I can’t really explain it, but for about 3 months now I have been roasting my own coffee beans.  I get them fresh, still green and ready to be roasted over the next year or two.  I keep about a 30 pound stash (as it is called) on hand.  The beans are from all over the coffee producing world, places I would have never expected to grow coffee, or just never gave it thought, such as Cameroon.  I love coffee, but always felt it was somehow not quite right. 

When visiting our home in Costa Rica I would have freshly roasted coffee and it tasted as it smelled.  I also drank it black.  So, I wanted to try it.  After much research I got myself what is called an IR2, a good beginner roaster, though one can roast in a metal dog dish with a heat gun, over a fire, on a stove (with good ventilation), or go bigger and use drums which rotate over a grill.  For me, as the lone coffee drinker it was the IR2, which has a lot of room to learn the many different ways to roast, the different roast profiles of beans can be entered into the machine and so on.

Also, after much more research, I decided to buy my beans from Sweet Maria’s, one hell of a place.  The beans  all chosen after being tested by the owners, if they don’t reach a certain level of quality he doesn’t offer them, much different than other bean sellers.  I also found out that the way one grinds coffee makes a big difference.  A burr grinder is the way to go.  I eventually got one of the mid-priced grinders, the best I can do right now. And that first cup of coffee ground on it was about 10 times better than the whirly bird grinder.  Even my mother, whom I roast coffee for, bought one.

So, I could go on and on.  I urge you to check this out for it is amazing.  Look at the sites I have suggested, read about how much there is to learn, but know that you only need to go as far as you want and you will still have better coffee than you have ever had.  I can no longer drink any other coffee.  I am NOT a snob about it, I just don’t order it.

The first very cool thing I noticed about this is that I had found a calling, in a way, that I could make myself and offer as a gift.  The beans are less than half the cost of roasted beans, so that isn’t a major issue.  What is an issue is that I now have something I can take the time to make.  I choose the bean from nearly 60 countries and many beans from each, then I decide on the roast for that bean, for many beans have different flavors at certain roasts.  Then, I can give it as a gift.  It is a wonderful experience.  I feel so good.  For longer than I can remember I have felt “less than” due to the fact that I just didn’t have a hobby or avocation which I could share with others.  Now I do.

Next, and this caught me off guard, I found the roasting process to be a solitude experience, one that I love and can lose myself in, working over issues and thoughts as I go along my way.  The actual roast part takes a lot of concentration from all of the senses, but the quick prep and clean up, then writing my copious notes of each roast allows me to get lost and let the worries of the day slide off of me.  I may work out issues without really thinking of them, but more times than not it is just me and the beans.  I can truly - and I know this sounds odd - feel the way the bean wants to be roasted.  Then I try my best.  I write a profile of temperature and time for each cycle I feel it needs or experience has taught me it needs.  I then watch and listen.  The ears play a critical part in the roast, as do the eyes to see the color of the bean and the nose to catch the smell of the smoke.  (I use a dryer duct hose connected to the top of the roaster and attached at the other end to my kitchen exhaust fan to drive out the smoke, but the smell is still there). 

This is really hard to explain, but it is a spiritual experience for me.  I love to try new beans, all of which are Free Trade and Organic.  Actually, I don’t lose myself, but I find and live in another part of me.  It is peaceful and calm.  It is exciting and even, at times, tense - when trying a new bean.  It can take many roasts with different profiles to dial in the flavors such as chocolate, cherry, cedar, blueberry, other fruits, even an earthy flavor - I find it all amazing.

I urge you to check it out.  You can spend very little by using a popcorn popper or an off the shelf roaster, then, should you want, you can graduate to all sorts of amazing contraptions, none of which need to set you back much, though you can go the way of the professionals and spend tens of thousands - do that if you are opening a coffee shop. 

I can swear that the coffee I drink now is nothing like I have ever had.  It changes each day after the roast and will stay fresh for about 10 days or so, but even past that it is better than any canned or Starbucks coffee, in my opinion and I am sure you will agree.  What I learned about the chain stores is that they have to make their product taste the same all over.  Well, the roast of the bean changes with each orchard it may come from, how the crop was that year and many other variables.  So, to be truly fresh each store would need a great person to roast the beans, then truly great barristas to make the drinks.  Since they need to keep the flavor the same they take the bean to the just burned point.  That way each drink will taste the same.  One nickname people use for one store is “Charbucks” due to how burned the beans are.  I DO NOT dislike the stores themselves.  I love to see people get together and have fun and talk.  I just wish they could taste the many beans out there - I wish the chains would risk it and give us more credit.  Sorry, off of my soapbox.

Okay, try it.  Drop me a note and let me answer your questions.  I will be honest.  I may be new, but I am deep into this.  I may even roast tonight - just to give it away to a friend tomorrow or the next day.

That’s it for now.  I just wanted to share this new and very true passion of mine.  Take care, please.