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This page has is out of date, please use the new Roasting Log.
After over 3 years of not roasting, on October 15th, 2003 I picked up a couple of thrift-store popcorn poppers and a pound of green coffee, and started roasting at home.
It's been a blast!
Below is my roasting log/diary, newest entries first.
2004-08-15
Woah, haven't updated in a while, been pretty busy.
I'm still home-roasting on the poppers, though my roommate has been doing most of the roasting lately.
A note on power attenuation: the popper is a fairly simple device, and using an extension cord is basically putting a resistor in series with the heater. The result? Your load of coffee will never finish. I found this out when I went to the coast, and the wusses I was with didn't want me to roast in the house.
Also, any given popper (unmodified) has a sweet-spot of coffee weight where it roasts the coffee the fastest. Too light, and the fan blows the heat past the beans and out the top of the popper. Too heavy, and there just isn't enough thermal energy to bring the coffee to the finish in a timely fashion.
So, if you find that spot, you can then either add or remove weight to slow the roast down until you get the curve that you want.
Of course, the type of green coffee you're using will affect this as well.
2003-12-26
Well, I've been forced to agree to not roasting any more dark roasts in the house. I'm going to miss those clouds of blue smoke...
Because of the Dark Roast Ban (DRB) I've started working on a new blend, Ithaca Blend. My first try wasn't the flavor profile I was looking for, but it was quite a nice cup of coffee. Heavy bodied and amazingly nutty. It pulled as a real nice shot, too.
I've now done 120 roasts!
2003-12-15
Yay! A bunch of fun things have happened:
Dad roasted coffee yesterday! In addition to this being exciting in its own right, it also drew my attention to a typo on the air popper page. A good starting point is 1/2 cup, not 1/4 cup, of green coffee.
Yesterday I did my 100th load.
Today is the two-month anniversary of my starting to homeroast.
2003-12-11
Dad came down on the 6th and took some pictures, so I've put up a set of pictures taken during a roast.
2003-12-02
I went up to Bellingham for Thanksgiving, so Friday I stopped by Hardware Sales to look at their heat guns. I ended up buying an HG1100 .
I roasted with it for the first time last night. I started with a 400 gram load of Uganda. The HG1100 has a variable adjustment, between 250 and 1100 degrees Fahrenheit. I wasn't sure where to set it, so I started at 3.5. This was too cold, so I kept moving it up as the roast progressed. I ended up with it set at 5. The roast was really long, but I got a good finish, so I'll probably start it at 5 next time and see how it goes.
I put the green coffee in a bowl in a heavy pan. Then I used the heat gun with one hand, and stirred with a metal slotted spoon with the other hand. Fortunately, I had Carol to record data and help with other things that came up. I think that I'll need to improvise a stand for the heat gun before I try it again.
I was concerned about occasional red cinders appearing. They went out quickly, but they still worried me. I think it might have been bits of chaff sucked through the heat gun. I'm going to have to figure out a solution for that, as well. I'm thinking of using a hand vac to suck up chaff as it comes out of the bowl.
I was happy to get 11-3/4 ounces roasted coffee in one load! But I'm going to have to set things up better before I try again.
2003-11-25
I've been busy, and haven't made any entries in a couple of weeks. Some fun stuff has happened.
I've given a few more roaster demonstrations, and also encountered the first case of a bad popper. A friend had purchased it at a thrift store to roast coffee, and I went over to her house to walk her through the first couple of loads. It was a Windmere popper, another 1200 watt one. It never really got hot, I think one of the elements must have burned out.
Several of my other friends have started roasting, as well. The first (and therefore coolest) was Cithra , who even posted about her first solo roast.
I've started using a slotted flat metal spatula as a damper at the top of the chamber (when using a tin can to extend the roasting chamber) in order to increase the heat. It seems to work fairly well.
I've picked up some parts from Radio Shack, so I can try modifying my poppers further.
As for the hunt for good green coffee, I:
2003-11-12
Yay! My Solis Maestro grinder from wholelattelove arrived! So I cupped some coffees to celebrate. Boy, it was a lot easier than grinding with the Zassenhaus! More consistent as well.
I cupped Zoka's Sidamo and Sweet Maria's Costa Rica from Sunday, and Sweet Maria's Yirgacheffe from Monday.
The Costa Rica I had the same impression of as before. A good, straightforward cup of coffee, with nice body, but not as much acidity as I'd like in a Costa Rican.
The Yirgacheffe had a bit of lemony acidity, but not very much. Some nice body.
The Sidamo had a dirty berry ferment. Yuck.
2003-11-11
Happy Veteran's Day!
Yesterday was fun. I got my scale and 18 pounds of green coffee, and did a roasting demo for my in-laws. The demo went well.
Then later in the evening, I roasted a load of newly-arrived Yirgacheffe for myself. 140 grams on P-5 with the chimney, it went quite well. Tonight I'll do a load each of the newly-arrived Guatemala and Sumatra.
And indeed, when I got home, my coffee from Two Loons had arrived! So I did a load of Guatemala and a load of Sumatra from Sweet Maria's , and a load of Guatemala from Two Loons .
2003-11-09
Friday night, Cithra was over, and I gave her a roasting demo on P-8, a regular and a decaf. She seemed pretty into it, so I gave her P-8 and some green. Hopefully, she'll have her own roasting log soon! :)
Tonight I roasted three loads, Sidamo, Costa Rica, and a 50/50 Sulawesi/Sumatra mix (using up the rest of the Sulawesi). I did it all with 3/4 cup loads on P-5, using the tin can as a chimney/roasting chamber extension. It went quite well. I'm going to use them as an espresso blend.
2003-11-06
Tuesday night, I took an old bean can, took off the bottom to make a tube, clipped off a thin wedge on one end, and shoved it into the top of the roasting chamber on P-5. This made a nice little chimney that increased how many beans I could roast at once. I went up to 3/4 cups and roasted three loads, Cos, Uga, and Sul, which I blended both for Espresso and plunger-pot.
It worked quite well, with the extra coffee it roasted a bit faster, so I got a much nicer curve. At the first part of the roast, almost up until pop, I had to stir with a wooden spoon to keep the beans moving. The overall roasts were relatively even. A definite success!
It still blows my mind. Add coffee to roast faster. Tch.
Also, I ordered a grinder from wholelatteloave , for cuppings and decaf espresso, a scale from chriscoffee , both for green loading and for roasted blending, and more coffee. I ordered a sampler pack and a couple of one-pound samples from Two Loons , and some 5 pound bags (and some more 1 pound samples) from Sweet Maria's .
Unfortunately, none of it's going to show up until next week. :(
2003-11-03
Wow, had a pretty busy weekend.
Went to Sharkins' place on Friday for Halloween, and roasted a load of Mexico as a demonstration. Also made a plunger of the Sumatra I'd brought her, it was quite good. Got home after 3 AM, roasted a load of Sulawesi for espresso, and went to bed.
Saturday I went up to Bellingham to Paul & Julie 's for their Halloween party. I didn't roast anything, but I did brew up the drip blend I'd made for them in a plunger pot. It was quite good, much better than the previous drip blend I'd made.
Sunday I spent with my parents, and did a demo load of Guatemala for them. Both this load and the Mexico I did for Sharkins were kind of slow at the finish. I did them both on P-5. Tonight I'm going to do some coffee for myself, and try upping the load size to speed it up.
I put the popper, grinder, plunger pot, green coffee, etc. into a large plastic bin to carry them around. It's quite spacious, so I think I'm going to set it up to be my regular mobile roasting/brewing kit.
Okay, I tried upping the load to 5/8 cup with Mexico on P-5, and it did help a lot. The roasting chamber was pretty full, fortunately the Mexico has nice large beans which aren't as prone to fling out of the popper as, say, those little Sidamo beans. Had a decent curve and a nice-enough finish, I'd probably like to speed it up just a scosh. Also, it had trouble moving the beans around until just before first, I did a fair bit of string and shaking.
2003-10-30
I picked up another WB Poppery II on Monday, this one without a top. I figured that it wouldn't hurt to get another one, even without the top, as I'm likely to break a few of them trying to mod them. And it was only $1.62 with tax!
Well, I tried roasting on it last night, and I was impressed. It is now my favorite of all of them. Good airflow and more heat.
I roasted three loads of Sumatra for Sarah's party, and 1 load of Decaf Sulawesi for one of my cow-orkers. Tonight I'll roast on it again, I'm not sure what yet, some coffees that I can put together for a drip blend for Paul & Julie 's party.
I also looked at heat guns last night, but decided to hold off until I order more green coffee (probably next week).
I cupped the Guatemala, it tasted like good beans, but I think I roasted it a little light. I wouldn't have minded more acidity, but the acidity it had was kind of green, though I wouldn't go so far as to call it grassy. Some nice body and a bit of cocoa.
Whee! So I went home and roasted five loads, for the drip blend. Guatemala, Sulawesi, Bali (can't wait to try it!), and Sidamo.
Wait, that's only four. The fifth load was Costa Rica, roasted on P-2 (the West Bend Poppery, 1500 watts), to somewhere between the levels of Starbucks Espresso and Italian. In 6:15. It was exciting. The smoke (coming off of 1/2 cup of green!) drove Carol out of the kitchen. I think I could take it darker with no problems, it had plenty of momentum.
Whee.
2003-10-29
I bought a Popcorn Pumper a few days ago, and roasted a load of Guatemala on it last night. It's 1250 watts. It had more air, the green started moving quite well as soon as I tossed them in. It has the type of top that has a removable butter-warmer on top, which I have a lot of trouble looking at bean color through. It seemed to have a bit less heat then P-1, or about as much as the other Poppery IIs.
After much thought, I've designated it P-6.
I've now done 22 loads! I need to figure out a way to do larger load sizes, I think I might try heat-gun roasting next.
2003-10-27
Spent Friday through Sunday at Coffee Fest . It was interesting, but kind of deadly; you couldn't walk two feet without someone offering you more sugar. Fortunately, there were plenty of small rosteries represented there, so I could keep enough espresso in me to ameliorate the evil sugar effects.
Saturday, some friends (Paul, Julie , Chris, Jack, and Mike) came over and we all tasted the roasts I did Thursday.
The Kenya was great. Bright, grapefruit acidity with a nice medium body. Juicy. The Costa Rica was also nice, a pleasant, straightforward cup of coffee with some body and a bright, clean acidity. The Uganda was also quite good, kind of like a mellower version of the Kenya, which was interesting, as it was described as NOT being like Kenya in the cupping notes at Sweet Maria's.
The Brazil was kind of uninteresting, some body and maybe a bit of a tobaccoey character, which, as it cooled, turned into more of an unpleasant Brazilian character kind of like, as described by someone there, ashes. It was the only coffee on the table not from Sweet Maria's; I bought it from Zoka's. Carol described it as "chalky".
The Sulawesi seemed to have some nice earthiness and body when I first hit it hot, but when I came back to it as it cooled, it mostly seemed flat and uninteresting.
The Water Process Decaf Sulawesi was surprisingly good for a decaf. It had that processy flavor at the front of the mouth, and that weird harsh sensation at the back of the throat, but it also had a nice earthiness and full body, with quite a lot of coffee character.
Then I went through a couple of roasts with people watching, a Kenya for Jack and a Zoka's Sulawesi for Paul and Julie .
2003-10-23
My coffee from Sweet Maria's is supposedly "Out for Delivery" according the the UPS tracking site. I'm so excited!
I cupped the Espresso blend. It was okay, a lot of body, not a lot of varietal character, not a whole lot of acidity. Very smooth.
I cupped the Sidamo. It had some nice body, and some nice lemony flavor, but not much acidity.
Whee! The coffee has shown up, I'm home and roasting!
I did seven loads. Costa Rica, Kenya (it was a beautiful Kenya, too), Sulawesi, Uganda, and Zoka's Brazil for Espresso blend, and 2 loads of Decaf Sulawesi for Decaf Espresso. I'm actually eager to cup the DSUL. It's water process, just like SWP only done at a new plant in Mexico, and Sweet Maria's claims that it's much better than normal SWP.
I'm also eager to cup the Uganda because I've never had Ugandan coffee before, and the Kenya because it roasted so nicely.
It's amazing how tiring roasting seven loads on popcorn poppers is, given that I estimate that I got less then 1-1/4 pounds out of it! Loads of fun though!
I used P-1 and P-4, and they definitely roast very differently. I really like P-1. P-4 is the first one that I'm going to modify, as it's way too cool/has way too much airflow.
2003-10-22
I had my first latte made with my espresso this morning. My ability to taste in the morning is pretty suspect, but I thought that it held up well to the milk, and made a nice latte.
I cupped the Brazil in the morning, it was pretty light. I did get some body and a bit of a nice tobaccoey characteristic.
I cupped the Drip blend in the afternoon. It was not what I wanted, at all. It was a tasty cup, but the Sulawesi dominated it and there was no acidity to speak of. Oh well.
2003-10-21
I cupped the Costa Rica I did Sunday today. It was kind of mediocre. Some body, a bit of acidity, some good flavor, but nothing really interesting. No defects, either.
In the evening, I pulled my first shots of my espresso blend. It was pretty good. It had some nice body and flavor, and was very smooth. It didn't have any standout characteristics. It held up pretty well to sugar.
I roasted another load of Sidamo, I got a better curve on this one.
2003-10-20
Now that I've used all of the poppers I need to work on nailing a better curve. I also need:
I cupped the Sidamo from Saturday, and it was okay. It had some pleasant lemony acidity, and a fair amount of body.
I cupped the Sulawesi from Saturday, and it was okay, as well. No acidity, heavy body, some chocolate, but a bit of that rubberiness as well.
Late last night, I went nuts and ordered 10 coffees from Sweet Maria's. 3 Centrals, 3 Africans, 3 Indonesians, and a decaf. The decaf is water process from a new plant in Mexico, they swear that it's way better than SWP. Of course, there's a lot of room there.
Two of the coffees, one from Uganda and one from Bali, particularly excite me, since I don't recall ever having coffee from either of those sources.
2003-10-19
Today I finished up testing the rest of the poppers. They all seem to roast a bit differently, despite 4 of them being West Bend Poppery IIs. P-5 seems to roast most like P-1, which is interesting, they're the two that look alike. Both have white bodies, and share the same label (along with P-4, which has a black body.)
I roasted two loads, Costa Rica and Brazil, on P-4; I'm planning to add them to the two loads I did yesterday as an Espresso blend. Then I roasted 3 loads on P-5, Costa Rica, Sulawesi, and Sidamo, which I blended together as a drip blend for Gary.
2003-10-18
I went to the Shop'N'Save in Whitecenter this morning, they had a 50% off sale on everything. I picked up 3 West Bend Poppery IIs for $2 each, and a cheapo plastic electric kettle for $1.50.
Cupped the Sulawesi again. Wonderful earthy and spicy notes in the aroma when I broke the crust. It tasted even better today, no real acidity to speak of, heavy body, rich, buttery mouthfeel, and an incredible chocolate flavor that's still lingering on my tongue. It also had a pleasant earthiness, some spiciness and maybe a bit of black pepper.
Mmmm... and to think I only got it because Zoka's was out of Java!
There does seem to be some variability in the cup, in one of the two cups I had today and one of the two cups I had yesterday, I got some rubberiness.
And now, on to the roasting:
Well, I figured it was time to start testing the other poppers that I've purchased. So, of course, I need an easy way to differentiate them, so I came up with the following clever and extremely creative naming scheme. The first one I'll call P-1, the second P-2, the third P-3, the fourth P-4, and the fifth P-5. If I end up buying more, I'm not sure what I'll call them; I'll just have to come up with something.
So, all previous loads were on a West Bend Poppery II, which I'll now call P-1. The first load today I did on a West Bend Poppery, P-2. I decided to do another load of the Sulawesi, and boy, did it act differently than on P-1. It sped through the roast, with a 3:15 1st pop and a 5:58 discharge. 1st blended rather seemlessly into 2nd. It was spready all the way through, and gave off way more smoke. I developed more oil and took it darker than Thursday's, too. I guess this is the popper to use if I want to do some dark roasts.
My second load was on another West Bend Popper II, P-3. I decided to try the Sidamo in this one. I also decided to use the top that came with that popper, which is yellow. This, as expected, made it much more difficult to watch the coffee and determine color. It was spready all the way through, and stalled out at the end of the roast. 1st was 4:07, 2nd was 9:08, and I pulled it at 11:57.
There was an amazing amount of chaff in the Sidamo, and beans kept flying out during the second half of the roast. I might try it with a slightly larger load, and see what happens.
2003-10-17
Cupped the Cos again, and the Sulawesi.
Today, ~40 hours after roasting, the Cos had developed more and was quite a bit better. It had more acidity, and there were a bit of florals. A nice, clean, decent, Central American cup.
I liked the Sulawesi quite a bit. Not much acidity, heavy body, nice mouthfeel, and a lot of earthiness. Definitely on the Sumatra end of Sulawesi.
In the evening I went thrift-store shopping, two Goodwills and two Value Villages. 2 places had no poppers, one had a usable Popcorn Pumper, and one had 4 usable, 2 WB Poppery IIs, 1 generic West Bend, and one other brand. They were all around $5 each; I decided in favor of domestic harmony, and didn't pick up any of them. I did pick up a very nice 8-"cup" french press for $7.
2003-10-16
Cupped the COS that I roasted yesterday. It was alright, clean with some nice acidity and a bit of body, but kind of lackluster.
Went back to Zoka's, picked up a pound each of Sidamo, Brazil, and Sulawesi Kalossi. It came to $15 and (mumble) cents.
Roasted a load of the Sulawesi, used 1/2 cup again, again roasting on the WB Poppery II. Now, I would expect Sulawesi to take a bit longer than Costa Rica to get to yellow and first pop, having (probably) a higher moisture content, and then have a tendency to take off at the end of the roast, being a softer coffee.
No.
It was a bit faster to first pop, and then slowed down towards the end of the roast. I took it out a trifle darker than the Cos, at 10:48.
My current theory about why the second half of the roast took longer is that Sulawesi is a "taller" coffee than Costa Rica SHB. By this, I mean that it is less dense, so there was less coffee by weight in the popper. So, at the end of the roast, comparatively more heat was escaping out the top, and less heat was transferring to the coffee.
2003-10-15
I just roasted for the first time in over three years. Mind you, it wasn't on a _real_ roaster, just an air popper, but it was still loads of fun! Three loads, in fact, ranging from (roughly) 2.25 ounces and 3.35 ounces, for a total of about 9 ounces green.
So, I'm guessing about 7-1/2 ounces roasted coffee.
I picked up a West Bend Poppery II from St. Vincent de Paul for $3.24, tax included, a West Bend Poppery from that other big West Seattle thrift store for $2.17, tax included, and 1 pound of Costa Rica Tarrazu from Zoka's for $5.25.
What?!? $5.25 for a pound of Cos??? I guess it's more expensive when you're not buying by the container load.
Anyway, not having access to a good scale, I did the loads by volume. The first load I used 1/3 cup, it rushed to first and then stalled out. I pulled it during an anemic second pop at 13-1/2 minutes (after a peak of first pop at 4:48!).
The second load was interesting. I used 1/2 cup this time, it had a slightly faster yellow and first, but the second half of the roast was much faster. I pulled it well into a nice, healthy second pop, as it was just starting to develop oil, at 8:30. Interestingly, at yellow it was way more spready than the first load, but the finished load looked more even.
I liked the curve on the second load much more, so I used 1/2 cup again for the third load. It acted much like the second load, I pulled it with a bit more oil at 8:46.
Oh, and on all loads, I used the WB Poppery II.
The volumes above aren't typos, it roasted FASTER with a heavier load. I'd read about that, but I had to see it for myself. The explanation offered, which makes sense to me, is that the higher volume of coffee blocks the airflow more, so more heat is transferred to the beans rather than blowing out the top.
And now, my house smells like a roasting plant! Mmmm...