First crack, second crack, Ah, now I get it!

I didn't want to waste any of my two Gesha varieties doing an over roasting test and I only had less than 1/3 of a cup of my "cheap" beans. Then I had an idea; I could pan roast the coffee on our gas stove! If I had been a little more clever I would have taken some more process shots or maybe even recorded video. Oh well, next time.

 The first crack was more of a pop. I actually flinched as I half expected coffee shrapnel to put my eye out. The second crack was more crackle than pop. Like the sound tinder makes as it catches fire. It was fun seeing the roast happen right there in front of me and it was much easier to hear what was going on without the fan motor whirring but I won't be abandoning my air popper any time soon.

I used a non-stick wok-like pan with a flat bottom. I agitated the pan and stirred them almost continuously but still, as I expected, the roast was very uneven.

I didn't even try to cool the beans (didn't think that far ahead) so you can see a lot of scorching. I still would like to try this with my air popper. maybe I will get a pound of beans that can stand up to full city+. I can always stand outside Charbucks and give them to someone who is into dark roast ;-}

INSTRUCTION....I DON'T NEED NO STINKING INSTRUCTION....

Oh, yeah, except when it comes to roasting coffee!  I failed to follow the instructions from the very nice woman at Mystic Coffee Roasters in Medford, MA.  She very Cleary said "take them out the as soon as you hear the second crack, because they go very fast".  Hence, this uneven roast (eh, ok, half burnt) roast.

Then I did what she told me to .....

and what do you know, it came out great!  My tastiest batch of home roast yet! Mostly even roast.  FYI, the coffee itself is really fabulous with a nice almost floral aroma and just plain tasty!  I'd like to go when Mystic is brewing some of this to see how theirs is.  

The folks at Mystic were very cool about answering my questions, but i'll have to pace myself lest i should annoy the crap out of them!

I burnt the beans!

What city+ roast should look like (image courtesy of Sweet Maria's)

What my first roast in my modified popper looked like

Well, after letting the beans rest 24 hours I have to say I was disappointed with my first roasting with my modified Air Crazy popper.

Here is a beautiful city+ roast from the Sweet Maria's website; below is the much darker bean I produced. Not horrible tasting but a little too Starbucks bite for my liking.

Everything happens so quickly after the four minute mark and the beans really do roast quite a bit between when you take them out of the roaster and when they cool down.

I have roasted a couple of batches since this first try and have even braved my first batch of Gesha.

YAY

I am much happier now. Here is a Panama Organic Duncan Estate bean roasted very close to a perfect city+.

Guatemala Acatenango Gesha

The Guatemala Acatenango Gesha also came out very nicely although it took a little longer to get there (around 4.5 minutes). In fact, the Gesha turned out so nicely I decided to roast a second batch. I can't wait to give it a try (probably not until Saturday - so I guess I can wait).