Can You Smell What The Popper Is Cooking?

On Saturday, Jeremy graciously allowed me access to the wonderful world of coffee roasting. Since he is my mentor, I will take the same walk that he did to find enlightenment.

Now, you can go online and buy a $200 professional roaster, but doesn't that seem a little too easy? Surely the hippies have found a way around this conformist one-appliance-for-one-purpose process. By God, they did it! The West Bend Poppery II was born in 1982 for air-popping popcorn, but it didn't take long for someone to figure out that the design of the air vents, the temperature it reached, and the shape of the machine made it perfect for roasting coffee. The 1200 watt Poppery II and its predecessor the 1500 watt Poppery have been the gold standard for cheap roasting. Since they have not made these models for years, the only way to get one is to hit eBay. Mine is currently in the mail, but we should be roasting within the week. This is what it will look like.

What is a coffee roaster without some coffee? Today I purchased 16 pounds of green coffee beans from Sweet Maria's. They are a renowned coffee bean importer and a great resource for at home coffee roasting FAQs. Coffee is grown in many different countries around the world so I made sure to mix up my regions.

Here is my haul:

Sumatra Takengon Classic -2 lbs

Costa Rica Helsar de Zarcero -2 lbs

Brazil Cerrado DP Fazenda Aurea -2 lbs

Ethiopia Moplaco Yirga Cheffe -2 lbs

Green Coffee Sampler- 8 1lb samples -8 lbs

And so begins a treacherous, but delicious journey into the world of coffee enthusiasm. When one becomes an enthusiast, you can no longer be called an addict. I'm like a chocoholic, but for coffee. More to come.......