Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsThese worked really well for my first attempts at roasting coffee at home, on a budget, without expensive equipment.
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2018
I recently wanted to try roasting my own beans on a budget, and those are the ones I made my first experiments with. My initial attempts at roasting them in a pan and with a hot air popcorn popper were not successful (they ended up burned, or baked but not roasted);.
But then i discovered a popcorn popper pot with a hand crank agitator - heating the beans on medium on a ceramic range, and agitating the beans at a stiff pace. Every once in a while I'd give them a really fast whirl or reverse direction for a few seconds to pull all of them to the edge of the pot to prevent any stuck ones from burning. To cool them off, i'd carry the pot out onto the balcony while shaking the pot, and dumping them onto a large cookie sheet. Depending on how many I roast at the same time, I may use a second sheet so they don't get too crowded which would prevent them from cooling properly.
This approach consistently produced even results both on a medium roast and a dark roast. I then store the cooled beans in small batches in Ziploc bags (pushing all the air out), let them rest for about 4-5 hours, and use them up within four days; hand-grinding only as much as i need for a cup, brewing them with water at 80 degrees celsius using an Aero Press.
I'm by no means a coffee connoisseur, but even with my initial experiments I could taste delicious flavors and aromas I have never tasted in coffee before. I made a few batches for friends and colleagues (mostly because i was trying a few variations in my roasting technique and couldn't drink as much coffee as i roasted).
Eventually i ran out of beans, trying my "old" coffee again that i really liked prior. However, something changed: my palate. Roasting my own beans and preparing coffee as fresh as i could, i now don't want to go back. And while i will certainly try other beans as well, I am really happy with how these worked for my first home-roasting experiments. For now, I'll keep re-ordering these..
