Coffee Roasting!
I have been roasting coffee beans for about two years, now.  When I think back and try to remember what got me interested in roasting my own coffee...... I draw a blank.  Someone must have told me about it and I thought it sounded neat. And damned if it isn't neat!!!

I started roasting green coffee beans in a hot air popcorn popper!  Who would have thought?  Actually, if you get the right popper, it works great and it is inexpensive!  It is fast!  In 8 minutes, or so, you have roasted beans.  The draw back is that you can only do about 3oz batches at a time.  It starts with the right popper... this is the one everyone says to get.  (Of course, they don't make it any more, so you have to buy them used on the internet.)  The one to get is a West Bend, 4-Quart Automatic Poppery II Hot Air Corn Popper, Model Number 82102.

I checked out all the coffee roasting websites on line.  Some were better than others.  The absolute best coffee site I found is Sweet Maria's .  This site has everything.  They not only provide green coffee beans from all around the world, they tell you in great detail all about each coffee bean batch.  Additionally, if you want to know the precise details about roasting, it is on Sweet Maria's.  All the supplies you could possible need are sold on Sweet Maria's too... everything from roasting machines to coffee brewing filters.  Before I did anything, I spent a week reading everything on this website.

When I first started I kept precise records for each roast.  I'd combine these records with printouts from Sweet Maria's site which told everything about the coffee beans I was roasting.  All of this was put together in a notebook and it was quite the masterpiece. I've included some pictures of those early days with detail record keeping.  My old high school chum, Jim Evans,  was visiting Arizona... actually he came here to get his pilot's license. My very close friend, Kelly Stites, runs the best flight school in the territory... Kelly's Aviation!   Anyway, Jim is a chemist by trade and had to keep meticulous records when working.  He started me out with all the record keeping! Pretty nice, huh? And by the way, Jim got his Private Pilot's Certificate at the ripe old age of 65. Not many old guys can do that!

Generally the steps we took in the earlier days were.. buy the green beans, roast them in the Poppery II, put them in jars, leave the lids off and let the roasted beans "Breath" or "Gas Off". When it is time to brew the coffee, we will grind the beans and throw them in the brew basket.  Presto! Better coffee than you can buy at the local grocery store... by far!

 

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Neat and Orderly
Wow! Can't believe all the trouble this was.


Mason Jars!
The small Mason Jars turned out to be perfect.


Records & fReports
There wasn't anything I could learn! It is all right there for everyone to read.


Thanks Jim!
Jars neatly lined up, with detailed labels. It is "Breathing" !