Furthering my coffee addiction: home coffee roasting
January 16, 2011 § 1 Comment
I’ve always been a bit of a coffee nut from the time I was a little kid when I’d beg my grandmother to pour some of her coffee in my milk after dinner. After college, I worked as a barista instead of taking a job I wasn’t sure I’d like to save money to backpack around Europe. In business school I tried to talk a Costa Rican coffee producer into taking me on for an internship which unfortunately didn’t pan out.
From that point on I’ve just been a consumer of coffee, some really amazing and some really awful. I’ve never tried Blue Bottle coffee, but I am a big fan of Intelligentsia and Stumptown. I’ve always been good about buying fresh beans and grinding them before I brew them at home, but I’ve never ventured into the world of home roasting.
Having no idea really where to start I did a Google search and found a really informative company called Sweet Maria’s which has basically everything you need to get started. I also found out how relatively easy it is to do; it’s pretty much as simple as popping popcorn.
I went ahead and ordered their starter kit and was also amazed how inexpensive it is to give it a try. Buying green coffee beans and roasting is actually about half the cost of buying beans in the grocery store and significantly less than in specialty stores.
Other than roasting, I’m also going to be exploring local roasters so I can stop having to bring coffee back in my suitcase. Some of them even host weekly educational events, so I’ll be checking those out as well.
I’m looking forward to giving home roasting a whirl and if anyone is interested in trying some of what I roast, leave me a comment. I’ll ship some to you later in the week!
52 To Do 
I will gladly take some coffee beans. I’ll take some canned pickles as well. Enjoying your blog Darcie.