Roasting coffee in a castiron pan

Originally published at: Roasting coffee in a castiron pan | Boing Boing

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A friend of mine would roast his coffee in a popcorn air popper. It was good coffee.

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My local farmer’s market has unroasted coffee beans… I might get a bag and try that sometime…

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I’ve heard of people doing this, as well. If I had a popper (or knew someone who did), I’d try it out. I love a fresh roasted coffee.

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i’ve done this. air popper, specifically the Poppery 2 model. l wouldn’t do this inside, because it makes a TON of smoke and once the beans start cracking and popping it also makes a mess. i picked up a couple at a thrift store for $2 each. much easier than this, because the beans keep moving more uniformly, and the air popper blows the chaff out and away while they are roasting, so doing it outside helps keep the mess down.

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I’ve done it with the Poppery 2, works great, but doesn’t allow you to roast more than ~1-2 pots of coffee at a time. I switched to a bread machine (modified to just run the paddle when plugged in) + hot air gun for ~1lb of coffee per roast.

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For years I went to a local coffee shop run by an Ethiopian couple. Ever few months they would hold a Coffee Ceremony where they would roast coffee in a cast iron pan over a an electric hob in the middle of their seating area. Every one would sit around and chat. They would discuss the history of coffee in Ethiopia and the social aspects of coffee in Ethiopian culture. All the while the room would fill with the smell of fresh roasted coffee. Once the roasting was done they would grind the coffee and brew it in a traditional Jebena and serve everyone some of the coffee.

They never charged for anything provided during the ceremony, they considered it a way to share their culture and build a community around coffee.

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This is one of the oldest ways to roast coffee, but it is fiddly and very hard to get right. Hot air methods, either with a popper or with a heat gun and a bowl of some sort (dog bowls are popular), are easier.

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Roasting coffee in a castiron pan

Misread that as “castration pan”…not even sure what that would be, or why you’d roast coffee in one… :thinking:

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Strongly suggest only doing this outdoors.

It’s not good for you, or your kitchen.

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That sounds like a wonderful experience.

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yeah, it’s super time-consuming to roast a couple pounds that way, which is what we’d go through in two weeks. got to be quite a chore. roasting a pound at a time in a bread machine is brilliant – too bad we got rid of our bread machine ages ago!

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Second, third, and forth for doing this outdoors.
Also, roasting coffee does NOT smell good; think burning popcorn on steroids. It’s not the ‘roasty coffee’ smell you expect.
I’ve done it in a cast iron pan and the results were less than stellar. It IS a good introduction to how roasting actually works since you can see, hear, and smell the entire process up close and personal. I’ve roasted in a hot air popper (works nice, a bit fiddly, and the results are a bit uneven) and have settled on an RK drum roaster (built like a tank, works like a charm but takes getting used to since you can’t see the roast) in my gas grill.
For green beans and a variety of different roasters, including a modified air popper that works well for not a bunch of $$, try Sweet Maria’s. Nice stuff, nice folks. (disclaimer: I am not an employee and don’t represent the company, I’m just one happy customer for several years).

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I’ve always thought it smelled specifically like burnt brownies – there’s an underlying note of over-caramelized sweetness that I associate with ruined baked goods.

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When I first moved to SoCal in 1991, there was a coffee roaster down the hill. The smell was something awful the mornings they roasted. A few years later, I worked for a small OC chain and they mentioned that the owner used to get complaints when he first started roasting coffee in his garage during the 70s. He eventually moved to a business park close to John Wayne Airport.

Yep, that’s the smell.

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Your nose is much more finely attuned than mine. I get the ‘wet grass’ as the beans begin to brown up and outgas moisture, then it’s burnt popcorn all the way to the end. Then again, when I taste coffee (or wine or whisky) I never get the ‘hint of raisin with a light chocolate undertone and hibiscus floating over the top’…it’s either ‘mmmmm good’, ‘holy crap, really good’, or ‘meh’.

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To be sure, I have the (dis?)advantage of smelling coffee roasting at a distance of several blocks (I’ve lived half a mile from a roastery for several years), so the VOCs that make it downwind that far might offer a more refined note.

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ROASTY? Putting that into my rotation.

i’ll second this. that’s where i bought my green beans, and i’d buy from them again if i ever decide to roast more. great people, great selection, great prices. and they also used to have an entire section dedicated to roasting your own beans with a popcorn popper, if i recall.

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Pro-tip: if you loan out your pan, keep track of it!

Ayer salió Josefina
A buscar su buen caldero
Ayer salió Josefina
A buscar su buen caldero
En casa de una vecina
Pa’ tostar un buen café.
En casa de una vecina
Pa’ tostar un buen café.
No, estaba en casa de Eugenia
Ni estaba en casa de Antonia
No, estaba en casa de Eugenia
Ni estaba en casa de Antonia
El caldero se ha perdido
Lo tienen otras personas.
El caldero se ha perdido
Lo tienen otras personas.

Ayer salió Josefina
A buscar su buen caldero
Ayer salió Josefina
A buscar su buen caldero
En casa de una vecina
Pa’ tostar un buen café.
En casa de una vecina
Pa’ tostar un buen café.
No, estaba en casa de Eugenia
Ni estaba en casa de Antonia
No, estaba en casa de Eugenia
Ni estaba en casa de Antonia
El caldero se ha perdido
Lo tienen otras personas.
El caldero se ha perdido
Lo tienen otras personas.

Ay. Que dónde está mi calderito
Calderito de tostar café.
Calderito de tostar café.

Cuando me lo traigan lo tostaré
Calderito de tostar café.
Se toma en Cueto y en Marcané
Calderito de tostar café.

Lo usa Pancha y la vieja Inés
Calderito de tostar café.

Que dónde está mi calderito
Calderito de tostar café.
Calderito de tostar café.

Cuando me lo traigan lo tostaré
Calderito de tostar café.

Se toma en Cueto y en Marcané
Calderito de tostar café.

Lo usa Pancha y la vieja Inés
Calderito de tostar café.
Calderito

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