Ink, Yarn & Beer

I really like coffee, far better than tea, although o-cha is a strong second!

Sometime ago we bought a 5-lb. bag of green coffee beans. Sulawesi beans specifically. We planned to try to roast them in a popcorn popper, and to put it bluntly, it was a pain in the ass. Beans flew everywhere, smoke belched out of the machine, and luckily it was outdoors so the smoke detectors didn’t go off. The neighbors didn’t call the fire department either. The result was a charred mass of ick. I put the remaining beans in a drawer and ignored them.

I don’t recall when I bought the beans, but I found them a week ago and resolved, once more, to try my hand at roasting them. This time, though, I went back to my old idea of doing things before there was electricity. In other words, how could I roast them as in days of yore?

YouTube of course! There are a number of ways to roast them, using home roasters, old-time roasters from the 1800s, and frying pans made of cast iron. I decided on my slotted spoon and my small, heavy metal wok.

Before I watched the video above, which compares washed and unwashed green coffee beans after roasting, I watched a video about how the Ethiopians prepare coffee prior to roasting. The Ethiopian process washes the green beans for about 10 minutes by hand, rubbing the beans together to remove the chaff and dirt. From there, the beans are roasted in a pan or some flat surface. The beans are moved constantly. Videos for westerners showcase using a cast iron skillet and a whisk if you don’t have a roaster.

I decided to roast my beans in my wok, with a slotted spoon, on my gas stove top. I wish I had seen the whisk video prior to roasting as my beans occasionally jumped out of the wok, but that was not a big issue. Next roasting, whisk and wok it shall be. Below is a video my husband took using my phone. You can hear me mumbling in the background.

So, on to the beans! First, I measured out 1/2 c. of green coffee beans and spent some time washing them in a bowl. I didn’t get much debris off them in the form of chaff, but some dust and dirt did make the water murky. I did this for about 5 minutes and then drained the beans, set them out on a paper towel, and dried them overnight. I could have done it the same day, but there are just some days when virtue in the form of patience is not in attendance.

Yesterday, I dug out the wok and slotted spoon. I set up the stop watch on my phone to time how long it took to roast my small batch. The flame was at medium, I heated the wok for a minute or two, and then put in the beans.

Like all things roasting, time and patience pay off. As this was my first time roasting beans, I made an effort to be patient. The idea of having a house full of smoke did not appeal to me, and though I have a powerful kitchen fan, it makes such a racket I prefer to avoid it if possible.

Once the beans were in the wok, I used my spoon to stir and flip the beans, keeping them moving at all times. It worked pretty well. The depth of the wok kept too many from escaping. Some got stuck in the spoon slots. Handling hot beans was not my idea of a good time, but I did manage to capture any escapees.

Roasting coffee beans have what are called “first crack” and “second crack” stages. These denote the different phases in the roasting process. YouTube and other internet sites can tell you more about them. The first crack stage was met, and then, as the beans continued to roast, the second crack seems to have occurred. I lowered the heat a bit and continued to roast, all told for about 40 minutes. As I had no idea how quickly roasted beans could turn into a charred mess, I slowed it all down, though it seems that about 12-15 minutes should work per various sources.

Above you can get an idea how the roasting changed the beans from green to tawny to brown to dark. Stirring all the time is important, but when I lowered the heat, I would stop stirring, count to 20 or 30, and then stir some more. I don’t think the beans were damaged by this as the heat was not intense.

Finally, I decided the beans were done. Compared to our commercially-roasted beans, they were not as dark, but I didn’t want to destroy them after being a saint in front of the stove. I turned them out onto a kitchen towel and let them cool to room temperature before putting them into a baggy to let them de-gas overnight, as recommended. As beans continue to roast once off the heat, I decided to remove them before they got too dark.

Every afternoon my husband and I have a bit of coffee. He drinks his black; I use cream. Today we waited until I got up from a snooze, and then I got to work making coffee with boiled water, a filter, and paper cone. I ground the beans in my little grinder and tried to get them fine, like I use for espresso, but they were coarser than what I was aiming for.

When using this method, the ground beans are placed in the filter and cone. A small amount of boiling water is added to the grounds to dampen them, and then a wait of about a minute to moisten and allow the coffee to release its coffee-ness occurs. At least, that is how I do it.

I used 4 scoops for 2 cups – we like our coffee stronger than a lot of people.

From there, water is added to the cone, and as one cup was filled, another was placed under the filter. And, voila! Coffee!

Altogether, both Josh and I enjoyed the coffee. It was not as strong as we prefer, but we both think the roast was lighter than our usual, which is Italian or French roast. Still, it was tasty. There wasn’t a sense of bitter or burnt taste, perhaps a slightly fruity taste if anything, but I am not good at labeling flavors like some people.

I still have a lot of coffee beans, and they will be roasted. The next round will be another 1/2 cup, but the heat will be a bit higher. I will also use the wok, and a whisk instead of the spoon.

So, was this little adventure a success? Yes! I didn’t set off the smoke alarms, the house didn’t burn down, the coffee was tasty, and I didn’t go crazy stirring the roasting beans. More to come in the form of darker beans.