserts:

Buttery Flaky Pie Crust

Cherry Pie (published May 20, 2017)

Homemade Berry Pie (published July 23, 2017)

Almond Roca (published February 22, 2018)

Homemade Banana Cream Pie (published May 10, 2018)

Cannoli (published August 3, 2017)

Easy Authentic Tiramasu (published May 3, 2018)

Ooey Gooey Blonde Brownies (published August 11, 2018)

Old Fashioned Peach Crisp (published August 1, 2018

Classic Canned Peaches (published August 8, 2018)

Noyaux (Almond Extract made from stone fruit pits) Published August 7, 2017

Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream (Published May 25, 2017

Breakfast:

Whole Wheat Waffles (published August 12, 2017)

Dutch Babies (published May 30, 2018)

Dinner Ideas from Around the World:

Babaganush (Middle Eastern Roasted Eggplant Dip) Published July 29, 2017

Shrimp Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce (Published August 18, 2017)

Saltimbocca (Roman Style Veal Scallopini) (Published February 18, 2018)

Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef Salad (Bun Bo Xoa) Published March 12, 2018)

Spiced Chickpea Salad with Roasted Cauliflower (Published April 22, 2018)

Steamed Mussels and Fettuccine (Cozze e Fettuccine) Published May 4, 2019)

Shrimp Risotto (Risotto alla Gamberi) Published June 2, 2018)

Pasta Carbonara (Published May 12, 2018)

Arancini (Italian Fried Rice Balls) Published June 4, 2018)

Ossobuco alla Milanese (Milan Style Veal Shanks & Saffron Risotto) Published June 20, 2018)

Lasagna Bolognese (Published Aug 3, 2018)

Kung Pao Chicken (Published August 23, 2018)

Eggplant Parmesan (Published August 29, 2018)

Gyoza (Potstickers or Chinese Dumplings) Published August 27,2018)

Cacio e Pepe (Published August 28, 2018)

Southern Fried Chicken (published September 11, 2018)

Side DIshes:

Festive Pineapple Sesame Coleslaw (published September 14, 2018)

Italian Roasted Vegetable Platter (published September 13, 2018)

Canning and Preserving:

Noyaux (French bitter almond extract from stone fruit) (Published Aug 7, 2017)

Sweet & Spicy Pickles (Published July 6, 2017)

Canned Peaches (Published August 23, 2018)

Ricotta from Powdered Milk (Published Aug 5, 2017)

Candied Orange Peel (Published September 12, 2018)

For other great travel articles about living in Italy try one from our Archives:

A Morning Run in Nettuno (Published September 10, 2017)

A Visit to Castelli Romani (Published September 13, 2017)

Dinner for Six (Published October 1, 2017)

Italian Cooking School (Published October 8, 2017)

Culinary Tour of Napoli (Published November 17, 2017)

Changing Seasons in Italy (Published November 25, 2017)

Our Trip to Englands Cotswolds (Published January 12, 2018)

Cooking with Pasquale (Published January 28, 2018)

A Tour of the Garden of Ninfa (Published May 7, 2018)

A Trip to Montefiascone (Published May 17, 2018)

San Gimignano, a visit to a Tuscan Hill Town (Published June 9, 2018)

Tuscan Hot Springs of San Filippo & Saturnia (Published June 13, 2018)

August in Sperlonga (Published August 30, 2018)