I Tried Roasting Coffee At Home For The First Time

[@morgandrinkscoffee]

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[@cbryce9243]

In the 80's, a friend showed me how to roast my own green beans on the stove in my cast iron pan. It took what felt like forever, but it did taste delicious! And that feeling you talked about in doing it yourself, was very satisfying. I look forward to seeing all your upcoming roasting methods. Maybe I missed it, but how long did this roasting machine take? Love your show! Thank you!

[@LokiKeanu]

i used to love morning brew but it is very US orientated being in the uk that was a shame i couldnt localize it

[@caroaszklar7902]

Let’s roast coffe together: ur not good enough for me to drink u 🤬 Also, I lover ur video, keep going!

[@ikebriones2158]

❤❤❤

[@thedev-yani]

Have you tried Filter coffee from India? Tastes very different but the traditional way of preparing it feels amazing.

[@loganbeck5028]

As someone who has been home roasting coffee semi-successfully for almost 2 years, I am excited to see you go on this journey and show others the fun and potentially money saving world of roasting your own coffee.

[@lrom5445]

Where do you source your (green) beans?

[@loganbeck5028]

@@lrom5445 I generally buy from Sweet Maria’s. A lot of their beans are around 6.80-8.00 per lb, and they are super good and traceability is great. Shipping is $8 up until more than about 15 lbs of green coffee.

[@jcbartlett25]

How long do the beans last before roasting?

[@adamjosm]

@@jcbartlett25 green coffee is good for many months (about a year) if kept in a cool dark place in a sealed bag. Some people put it into the freezer to store it for even longer without losing any freshness.

[@jcbartlett25]

@@adamjosm thanks! This definitely seems like a great way to save some money in the long run 🤔

[@rabiesbiter5681]

Hello, Morgan! I'm a pretty passionate home roaster and have been since 2018. I love the idea of more people roasting at home. Unfortunately, it's by and large a lost artform here in the anglophone world. If I may be so bold, I'd like to point a few things out from my past observations: 1. No, you can't even in theory just leave coffee alone and come back to roasted coffee, even with a timer. Things can go wrong. Know where your nearest fire extinguisher is and always stay with the coffee so you won't need the fire extinguisher. 2. Color variance between beans doesn't tell you as much as you seem to think. The beans will actually even out the next day. Yes, you're right that you should cool them quickly, but as they degas for the first twelve hours, they'll still even out a little bit. Check back the next day and they'll look better more likely than not. 3. It's color variance on the individual beans that you should worry about, especially while roasting. If you see the tips turning darker than the rest of the bean, that's called tipping and it will give you harsh, smokey flavors. I sadly see it a lot in commercial roasts. If you notice the face (flat part) turning darker, then remarkably enough, that's called facing and will give you even nastier bitterness and smokiness. I saw a LOT of facing on your roast. 4. Airflow will be the difference between having to accept facing and not having to accept facing. The heat gun method (the Wired Gourmet has an excellent video on that) will help you avoid facing. The Fresh Roast also helps prevent facing, but you can also install thermocouples so you can actually profile it, and the Fresh Roast SR700 even lets you hook it up to a computer for maximum repeatability. But the Fresh Roast is pricey and the SR700 has a very low capacity, even with an extension tube sold by a third party. I think the SR700 is a great way to learn profiling, but the heat gun method is great. Another great option for air flow is using a wok (although you'd need a decent wok range) or any other light, conductive metal or clay pan that has high walls and is relatively round. Cast iron isn't a great option, because you need to agitate it CONSTANTLY. Think like a Chinese cook tossing chow fun in a wok. That's the airflow I'm talking about that prevents facing. Also, if you have an electric or conduction range, this will only bake the beans, so. . . again, heat gun could be your best bet. 5. I keep that exact bag of green Nicaraguan beans around because of the pandemic and I always get underwhelming flavor from it. Try a few different ones. Amazon hasn't much, but local roasters sometimes sell green coffee and Sweet Maria's always has something very nice in stock. 6. This was your first attempt, which you didn't even log well enough to get much data out of, and you used mediocre green coffee from Amazon and didn't let it rest even so much as the bare minimum twelve hours, and you STILL GOT GOOD COFFEE. Which you ENJOYED, even just a little. Imagine how great it will taste when you experiment, learn to log and dial in your roasts in some basic manner (If only with a timer and scale) and find a method you enjoy. You'll get more enjoyment out of coffee than you've ever gotten, I promise! Oh, and wait until you start sharing your more competent roasts with family and friends. You'll be so glad you started down this path. Sorry for going on so long like that. I just have a lot to say about coffee roasting. I love it so much. It's a pain and fussy sometimes, but it's rewarding.

[@coopervorpe4427]

I am so glad to have read this comment! I started working at Starbucks and wanted to learn more about coffee brewing and roasting that we don't learn on the job. This was educational for me and I am eager to try roasting beans myself now, even if I do get a pound of free coffee a week as a work benefit! Thanks again for the comment 😀

[@rabiesbiter5681]

@@coopervorpe4427 Glad to help you if I did! While I'm at it, there are a few things I wanted to add. First of all, apparently the SR700 is discontinued. Shame because it's a great educational too. But a logbook and thermocouple can be very educational too. Second, always remember that you're running a different race from the pros. You work at Starbucks. Starbucks roasters have warehouses full of mass quantities of coffee, which they have to roast in an exactingly repeatable way day in and day out, and also blend to keep a consistent quality. You, however, will likely not have a warehouse. You'll be buying comparatively small quantities, which will likely be single origin. And just like a tree won't give you apples that taste the same every season, you'll have to get used to the fact that coffee from the same origin will taste different every harvest. Industry standards are useful to learn about, but our challenge is slightly different. We have to learn how to get the best of something that's a little different from what we worked with last time and different still from what we'll work with next time. As you gain experience and your senses get fine-tuned, this challenge will get easier. Get excited, not discouraged. Even at worst, you'll still likely have something good enough to convert a coffee skeptic. And remember, I'm excited for you. It's nice to see others coming back to the roots of coffee culture with me -- and that's home roasting.

[@catherinem254]

This was incredibly helpful! Thank you so much for all this great detail.

[@philidor9657]

It doesn't seem like that stirrer does as good of a job as they intended. Just kind of moves everything around instead of tumbling and mixing it. Then again I'm not a coffee roaster, so maybe that's by design. Just something i noticed

[@Caffeine.And.Carvings]

I i might ask, do you have an opinion on the hive roaster, or the rotating drum over gas fire the guy from peaceful cuisine uses? They look fun and like the create an even roast on the cheap side

[@maxvanbeers4548]

Hey Morgan, As a roaster I'll try to give you a couple tips on how to track your roast. These are the things I write down on our Probat sample roaster (when cropster is not an option). one of the most relevant things to know is weightloss, wich you calculate using the weight in and weight out (old - new : old * 100) gives you the percentage of weigtloss. A good rule of thumb is 10% to 14% for filtercoffee and 15 to 18% ish for espresso. the phases you want to track are: - the yellowing (maillard phase) - the first Crack - developement time. depending on the roaster the yellowing should happen at arount 3 minutes, the first crack at 5:30/6 minutes and developing should be done around 7:30 for a medium dark espresso. these numbers are based on a 100 gram roast in a convection/conduction roaster. troubleshooting: if the yellowing phase comes to fast, the chanses are high that your crack will come to fast as well and the inside of the bean won't be as developed as the outside. If the sound of the crack is very faint or there is no crack, your heat is to low and you'll be 'baking' the coffee, giving it a bitter, smokey or harsh flavour. All of this is very general info that might not be accurate for your setup but at least it is something to start and reference with. Good luck on your journey!

[@morgandrinkscoffee]

This is incredibly helpful, thank you!

[@maxvanbeers4548]

@@morgandrinkscoffee Those super light beans you had in your roast could either be 'quakers' indicating an incorrect picking time, when the cherry wasn't ripe yet making it very dense and resistant to the heat of the roaster. It could also be that this roaster can't produce enough heat to give 200 grams of coffee the 'momentum' it needs to develop all the way. I'd try this roaster on a nice high heat with a 100grams of coffee and see if the color is more consistent

[@matthewtikka5133]

@@maxvanbeers4548 I use a different roaster but I also noticed better results with less beans in the roaster.

[@whoami724y]

i've usually got my first crack at around 9-10 minutes and finish at around 11-13 minute mark, does it count as baked? i thought i was doing it right this whole time lol because i've read that usually first crack comes in at the 8-9 minute mark

[@maxvanbeers4548]

@@whoami724y as long as it is cracking you're probably totally fine. There are so many variables that it's hard to say.

[@notme123123]

I’ve been home roasting for years and I never love the coffee until around 5 days rest. Definitely compare back after a few days.

[@loganbeck5028]

I have found that to generally be the case, but I have had some good brews the next day by using Lance Hedrick’s pour over method which includes two blooms. This helps remove a lot more CO2, and leads to a decent cup, at least in my opinion.

[@notme123123]

@@loganbeck5028 I’ll have to look that up. I had not heard of a double bloom.

[@kevchard5214]

I normally go at least 3 days but you are correct it develops a better coffee.

[@ericsefforts]

I have only roasted my own coffee a handful of times but letting it rest for a few days makes a huge difference. I noticed diminishing returns after around 3 days or so for my roasts but that was using the same beans roasted to similar levels each time so I imagine the amount of time needed could vary. I used it with pour over because the few times I tried it with my Flair it was bad. I don't think I can roast well enough for espresso with my machine, which is the same style used in this video.

[@urneckisnowbroken]

I've just started cleaning my bookshelf, now It's gonna be a nice experience because i can listen to Morgan✨

[@deadchannelseriouslyitsdea9776]

Cleaning as in dusting or are ya reorganizing?

[@urneckisnowbroken]

@@deadchannelseriouslyitsdea9776 had to take all books out (and dust them) so i could build another shelf and then reorganize lol

[@beafraidofinsectattack]

same, its fun listening to her coffee thingys while having a usual day

[@madisondehais5108]

Hey! I worked in a coffee roastery and if at all possible, I would STRONGLY recommend an air roaster. As the name suggests, it uses very hot air to roast the beans, as opposed to shifting them around on a metal surface. This results in a much more even roast and so long as you don't overfill it or leave it in for a super long time, it's hard for them to burn the coffee. If you like dark roasts it can also give you a really even, beautiful, glossy, dark roast that is harder to achieve with a more traditional roaster. Hope you see this and this helps! I got so excited when this popped up in my recommended, I adore your content so to see you try roasting was so much fun for me!

[@benfuct5880]

Have a suggestion for brand and model of air roaster ?

[@alsaenz3967]

@@benfuct5880 For smaller home roasts or just starting out the Freshroast is a good option. Either the SR540 or SR800 depending on funds and size you'd like to roast. Just know that you'll be roasting either a long session or roasting every few days.

[@FrancisR420]

Can I just use a popcorn popper?

[@madisondehais5108]

@@FrancisR420 you could try but I doubt a popcorn popper could get up to the temperature needed to roast coffee

[@BeaglefreilaufKalkar]

@@madisondehais5108 I actually use a popcorn popper for it, works fine

[@plaspohlme]

Agree it's a bit inconsistent, but fyi that light one is a "quaker" and it's a defective bean. You will have to sort those out. Just comes with the territory unless you are getting a very high graded coffee. This was fun to watch!

[@CUDA1970Terry]

I just acquired this same machine and found out right off the bat you will get uneven roasts when you fail to use the minimum suggested amount of 300 grams. Using closer to the maximum produces the best results. Understanding that this was produced 10 months ago, you have probably found out this information, but I believe it can be useful information for someone who may have just viewed this video. I have roasted coffee for over 20 years and have used several different methods. This machine seems to be a promising alternative to the more expensive machines for new roasters. PS. Love your videos...

[@doubleshot-films]

What temp do you set this roaster to? Do you increase the temp as you roast or just set once? Thanks!

[@markholm7050]

Looking at the beans stirring, I think I saw that while they appear well stirred in the circumferential direction, they don’t appear to be moving much in the radial direction. Perhaps the roast variation comes from temperature differences from the center of the machine out to the edge.

[@morgandrinkscoffee]

Very much so, that’s my ongoing theory as well

[@lizalove91]

Yeah I noticed that too like the middle ones weren’t moving

[@liamnewton-harding1440]

Looking at other videos of these kinds of home roasters, it looks like the arms never switched direction. Just pushing the beans around rather than gently tumbling them over the arms, allowing all "sides" of the bean to roast.

[@bfvader]

Without any actual experience, I felt like the beans would have moved around more evenly if there had been more of them in the roaster so the could "push" against each other and induce rolling. With the big gaps between the arms, it seems like they were just kind of sliding around rather than being properly agitated.

[@Platypi007]

Most other roasters give a lot more bean movement. This type of device works well for popcorn since the lighter popped kernels tend to rest on top of the unpopped ones, and you're also not roasting it just heating it until it expands. Drum roasters tumble the beans and fluid air bed/air poppers use heated air to spin the beans as they roast, both will give a much more even roast.

[@stuntmonkey00]

I have a coffee tree and every year it produces enough berries for exactly 1 cup of coffee lol. The first year I didn't know you had to separate the chaff so everything went into the grinder after I finished roasting it.

[@Muricata]

I loved this video. I really appreciate how prepared you came to try this, you made the video so educational but also it still felt like "I got a new toy and I'm playing with it" which is great. Can't wait to see what else may come from this series

[@skooter8691]

I've been home roasting for half a year now and I have to say, now that I have figured it out, my worst roast is better than the best stuff I can buy at the supermarket. I use a Freshroast SR800 with a Razzo extension and Artisan software for tracking the temperature of the roast.

[@orangepeals7210]

I spent about 6 months roasting coffee at home using a pan on a stove, and even though it was more labor intensive (constant manual stirring), it seemed about on par with this roaster but significantly quicker. 10 minutes or less. De-gassing helped a lot. I usually gave it about 3 to 7 days. It was paternal instinct keeping me drinking it, so I kept real coffee on hand to serve guests.

[@michaelcampbell6820]

I recently started roasting my own as well. After a little research I settled on a Fresh Roast 800 with an extension tube. The hotair style roasters have chaff collectors so you don't have to sift it out yourself. One of the green bean online suppliers I like has a very nice flavor profile tool to help zero in on the variety of beans you prefer. So far, it's been a fun addition to the "hobby" aspect of coffee - espresso. If you enjoy tinkering with things like temperature and pressure profiles on your espresso maker, you'll probably enjoy home roasting. Also, you should let the roasted beans outgas for a day or three before you use them.

[@blakewalker8270]

i have been roasting with the Kaldi roaster for about 2 years and I love the whole process. my pallet might not be too refined but I find the coffee I produce is well worth it. very even roasting is achieved in this roaster as well. cant wait to see what you do next!

[@CHR1TT3R]

Fun video! I started roasting in a similar roaster myself, I use a grill with a coffee drum inside now. Works pretty well. I've been roasting for a short while and letting the coffee rest for at least a full day really makes a difference. The flavor before and after the roast has rested is wildly different. Super excited to see what other methods you can come up with. 🙂

[@Sully365]

no kidding, that 24 hr wait period is crucial....

[@GMxTekhe]

I actually did use a little Prima popcorn maker to roast coffee, and it worked surprisingly well! The one thing I would stress is that letting it rest once you’ve roasted it is SUPER important. Would be really interested to see what yours is like in a couple of days :) If you do use a popcorn maker - couple of tips. First - direct the thing into a cardboard box or something, else your kitchen will be COVERED in chaff. Trust me. >_< Second - the top will get very hot and may start to melt the plastic. Be careful!! :)

[@morgandrinkscoffee]

Good to know, thank you!

[@weston06]

I started with a flower sifter and camp stove burner. Love home roasting and plan to expand my coffee roasting to local farmer's markets!!

[@benjaminschmidlkofer9339]

Ive been practicing making lattes for a while now and today I finally got the crema to be about perfect!

[@archiesimpson3942]

I’ve been doing this for years using both the “gene” and the ‘ boca boca “ roaster . I love doing it and have gained a reputation for the best brew in the neighbourhood. When the roast is complete I use two colanders and get rid of the chaff by pouring from one to the other in the wind. All the chaff blows away. This cools the beans at the same time. I always leave it 3 or 4 days before grinding and brewing using an espresso machine.

[@LymanPhillips]

Finally, someone properly describing winnowing. I've been muttering to myself when she was complaining about the chaff, just go outside and toss it around in the breeze. It's been a tradition to do that for no doubt centuries of grain harvesting.

[@eravau]

Welcome to the fun! I've been doing home roasting for about 2 and a half years… starting with a hot air popcorn popper and now using a FreshRoast SR800. Personally… I would recommend building 3 - 7 extra days into your process to rest your coffee after roasting. The taste difference is huge. I look forward to watching you follow this road to wherever it leads you.

[@cyrusfontaine2598]

I started with an air popcorn popper several years ago and now I'm running a small roasting business out of my house! It's a serious rabbit hole, but it's also a blast. Long, slow roasts /usually/ tend to mute complexity, so you'll deal with that on most of the Amazon "Peanut Roaster" kind of machines. Little air-based ones like the Popper or FreshRoast lines are a great alternative for small home setups! Fast, fairly tweakable, and small enough batches that you can do several and compare without feeling wasteful. The very best resource for home roasting might be Sweet Maria's! They sell wonderful green coffee, of course, but also have tons of helpful articles and videos that will get you up to speed and feeling confident pretty quickly. This was a super fun video, and I'm stoked to see the rest of the series!

[@lydiawillow5800]

Can’t wait to see you experiment with more roasting methods! love your videos

[@Platypi007]

Excited to see you learn more about roasting at home! I got introduced to coffee roasting about 16 years ago when the local shop I worked at bought a 1 pound gas powered fluid air bed roaster (blows air up through the beans too hear and agitate them, faster than the more traditional drum roaster and generally better suited for small batches). I was the one who took on the challenge of learning to use it and then training others on it. We roasted all our coffee in that little thing and also sold roast to order beans while customers waited. After I tasted the difference really fresh coffee makes I just couldn't go back. Got a used bread machine from a thrift store and used a heat gun to roast my own at home, but that chaff is messy and also roasting can generate a lot of smoke, so I had to roast outside and the weather here in the South was just too hot most of the year for me to enjoy it. I was forced to drink lesser coffee for about a decade. There are a few roasters in town but none I absolutely love (same goes for espresso, we're largely dominated by *$)... I couldn't afford any of the nicer home roasters at the time and didn't have good indoor ventilation... Now, I can afford it, and see below about ventilation! My pandemic hobby became home roasting. Bought a Fresh Roast SR800 and started ordering green. Roast regularly for myself and a friend and have roasted gifts for friends and family. Over the past two years I've roasted over 125 pounds of coffee. It's really reignited my love of coffee (part of whyi discovered your channel), and I've bought and restored a manual espresso machine in the last few months so I can have good espresso at home as well! My one piece of advice is make sure you are roasting in a well ventilated area... If your stove hood isn't externally vented you're probably going to want to roast outside or in a garage. Even just doing light to medium roasts you'll get a good bit of smoke once you hit first crack. Even if you're not setting off smoke alarms whenever you roast, without good ventilation you'll be breathing some (or a lot) of that smoke and I'm pretty sure that's really unhealthy. Another solution is a diy ventilation rig. I made mine with an HVAC booster fan and some metal flex tube meant for grow tents. Vent it out a window or something. Cost me less than $50.

[@patricklee3454]

I roast in my tiny NYC apartment on the stovetop with a whisk and dutch oven. It works pretty well! Fairly even roast once you get the hang of it. I've learned that decaf has relatively no chaff which is really nice because cleaning that up is such a process 😂

[@mare1112]

That is the method I use as well!! Whisk and a cast iron Dutch oven 😊 I use regular beans so….chaff. Once roasted to the point I want, I transfer to a metal colander and step outside to shake and let the chaff blow out…a good breeze helps, lol Then, transfer to my canister that allows for the carbon dioxide to escape and let it rest at least 24 hours (I do a fairly dark roast, just to second crack).

[@bryanleaman5942]

I've been home roasting for several years now. I started with a $15 used hot air popper and now I'm using a Behmor 2000 roaster, which is more consistent. It's pretty easy to time my roasting so the coffee beans can rest while I finish up my previous batch.

[@sneakysquirrel1990]

one of the biggest things i have found to improve flavor is to cool them as fast as possible after roasting. i use a shop vac to suck the heat out of the beans by drawing fresh cool air around them at a rapid pace . cool them down in around 2 minutes to a hold able temperature

[@rajo741]

I’ve been home roasting for close to 20 years and now use a Behmor 5000. A good roaster that has a variety of settings. The best thing is that you can explore single plantation beans from around the world if you have a good supplier. The other top benefit is freshness. Not only does it taste so much better but the coffee maintains it’s anti-oxidant and other medicinal properties. After 5 days these benefits start to degrade. So I roast twice a week and it’s very difficult to go back to store bought.

[@fuzzylilpeach6591]

I'm so glad you're trying this out! I'm seriously considering it myself. Nice thing is, if you roast enough coffee for a week every week eventually it'll save money, assuming you completely replace your coffee with home-roasted. I'm considering a freshroast roaster, I think that'll help with the evenness. did it create a lot of smoke?

[@Sully365]

I have a freshroast 540 and i absolutely love it. you want any roster to be either super well ventilated or done outside. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3KWlIuLgrFjptE I also am a huge advocate for just roasting on a stove in a pot. it's so much fun and so addictive and as long as you stay consistent on stirring and heat, you'll find exactly what you like and can experiment with different beans

[@lizalove91]

Is buying green beans significantly cheaper than buying already roasted beans?

[@Sully365]

@@lizalove91 not if you buy a pound or two at a time. it's generally a dollar cheaper per pound unless you buy bulk. Green coffee beans kept in storage last a REALLY long time so its' easy to buy 50 lbs and use them over a year. I typically buy 5 lb bags for 27-30 shipped from amazon. sweetmarias has great coffee at reasonable prices, you just have to look for free shipping or cheap enough shipping since they generally charge by weight. Overall, it's not a significant cost savings if you're just looking to be cheap (like me) but you can get a much better than you would with the same budget.

[@61hink]

@@lizalove91 it's much, much cheaper. A very high quality bean that your roaster would charge $18 a pound for costs around $6 a pound. Of course some weight is lost in the roasting process so I'm not exactly sure what the roasted weight of one pound of green beans would be.

[@fuzzylilpeach6591]

@@lizalove91 green beans i'd say are 50-75% the price of roasted from what I've looked at. The other nice thing about green is that you can buy it in bulk since it doesn't stale nearly as quickly, and usually bulk prices are cheaper per pound.

[@pambutler5437]

I started roasting in November. I use a stainless steel wok on the stove. The chaff is everywhere but vacuums up easily. I take my colander outside to shake out the chaff and cool the beans.I have 8 different types of beans and create a blend after they are roasted. Love my coffee!

[@Dirkus17]

I just discovered this channel through the Shorts (thank you, algorithm) and this is the first full length video I’ve watched. I am not a coffee drinker (I don’t like the taste of coffee) but I really like Morgan’s sense of humour, and a couple of years ago I got to go to an independent boutique coffee company’s “factory” (some railway arches in Elephant & Castle) where they showed us the whole process. How to roast the beans to different stages, grinding, sifting out the skins, pouring, blending, what beans work best for what types of coffee etc. I found that fascinating even if I wasn’t ever going to enjoy the end product. And it’s so cool to see a scaled down version here. Suffice to say that hand sifting your final beans is not an efficient way to go in the long run, but for a first attempt, this was really fun. Oh, and even though I vehemently dislike the taste of coffee itself, they also gave us some espresso martinis and those were.... surprisingly enjoyable. Also, if the shaky hands thing is a running joke, bravo. I laughed and laughed (and really hope it’s the coffee and not something else, or else my face will be red). Thank you, Morgan. Subscribed.

[@joannecunliffe8067]

Just to say thank you SO MUCH for your video! Bought a JMS-450 coffee roaster a while back but just never got around to it. Your channel gave me confidence to try it. I think my first attempt (today) was a bit too over-done but still perfectly drinkable. You've given me lots of brilliant tips 🥰 I'll pre-heat longer and weigh the beans out next time (this time I just guessed - about 1/2 the green beans in the bag which seemed about right). The smell is just ... WONDERFUL 😍 (if a bit smoky) and the pleasure in roasting your own beans is fabulous. Watching your other Barista tips as well. This UK coffee addict will definitely be roasting her own beans from now on ♥♥♥

[@nickoyler8639]

I work at your local roaster/coffee shop and i JUST started learning how to use our huge roaster. It's a ton of fun to learn about the different types of beans and their origins.

[@forza-e-honore]

Hi Morgan. When my mom arrived in the US from Italy in the 1950s, she couldn't find whole roasted beans to grind for her moka pot. So, my parents bought green coffee beans at the farmer's market and she roasted them in a frying pan on the stove. 🙂 Good video.

[@thermitebanana]

I've got 2 coffee plants, and managed to harvest a couple of handfuls of beans. Last year i roasted them in the oven, which is stressful and takes a long time, so this year I followed the advice of the internet and roasted them in a pan. This was also stressful but I very quickly had beans which were both under roasted and burnt On. The. Same. Bean! I will watch your series eagerly to help me decide how I should attempt to develop the flavours of my previous harvest next year.

[@FolkertVeenstra]

Would you be able to grind cocoa beans and use an espresso machine to make a drink with it?

[@fionnmullen5422]

Good question

[@amiscellaneoushuman3516]

you can definitely make a drink with ground cocoa beans, that's how human consumption of chocolate started, the issue is whether it'd work with an espresso machine

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hi Morgan, you did a great job with your first roast! Thanks for sharing your experience! You had asked for suggestions or tips so here are a couple I have learned over the years. Find a roasting device that will tumble the beans more. The one you used is sliding them around so you have some burned beans. When the roast is done, try and get the beans cool as quick as possible because they will keep roasting until they are cool enough to the touch. 2 great roasters to experiment with that are under 200 bucks are the Hive coffee roaster and the popper from sweet marias. Both will give you manual control over your roast so you can roast some really good coffee in small batches. I'm excited to see what you roast next!

[@grante8]

Please continue on this journey. I have settled in to my brew methods but I've always wanted to try roasting

[@mrberry292]

Morgan, glad you are wading into the roasting waters. I use a similar roaster to the one you're demonstrating. Make sure the flat metal arm suspended above the roaster is bent down to topple your beans so they don't stay stagnant on the hot surface while being pushed around by the rotating rods. The flat arm should be a little above one layer of beans. You'll now get a more even roast. I generally roast 175g at a time. Good luck and keep the videos coming.

[@sfaisalakber]

Great video! I’m glad to see that you’ve entered the rabbit hole of roasting. I have been roasting at home for a year and a half. I have had a lot of success with a Popcorn popper and just got the new “Popper is a Coffee Roaster” from Sweet Marias. I’m still learning the roasting profile with a controllable roaster. Mill City Roasters and Virtual Coffee Lab also have good videos on roasting. As does Sweet Marias’s. Sweet Maria’s has a great collection of green coffee as well. I can’t wait to see your next videos on the subject.

[@SuperFlatrock]

I've been home roasting for years. A two stage roast will help get a consistent colour. The first stage is at a much lower temperature than is needed for the beans to enter the first crack. At the lower temperature all the beans develop an even moisture content and reach an internal temperature at just below the first crack. Next you raise the temperature to the point needed to enter the first crack and finish-off. The temperature/time combinations are particular to your bean. The quality of the beans also makes a difference.

[@jmchau]

you would get a more consistent roast from the gool old air popper, $2 at goodwill. smaller batches, but more consistent. you need something along the lines of a behmore for a consistent roast.

[@wyld729]

I have been using this exact same roaster machine for over a year now. There is a a learning curve for this one. 12 to 14 Oz's of beans works best for me. There is a feature in the machine...with resistance the moving arms should spin the other direction to agitate the beans differently.

[@dbeevr]

I don’t roast myself (yet), so I have no idea if it works, but the roasting machines I’ve come across have the roasting bed on a slight angle. This way the distribution of the beans is more even I think. You could try putting your machine at a slight angle. I’d be interested if that works.

[@lizalove91]

I was so excited to see this video! This is so cool and new thanks for sharing this journey 🥰

[@orrinbelcher6593]

Nice video fun and and informative, looking forward to reviews on the different coffee roasters, enjoy seeing your kitty, she is pretty, also fun seeing Graham in the videos, nicely done

[@sophieadams9042]

My dad is very into roasting his own coffee beans. He used to have a larger coffee roaster but he left it unsupervised roasting for too long and then he went back and it had caught on fire. Luckily he was roasting outside and the only thing that got damaged was the roaster itself. Now, he has a KaffeLogic Nano coffee roaster, which roasts them in small batches and he usually just roasts the beans inside underneath the extractor fan above the stove. The beans are inside a container that's made of metal and has kind of holes in it that are too small for the beans to escape through but when the beans are done, he can shake out the chaff over a bin or something, so he doesn't have to sort anything except for the yucky bad-looking beans before roasting. He generally leaves the beans alone in a paper bag for 3 days or so and then he'll brew the coffee, and the few times that he has brewed with fresher beans, the coffee was very "meh". Hope some of this helps you on your coffee roasting journey! 😊😊

[@ChrisEbbrsen]

All you need is cast iron skillet. And spatula. Maybe dash of wall nut oil or flax oil. Bear in mind I haven't ever roasted coffee beans either but seen a fellow use cast iron skillet. The heavy iron holds the heat evenly slwhile you stir for even color . I've been thinking of roasting my own too. But I doubt unless I get a drum roaster with constant feed the major coffee producers still have the edge on dark roast. They know exactly how much heat before they burst into flame. Hope this helps. Merry christmas@

[@BlackRidgeGaming]

It’s so fun roasting your own coffee! I use the fresh roast sr800 with the razzo extension tube and it makes some great coffee. Experimenting with different beans is so fun.

[@pbillie84]

I just started my roasting three weeks ago and it’s amazing! I’m using an manual compact roaster and I’m learning what kind of coffee beans and level of the roasts I prefer.

[@auralistank]

I actually use a whirley pop which probably gives very similar results but at the trade-off of requiring way more manual intervention for less cost. I don't know if it makes a difference or not but I take my colander of beans outside and swirl them vigorously to try and cool them down faster and that also gets rid of most of the chaff.

[@lennyhankins698]

Great vid. Can't wait to see what other methods you use. I started with a Nesco Coffee Roaster. Fill with green. Push button. Remove beans when unit shuts off. Easy. It worked great until the air vent mesh got clogged with oils. It took about 20 min to roast about 4oz. Roast was very uniform and it has a chaff collector. I have now switched to a Whirly Pop. I can roast about a 1/2 lb in about 8min. Manual operation. No chaff collector. Nothing to get clogged. Put on stove. Add green. Start watching a vid. Turn handle. Listen for crack. Take off heat. Put on cooling rack. Blow chaff away. Uniform roast. After the coffee beans cool grind a dose. Let it degas,ground, for about 20 min. or longer. This tricks the bean into feeling rested. Then make a cuppa. Drink and Enjoy!☕️

[@mweepigeon]

This is awesome! I've always been curious about home roasting

[@peppermint451]

I stumbled upon your shorts, always makes my day. I never knew you have this long vids, bruh 17 mins of morganium dosage lesgoooooo

[@tehmorninstah]

Roasting a batch of coffee with a pan at home is actually how I've entered my coffee-enthusiasm journey. Lovely to see you doing it!

[@RemyDMarquis]

I have a roasting thingie similar to this. I used it it for some types of roasts and to good success rate overall. some will get ultimately burn but get rid of those burnt beans and make some delicious coffee. I found the most effective way to roast using this machine is by setting the temperature low, 20 minutes won't cut it. Also 250 grams is perfect for 1 go, no more no less. That way it will definitely take longer but less burnt beans and even roasting.

[@Idekii]

One method I've used to roast coffee is to use an air popper for popcorn. Not exactly the best way overall, but it's a pretty decent hack for those just starting. Just make sure you get one with a solid bottom rather than a mesh bottom, otherwise you have a potential fire hazard.

[@sarahpetersen6576]

Try with more beans! I feel like if you had used more like 300g-350g of beans they would have mixed better during the roasting. It seemed like the machine was just kind of sliding them around and not mixing well. If you had more beans, they would cover the rods more which would enable better mixing.

[@daniaabou-jabal4167]

I am so excited for this series! I've been home rosting using a popcorn popper for 1 year now and it's getting quite inconsistent (especially for espresso use) and I'm excited to see your recommendations for the best home-roaster!

[@trace9657]

I love your honesty. I would be interested to see if this batch is better in a week or so.

[@kevchard5214]

I have roasted on a stove top popcorn popper (with a thermometer) for about 6 years and will never go back. Once you learn the nuances of your preferred roaster it is a joy to change the roast and deliver many varieties of coffee flavor from the same beans. This does take time to learn but don't give up. The hardest to roast is the dark roast because there is a fine line between dark roast and burnt which is really nasty.

[@vincenttee2608]

It's fun home roasting coffee and glad you are trying it out. I use the Hive roaster myself. It's a chaotic exercise but it's a good time with chaff all over the place.

[@DCfocal]

I started this past Xmas and haven’t looked back. Roast 225gm a week using a Whirly pop. Medium high heat with a gas stove. 6 minutes for a medium dark roast around 435F. Tried a lower temp around 10 min and one batch on even lower heat for longer. The 6 min is my favourite since I make Americano usually. Not to mention I am cleaned up within 15 minutes. As mentioned the coffee is best starting on the 3rd day.

[@u2bst1nks]

Sweet Maria's has a roaster called "Popper is a coffee roaster." It's a popcorn popper with fan control, heat control, and a timer. It's quite a bit cheaper than a Fresh Roast. Get a thermocouple and you're good to go.

[@zsazsagapaw7666]

This was great! I have been contemplating home roasting, but haven’t had the nerve (or funds) to try different methods and was always intimidated by smoke and chaff to actually do it. I’m excited to go on this journey with you and see if home roasting, and getting good results, is possible and worthwhile. Thanks for doing this series. I know it will be educational as well as a blast.

[@61hink]

A hot air popcorn popper is the way to go. I used to use a Fresh Roast ($289) and now I use a $25 popper and the results are just as good. p.s. Yes, there will be smoke and chaff. I do it outside during the summer, in my basement during the winter. Put a wet paper towel down and most of the chaff will stick to it.

[@christopherbriden8403]

Good video. I am thinking about trying home roasting and this was educational at no cost. Thanks.

[@cs5250]

Please do more! I want to start roasting my own too and I am not sure where to start but I'm willing to spend more money on something that will produce consistent results

[@61hink]

A $25 hot air popcorn popper is the place to start. It will produce far superior results to the roaster used in this video. The roast will be as even and consistent as what you buy from your local specialty roaster. It just needs to be one that blows the air in a circular motion, not up through the center. The Mueller that can be found on Amazon will work fine.

[@ReviewyCA]

I've tried stovetop (burnt to a crisp on the first try), campfire (a little less burned) and oven roasting (actually worked okay) but now I'm wondering if an old school popcorn pan might work? Thanks for sharing, hope to see more in the how-to-roast-at-home series!

[@kevadu]

I had a friend in college who roasted his own coffee with one of those old school stovetop popcorn makers. Seemed to work fine. Of course it wasn't powered or anything so he had to always been in front of it turning the level to keep the beans moving, which seems pretty inconvenient...

[@Sully365]

I used an oldschool air popper. The only modification was to disable the temp sensor so it could get hot enough. Until i did that, i could never get it to the 2nd crack stage. once i did that, it just started working and throwing chafe everywhere. i have also used a 70's porpcorn popper that had a rotating wire that kept the beans moving across a griddle. that worked perfectly and kinda like what this looks like........i wonder if i can find it.

[@61hink]

Not a stovetop popper but an air popper. You just need to find one with circular rotation rather than the type where the hot air blows up from the center. The results will be far superior to all the other methods you mentioned. They blow chaff all over the place though.

[@WSDMatty]

This is my first introduction to the concept of home roasting and it's definitely inspired me to give it a try.

[@henkrepko2903]

If you want an equalizing result , you can tilt the machine by placing a large book under 1 side . I have a Beem roaster with hot air . The chaff then comes to the top in a separate compartment .

[@json8172]

Happy you are inspiring others to roast at home. Its the best, so easy, so good.

[@lamcb.9476]

I worked at a shop that sold tea, coffee and cigars, and we had this huge industrial coffee roaster in the shop. It was in plain view and the customers really loved seeing and smelling the freshly roasted coffee. It was kind of nerve wrecking handling that beast of a machine at first, but after a couple of tries, it was just easy math, listening and smelling

[@sharonhepburn5432]

Fun video and nice job! As you noted though, it IS better to let the beans rest. Strangely you will probably find the flavor will develop nicely after a few days. Coffee really is not at its best right off the roast. I like to let the beans rest about three days for a medium roast and five days for a light roast, in general. Depends on the bean of course, but that's a good rule of thumb. Also, when I was home roasting, I used a metal collander to cool the beans a little faster, which DOES matter. Keep them moving - swirl them around in the collander for at least 10-15 minutes and a lot of the chaff will break up and fall through the holes. Have fun with your next roasts!

[@sethcarson5212]

I've had the best luck with baking in my oven with convection on. Heavy cast iron skillet with a lid on the stove also works for me pretty well. I've never produced a great batch but I get a fairly consistent good batch. Looking forward to the next installment.

[@jtrourke667]

I've been home roasting coffee for many years, and it is a lost art. I only use a dedicated 2qt enamel pot (never, never cook anything else in it), a metal whisk and a hair dryer. I agree an air roaster will give you more consistent color, while pot roasting will give you more complex flavor. As for flavor, know your beans. Sumatra is completely different than Columbian or Costa Rican (my favorite light roast). I roast outside on a propane burner because of the smoke. Timing is everything when roasting. Shoot for about 6min for first crack. 2nd crack around 9min. light roast is 1 to 2min. later and dark is as much as 12 to 16min. total cook time. Whisk constantly. Blow off the chaff with hair dryer after first crack and every min or 2 thereafter. Burned, powdered chaff destroys your coffee flavor. Finally cool beans quickly by pouring back and forth between 2 colanders until they are cool enough to touch. As for brewing fresh... you'll notice an off flavor. That’s the slight effervescence caused by the Co2 in the bean from the roasting process. To me, that says, truly fresh roasted. Good luck.

[@joshuacrossing7117]

Keep up the good work. I just did my first batches ever today on the same machine. i am waiting over night at least to brew them. But a BIG HATS OFF for trying some thing new!!

[@sjorlando7282]

The smartRoaast is an air based roaster that has a system for collecting chaff - works very well - Plus a couple others have “ chaff collectors”. Nice job Morgan!

[@glennbishop-smith9957]

Hi Morgan, you do great videos! I am an experienced home roaster… it is important to understand that there is a learning curve with every different kind of roaster you experiment with. You will improve your results significantly by using a given roaster even 3 or 4 times, using different size roasts and different roast levels. You may be able to give your viewers a more fun and more educational experience if you have a modicum of experience with each of the roasters you use in these videos.

[@annamolly1261]

I don't roast my own coffee but I roasted several other nuts and grains. Of all the methods, I have found that roasting in a steel pan with a wooden spatula over medium heat for about 10 to 14 minutes is more than enough to get pretty decent/even roast. I do this with oat coffee, nut butters, and chestnuts all the time.

[@michaelroa1626]

I roast with 2 unitd similar types of table roasters In my instance when brand new the beans don't tumble /move/ turn with consistency when agitated resulting in color variations... after few uses the agitation gets better, and roast uniformity is achieved.. also coffee tastes much better 5 to 7 days off roast...

[@duchessmika]

Same experience. Using the unit a few times sort of “seasons” the roaster and allowing time to off gas is important.

[@donaldholman9070]

such a well thought out and very interesting.thank you

[@LuxAeternum]

Some time ago I've seen Ryoya from Peaceful Cuisine use some kind of spinning basket (you turn it by hand) over a gas stove. Since you manually spin the basket, I imagine it also provides that serious level of satisfaction described in the video.

[@AnthokGaming]

I’m excited for you to try the popcorn air pop method! I just ordered mine and am eagerly awaiting it! In that case I will be following along when you try!

[@frostie4228]

Cramping and having a rough time at work but your video and voice is so calming and helpful! Oops might have almost fell asleep at one point 🙊

[@candicecrawford2996]

I literally just got this same roasted and my first big bag of green beans from a farmer in Nicaragua. Im going to roast my first batch in the morning 💓

[@aeliyahu]

My husband recommends giving it more heat/smaller batch size and trying to speed up your roast by half for more complexity of flavor.

[@matthewtikka5133]

I have recently started roasting coffee. I bought the same brand you have there. I have a different roaster, and when I do a light roast my coffee has a sour taste. Wired. If I go for a dark roast, I have to wait 3 days for optimum flavor. It taste dry before the 3 days. But I definitely get a cocoa flavor. 1/3 cup of beans for 18 min in my roaster gets right to second crack. I don't know the temp of my roaster, I can't adjust it.

[@epic27]

One thing that should help you out with consistency is to try and agitate the coffee during the cooling process. When first getting started years ago, I've used 2 large metal colanders and dumped the hot coffee between the two of them and constantly toss them to move as much air as possible. At the time, I did it outside since a slight breeze would blow away the excess chaff. Since then, I've been using a Behmor for over a dozen years, and half-way during the machine's cooling process, I would open the door for additional air-flow to cool the coffee. But, cooling is still an achelies heel for the Behmor. Getting a dedicated coffee bean cooler is the best thing I did for consistency.

[@SteebMo]

The roasted coffee will get better after letting it sit for 24-48 hours. Right off of a roast, it can taste flat and 'grassy'. I think the sweet-spot is in the 2-14 day range post-roast. Glad to see you exploring roasting on your channel!

[@staticchicken]

I started with a popcorn popper, then a Fresh Roast which I gave to a neighbor, and now a Behmor. There’s definitely a learning curve, though I find the more you spend, the more consistent the roast. To a point. Plus chaff management. One tip I learned from James Hoffmann’s channel (of course) is to take a spray bottle with water and spritz the coffee while it’s cooling down. It should be hot enough the water evaporates immediately, but the evaporative process sucks the CO2 out, so it reaches ideal freshness more quickly. It also accelerates the staling process, but with small batches, I can’t imagine that would be an issue for you.

[@earhornjones]

I enjoyed this quite a bit. I'm really looking forward to this series!

[@YasminBenatti]

This is such an awesome video! Thanks for doing that ♥️

[@mexicanhalloween]

I've been home roasting for years and I think fluid bed roasting is probably best for small batches, so I have stuck with the Fresh Roast as stepping up to the good drum roasters is slower and much more expensive. You're going to need good ventilation for roasting, maybe even do it outside, it'll create a lot of stuff you don't want to be breathing. I've found the sweet spot for resting fresh roasted coffee is about 6 days.

[@TheGramaLady]

I don’t roast coffee, I don’t particularly want to roast coffee; this video showed up in my feed because I’m interested in roasting legumes, grains & nuts at home with little effort. I liked the video & your style. I subbed, looking forward to finding new rabbit holes to dive into.

[@bryanhenry578]

I'm going to throw my hat in the heat gun/bread machine camp. I've been going at it for about 2 years. I have about $30 invested between a 2nd hand bread machine ($10) and a $20 heat gun. I can roast 1 lb green at a time and hit 1st crack around 8-10 min. I don't have tons of feedback from others but I like it.

[@bryanhenry578]

Also, when I neglect to roast in time to adequately rest my coffee, I will often bloom for 1 min, then do another bloom for another min before proceeding with my pour over. Seems to help make sure the coffee is completely saturated and fully degassed before extracting.

[@Dnmcdy]

I use an air type roaster. It floats and cycles the beans so that they all roast to the same degree. Roaster machines are like popcorn popping machines. I have a popcorn machine that works just like your roaster and also one like my air roaster, however, my air roaster was made and sold by a coffee company at least 20 years ago. I am a dark roast fan, so I let it roast longer.

[@josephcarew4966]

I have been roasting at home for over a year, after working at a third wave place, so I appreciate you showing this world to others. It is bound to help me appreciate the hard work that goes into a bean. One thing of note I wish I knew earlier in my journey: the bean you show as “too light” looks to me like a quaker, which is essentially underripe bean that will always appear super light. They happen from time to time in a lot of even speciality grade green beans, but technically speaking there should not be too many (too many can even cause a lot to lose its designation)-if there are a lot of those, which you imply, it is worth investigating the quality of the green beans one is sourcing. One can be easily frustrated at one’s technique when an issue could be elsewhere. I often find that coffee ages beautifully over time-some even taste at their best a month off roast. And some taste great just off, though I tend to let them degas ground for about an half even a day off roast. It is worth experimenting with different coffees and roasts in this regard-since you seem to enjoy bending the rules, you now will see how much they can bend for resting as well! But roasting can be just as addictive as brewing! Be warned-for more fun!

[@GeofreySanders]

When you get to the corn-popper roast: If your popper is one where the air comes straight up the middle, get a wooden stick to stir the beans at the beginning. Green beans are generally too dense to circulate well in the air stream and need some help to keep moving until they've expanded.

[@azshooter348]

A colleague at work & I were the top coffee afficinados in the office. One weekend she invited me to her parents' home to help Grandma make tamales ... an All Day Job. Out on the patio was a wire cage with a crank that looked like the hand crank cage at the church Bingo Hall (only fireproof). Grandma brought it from Mexico & it was said to be over 100 years old. It was used to roast chilies in order to burn off the tough outer skin. I mentioned that it looked like it could work for roasting coffee. Fast forward a couple of weeks, when her brother mysteriously appeared with a 50# bag of green coffee beans. The novelty quickly wore off during the seemingly endless hand cranking until the bans browned. The chaff largely burned up and fell thru the wire mesh. Freshly ground, it made an OK pot of coffee,but they were still stuck with 49# of green coffee that took forever to roast. In the end, it remained more time, cost & effort efficient to just buy the 2# bags of really good dark roast we used in the Bunn Coffeemakers at work. Few birds would eat scattered green coffee beans, but the wild bunnies and mice loved them. It took forever to be rid of that huge sack of beans. I did have luck roasting some at home in a cast iron skillet, but overall it remained too much work for the end results