Define too much coffee...
I enjoy the occasional cup of coffee like everyone else. You know, a cup when you wake up, maybe one after each meal, and possibly one right before bed to wind down. Just like everyone else, right?
Whenever I get really into something I like to figure out how it all works. I got into computer science because I wanted to fully understand what happens in a computer when you actually click a button. Fast forward 8 years and now I am working as a software developer! Funny how things work out like that.
I have a similar kind of interest in coffee. Coffee is such a simple drink, and yet there is so much that goes on behind producing one single cup of coffee. Compared to computer science, coffee has a much longer history, with many different cultures adding their own twists along the way!
This curiosity has sparked into a very fun (and relatively cheap) hobby! The obvious starting place with coffee is to start brewing coffee in the many different ways available to us. I have explored pour overs, moka pot, Toddy cold brew, aeropress, and I’ve even contributed to kickstarter campaigns for coffee brewing systems! Once I started getting into the different brewing styles this led me to experiment with different types of coffee and roast profiles to figure out what kind of flavors you can really get out of coffee. This is what really lead me into an interest of roasting my own coffee.
I started roasting in a little electric popcorn popper. My little bit of research told me this was the classic beginner method to roasting coffee. When I first looked into roasting, I assumed you had to have some sort of crazy machinery to do it. But in reality, the idea is you are just roasting the bean…that’s it…like roasting pumpkin seeds or a duck.
When I first started I could roast less than half of a cup at a time. And it took about 9 minutes just to do that. In other words, I was not making a lot. That was enough for like 2 cups of coffee! Roasting was peaceful and relaxing, and at this stage it didn’t take much thought. Even though I made the house smell like it was burning down, and occasionally caught the chaff on fire, I didn’t care! It was fun, cheap, and honestly made some pretty good coffee. The cool thing about coffee is that even if you aren’t a good roaster, brewing freshly roasted coffee will almost always taste awesome!
At the time that I started roasting I lived in an on campus ministry building at Georgia Tech called WCF. Around this time I became heavily involved in the leadership team there and was able to turn my new passion into a regular event at our ministry. During our Thursday morning coffee house I would brew freshly roasted coffee by me. Through this I was able to experiment with different blends, flavors, and roasts with friends and strangers alike. The whole purpose of the coffee house was to have a set time to come together and just talk about life over a cup of coffee. It reminded me of some of the original coffee houses in England and France in the 1500s.
Eventually, I started adding different flavors to my coffee, including creating my own peppermint syrup to mix together. Some worked better than others, but I continued to learn nonetheless. A lot of experimenting took place to get the right measurements and the right timing of when to add the flavoring.
My first major failure was when I tried to infuse coffee with bourbon. I decided to let the un-roasted beans soak in bourbon for about a week before roasting them. In my head I was a genius! However, what happened is that the sugar from the bourbon actually hardened on the outside of the bean, which was not ideal for roasting. Because of this, when I roasted the coffee, the sugar from the bourbon started to caramelize. At first this sounds like a delicious coffee, but what looked like a nice roasted bean was actually closer to an ultra-light roast with a weird burnt caramel tasting flavor. It was not good at all! I definitely learned a ton from this experiment, though, and plan to continue to get the perfect bourbon infused coffee soon!
In the meantime, I have finally finished my second roaster build! This one can roast a whole pound at a time! This roaster also lets me adjust the heat, so I am excited to fine tune and experiment with different temps and add new enhancements along the way. I have finally unlocked the potential for more creativity and art in my roasts, and I am excited to see the doors that open because of it.
If you are interested in following my hobby then follow me on Medium (David J. Meyer) and I will continue posting various blogs about my hobby. Or follow me on Instagram (scotchcurry)! If you ever want to try out my coffee then message me and I would love to send some your way!
