Quote:
Originally Posted by xg4bx
Coffee being one of my true loves in life, I decided to grind my own. The bland, flavorless brew sold in cans was starting to make me nauseas with its flat taste.
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I am roasting the coffee myself.
I have found an internet site that sells green beans (here in Europe, in my country) and the price for decent beans is comparable, even a bit less, than what you would pay for roasted, ground Arabica in shop.
You can roast your first batch on a stove in an old skillet or any [non-teflon!] pan. You will just have to air the room thoroughly afterwards.
Stir coffee vigorously so it gets roasted evenly. During roasting you will hear popping/crackling sounds at one moment, it will mean that the steam has left the bean and you will know that the beans are almost done. When you hear second popping/crackling - much quieter this time, the coffee is done. Now you have to cool it down quickly. I use an old ventilator. But be sure to cover freshly roasted coffee with fine mesh before blowing on it, or do it outside.
Of course, over the time you will improve your technique, but even such primitively roasted coffee is much better than the stuff you ordinarily buy in shops, because it is FRESH.
Nowadays I use hot-air popcorn popper for roasting. I paid 9.99Eur for it. Just take an empty can, remove top and bottom and place it on the popper during the roasting. Fill the popper only to two thirds with coffee. I roast my coffee on a balcony. Back yard is ideal, if you have one.
After roasting you have to cool the coffee down, so it doesn't burn from inside heat. You can use ventilator, you can spray it with a bit of water mist, you can pour it from pot to pot. I have installed switch in my popcorn maker that switches off the heating element and leaves the ventilator running.
Do give it a try. It is fun, and you can get great coffee for a very reasonable price.
For grinding the beans find and old, inexpensive burr grinder. It is the type of grinder that has two "stones" (today usually made from metal, or, for super fancy grinders from ceramics) that move *slowly* against each other. This way the size of ground coffee particles is uniform, and you can control the size. Do not buy those super-fancy, expensive grinders. Any grandma-type grinder will do.
There are much better descriptions of how to do that all over the net. But remember! You do not need expensive equipment, you do not need to spend entire Sunday afternoon making "the perfect cup of coffee", you do not need to dedicate half of the kitchen for preparation of coffee. This is supposed to be little fun project for getting good coffee for very reasonable price. Ten-fifteen minutes of work can get you very good coffee for the next week.
See youtube for "roasting coffee" to get a picture.