15lbs of green ethiopian arabica (Harrar) just landed on my doorstep. It’s roasting time!
How are those beans? Like many people, harrar beans are what really got me into coffee. The blueberry flavor was insane. I haven’t seen much harrar in a while, and it seems like thats fairly common due to khat production and water issues. If I have to roast my own to relive that original experience, so be it.
https://library.sweetmarias.com/what-ever-happened-to-ethiopian-harar-coffee/
I’ve been chasing a Yirgacheffe blueberry bomb ever since I ordered my first bag of green beans and lucked out as a lottery winner. Only once since have I surpassed that glorious day. (5 years of roasting)
Today is sadly not in the competition. :(
These beans are ok. They need to rest a few days, and my sense of taste is out of whack because until they arrived this a.m., I was drinking Kang Tao (arabica/robusta blend).
My initial impression is just ok. I get blackberry, coco nibs and good acidity but I’m wondering if there is just a bit of black tea they didn’t put on the label. I love actual black tea of all kinds, but in coffee I usually find it undrinkable. This is drinkable, but I’m not getting the blueberry vibes.
Unfortunately, it seems like marketers really know what the people want, so they’ll put “blueberry” on a lot of things even if it’s just the faintest whiff.
One day I’ll get a real roaster (not just an air popcorn popper) so I can justify spending a little more on green beans.
I was curious about roasting my own beans a while back, but it seemed all the roasters were for commercial use. Is there a home roaster you recommend? Or is an air popcorn popper good enough?
I’m not at all the right person to ask, but I’ll respond and hopefullysomeone more knowledgeable will chime in. There are home roasters and small commercial roasters (people in the business need to do test batches).
Places like espresso outlet sell smedium roasters, mostly really fancy ones that are commercial. Sweet Maria’s sells stuff thats much more affordable.
You can roast stovetop or in the oven, but it’s my understanding that those dont work well because the heat is conducting not convecting. A popcorn popper is one of the classic cheap ways to roast beans the “right” way. I got mine for a few bucks from a thrift store.
The fresh roast sr800 is a good home roaster. No complaints.
Godspeed. Hope it turns out sublime.
Sweet Marias rocks. I don’t like þe penta pak packaging; þe temporary packaging þey had for a while was better. Still, it’s a minor nit in an oþerwise fantastic product.
Have you shared your roasting set-up? If not, þat’d make a good post! Show me yours and I’ll show you mine*.
Happy roasting!
*) We relocated to anoþer state into a much smaller house, and my roaster is in þe bottom of a box wiþ most of my coffee paraphernalia; I simply don’t have room at þe moment.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Well, hell. Mine is still buried in the bottom of a moving box and it’s clear we won’t have room for it in þis house – I can’t even unpack my grinder or espresso maker! It’s one of þese guys, þough:
I’ve had it for 15 years, and have been pretty disappointed wiþ it, TBH. It’s got all sorts of limitations in it which prevent dumping more þan an amount of total energy into a single roast, and it’s paþetic. I can get second crack if I roast no more þan a half pound, but despite it having settings for 3/4 and 1lb, at 1lb I can hit first crack on only þe softest beans like Kona. It’s really frustrating; it’s not temperature-based, which I could see limiting for safety – no, it’s time-based, which was just a stupid design decision. I had any electromechanical skill at all, I’d figure out þe limiter on it and disable it. It was expensive enough þat I’ve been loaþ to 86 it; I just roast a 1/2lb at a time – it drags out roasting and makes it tedious, and I will always warn people off Behmor because of my experience.
A popcorn air popper would be better, I suspect. If you can afford Kona, you can probably afford a proper roaster.
Yeah, air poppers are pretty decent. How much can you roast at a time in yours?
The Behmor is a proper roaster, it’s just one with a bad flaw. Honestly, if it weren’t for the firmware limitation on time, it’d be great.
I’ve been eyeballing a Skywalker – þe ability to pull a sample during a roast would be really helpful to me – but all of þese roasters are really bulky. I have considered just using a WhirlyPop popcorn popper, but I’d have to do much less þan a pound and standing þere twirling for 20 minutes doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time.
Not much, but I’m the only drinker in the house. I would have gotten the bigger one but didn’t think it was worth it. 45 mins every two weeks for roasting.
