Just curious, but is there some measure of detriment using a hot air popcorn popper?

Thanks!

E4A

It has worked great for me. I just ordered another five pound bag. I ordered the Traditional Italian Espresso Blend. MMMMMMM goooooooood.

Thanks Intel!

I like all kinds, but lately I've been making an effort to buy Organic and Fair Trade certified beans...sometimes I'll even try to get shade grown.

Just doing my part.

Hi Ryan.

Damn you pablo!!

Kona as the house blend- sheesh!!

Howdy.

MMM, Kona.

echo3alpha, there's nothing wrong with using a popper. The reason I upgraded to the best air roaster available was for several reasons.

1) Poppers are hard to control roasts. This won't matter to you, but after a while, I wanted to be able to control it more, namely slow it down.

2) Capacity. My old popper could only handle 80g. I use 56g in 1 pot of coffee. That means I had to do 4 batches to get 1 weeks worth of coffee. With the new machine, I do 2 batches.

3) smoke and chaffe. The new machine has a vent attachment that I hooked dryer hose to and vent the exhaust out a window. It also has a builtin chaffee collecting unit. So, I can roast indoors comfortably.

There is nothing wrong with using a popper. You may never out grow it. In fact, there are several people who have used variacs, dimmer switches, and multiple thermometers to modify a popper to become the best roasters you can ever hope to find.

Stupid question - all told, how much does it cost you to roast a pound of beans? Is it much cheaper than just buying them from ***edited***? How much work is it? Does it take much practice before you're roasting top-notch coffee?

I'm not sure I can handle another expensive hobby...

wmjiskelly,

You can sink a hundred or several hundred bucks on a good roaster. However, once you have the roaster, it is actually cheaper to roast your own beans than to buy them roasted.

If you wanted a cheap way to try out roasting, do a Google search on the popcorn popper or heatgun/dogbowl (stainless steel mixing bowl) roasting techniques. You'll get some good results from these. The HG/DB method will allow you to roast more beans at one time. You can get your beans from Sweet Marias or other places on the net. Green beans are cheap and have a good shelf life.

wjm, a pound of Kenya roasted will run about $14. For raw green, it's $4.

Hmmm. But how many pounds will I destroy before figuring out how to roast them correctly? And once I figure that out, will I really want the special $12 lb of Kenya? And, again, do you think your coffee tastes better than what you could buy pre-roasted?

And would I then need to buy a $200 coffee maker?

I beleive the coffee I roast is better than anything I buy in the stores. I started with an air popper and the info provided by sweet marias. I really only ruined a batch or two which amounts to a pot or two.

I've since switched to a roaster and it is easier to control, but the popper worked fine.

No expensive coffee maker is required. I have a krups, but I really enjoy my french press when making a full bodied coffee to have with a cigar.

Sweet marias is loaded with info. I highly suggest springing for a sampler and a $10 - 15 air popper. If you don't like it for whatever reason you are out less than $40. You'll like it though and end up buying a roaster 🙂

Thanks for the info. Interesting stuff.