Hobby home coffee roasting

I don't consider myself a coffee snob, but one day, I heard about someone who roasts coffee from home, and wanted to see what it was all about. I was tired of buying "fresh" coffee from the grocery store, and worse, paying twice as much as folgers or maxwell house for it. Turns out, it's much easier than I thought it would be, and the cost has been Less than $6 per pound. The most economical way to get started is an old, hot air popcorn popper, and that's pretty much it! Some green, unroasted coffee beans from amazon, and you're good to go. I've roasted about 3 pounds so far, and it's the best coffee I've ever had. You can control the taste depending on how long it's roasted for. Takes minutes to roast a batch. Here's the instruction sheet I found:

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0251/9873/files/Directions_Roasting_WB_Poppery.doc

Some pics from yesterday:

 

You need another hobby, right?

If you drink coffee much, this would be a good one....

 

How do you crush them?

 

I think I'm going to try this. I drink coffee like its going out of style.

 

Just look up "coffee grinder", and you have lots of choices and price points. I was using a $10 chopper-style grinder that was fine, but I found out that it's not the most consistent way. I've learned that serious coffee people use what's called a conical burr grinder. After research, I bought myself this one for Christmas. It was $20 cheaper back then. I know it all sounds like a money pit, but it really has upped my coffee drinking enjoyment. If there is any one thing you can do for better tasting coffee, its grind it right before brewing.

Capresso 560.01 Infinity Burr Grinder, Black Amazon.com: Capresso 560.01 Infinity Burr Grinder, Black: Kitchen & Dining

 

Interesting.