We recently ran out of our favourite organic coffee beans that we used to be able to buy at a discount before we moved up North. We'd thought about roasting our own coffee beans in the past, but thought it would be too difficult, who roasts their own beans?!?
So we started Googling for coffee roasters just to see what price we'd be looking at. There were some gadgets you put on your stove and turned over the gas flame which seemed tedious. We then went on eBay and started searching for coffee roasters and as bizarre as it still sounds, the search results were all popcorn makers! I was curious so I clicked through on a few of the auctions and read the descriptions...people were using their popcorn makers as coffee roasters and apparently it was the thing to do!
We did a little YouTubing and watched people roasting in their popcorn makers, seemed easy and cheap enough to give it a go, so off we went to buy a popcorn maker. If it was a dud idea we could always use of the popcorn maker for it's indended use!
It's turned out to be a great investment and fun hobby! We even made Christmas gifts for family of fresh roasted coffee beans...
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| Modified Breville Crazy Popper...$40. That's a car exhaust tip sticking out of it to help keep the beans in and draw the heat out of the popper. |
We source our green coffee beans online and order a variety so we could make our own "blends".
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| Before roasting: the green organic coffee beans that we buy online. |
So basically all you need to do is put 1 cup of green beans (140g) into the popcorn maker. We recommend you use an extension cord and take the popcorn maker outside as the "chaff" will fly out everywhere and the smell will be quite strong - it's not something you want to do inside!
The process only take 6-8 minutes so make sure you have all the things you need at the ready.
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| You'll need: 2 colanders, 2 aluminum baking trays, oven mitts, stop watch |
1. Turn on a timer or stop watch so you can keep count, and immediately turn the coffee maker on agitating the beans with a wooden spoon until they start to tumble over themselves like clothes in a clothes dryer.
2. Listen for the "first crack" which is a lound crackling sound. You'll also have a lot of chaff coming off the beans. First crack only lasts a minute or two then the beans will be quiet again.
3. You'll start hearing the "second crack" which is much quieter like cellophane being scrunched up. We usually stop the popcorn maker as soon we hear the "second crack"; you can extend longer for as much as 10 seconds if you like a darker roast. In total, the process should only take 6-8 minutes!
4. Have two metal collanders ready and with oven mitts tip the beans out into the collander and tip from one to another to help cool the beans down quickly.
5. Once they've cooled down slightly tip them out onto an aluminum baking tray. Once the tray seems to warm up tip it out onto a second aluminum tray. The sooner the beans are cool the sooner the cooking process is stopped.
6. Leave the coffee beans out on the tray for 24 hours. They may pop off the tray now and again so you might want to put a teatowel over them!
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| The finished roast...see the oils coming out the bean on the right? |
We have overheated the machine a couple of times but once it's cooled down it comes back to life. We wouldn't recommend you do more than 2 batches in one session for this reason. These beans are the best we've ever had and it's probably down to the freshness factor! We make batches every week so we can have yumminess like this...
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| A double shot - lots of crema! Full of flavour and kick! |
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| The finished product - a soy/oat latte |
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