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Been roasting my own beans for some months. Thought I’d share my latest batch, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe
(lemmy.world)
Really enjoying roasting my own coffee these last several months. I got tired of inconsistent, too dark batches when I was ordering light and medium roasts from Fresh Roasted Coffee.
I roast stovetop, using a stainless steel popcorn popper, this one for anybody interested.
Took the photos just after roasting, they’ll lighten up a bit more as they cool and gas off, from past experience.
Any recommendations for getting into this? And does it save any money or is it purely for quality?
Quality at close to regular prices. No savings.
I save quite a bit. Was paying almost $40 per 2 lbs bag of roasted coffee from Fresh Roasted, and other vendors charge more. Got these beans from Burman Coffee, I think the Yirgacheffe was $9.25 per lb at the time, that’s like half the price.
Currently washed grade 1 Yirgacheffe is going $10 per pound, with slight discounts at bulk.
For me in Toronto, Gr4 Yirgacheffe is 11.87$ per lbs if you buy 15lbs at a time (as I do), grocery store whole bean shit is 24.99 for 907g. If 1lbs is 453.5gr the comparison is ...
$0.027/g for green
$0.026/g for grocery
But add the roaster, time and energy, I'm not saving anything, but I drink a MUCH better coffee. It really depends on what beans are for sale when I'm buying. I have had that "perfect bean that makes the perfect cup", twice in my life and I've been chasing it ever since.
I guess it depends on the roaster. My stovetop pot was $75, which was literally paid for within a few batches of coffee, seeing as I was buying 4 lbs for around $75 + shipping, whereas now I can buy 4 lbs for about $34 + flat $8 shipping.
Power is free, as I've got solar and battery on my home and my house is net-metered. And for time, well, if I were to charge, I guess it would be around maybe $14 a batch at my given hourly rate, but I suppose for better coffee it's worth it. And that's nitpicking, since I can make a week's worth of coffee in 15 minutes. It's always fresh, never bad, never delayed, my house gets to smell like chocolate and coffee for a day or two, and I enjoy the process (I also make my own peanut butter and yogurt, and my wife makes jams and bakes). Consider it a hobby in my case, either way I'd be drinking it.
Saves money and I’m getting better quality roasts overall, so long as I don’t screw anything up. And if a roast is bad I’m less upset because I paid less and did it myself instead of paying more and expecting better from the vendor.
So far everything I’ve made has ranged from “drinkable, at least better than Dunkin or Starbucks” to very good, and better than what I received from online specialty roasters. Partly better because I enjoy light roasts, and commercial “light roast” still runs darker than my preference, and now I’m in control.
It’s easy to get into home roasting, all you need is a stovetop popcorn popper or a cast iron or steel pan. A laser thermometer is recommended, though not required.
Some good videos for pan and popcorn popper methods:
https://youtu.be/EniBymmi-cw?is=9TlHcx98KLPT8r96
https://youtu.be/0a1-qd5BySE?is=CcMcMmkENmV3ntF6
Only major caveat worth noting is that if you prefer dark roasts, either open the windows or do it outside on a grill, as darker roasts will smoke.
It’s a bit better but still not cheap. I buy for instance yirgacheffe at 19 euro/kg green beans. Roaster (itop) costs about 650. I presume stove top roaster is a bit cheaper . So it still is money. But if I compare it to roasted beans from my local hipsters it can be around 30-60 euro/kg
I roast a lbs at a time using a cast iron pan on my propane grill... Roasting makes a ton of smoke.
For me, it's a cost savings and a quality upgrade. My wife and I drink mostly half caf coffee, so I typically roast a good quality decaf to mix into our regular. At a price point of about$8 per lbs plus shipping, I normally order 5-10 lbs at a time to save on flat rate shipping.
All told, I'm probably paying about$10 a pound for my home made half caf. It would probably be something like 12-16 for a 12 oz bag of similar quality coffee at the store. So we never feel bad when we want to have a second pot since it's cheaper than store bought, and we're not razzed on caffeine.
So how to get started? Go but some green beans and cook it in a pan. Couldn't be easier! Just never stop stirring.