here we go again...

So here goes. I'm a coffee junkie... been that way for at least the last 10 years. I've finally got myself to the point where my addiction to coffee is compelling me to do something constructive with it. At first I thought I would grow my own coffee plant. I did some research on it last spring and it got put on the shelf because of too much other stuff going on at the time. I recently remembered that idea and followed up. Well - as it turns out its a long term hobby if you are interested in getting an actual yield of coffee beans from your tree. Could be anywhere from a couple of years up to 6 years depending on the maturity of the tree you start with. That was a road block, I am not patient enough for that.

I figured the next best thing for me, since all I really wanted anyways was to make my own coffee, was to buy green beans and roast them myself. A couple of days research, and plenty of reading on sites like this: http://www.greenbeanery.ca and http://www.sweetmarias.com and I figured I was ready to rock. I'm going with the Popcorn Popper method as described here: http://www.sweetmarias.com/airpopmethod.html

So today I took the plunge. I went to The Green Bean Cafe in downtown Oakville. They roast their own beans there and also sell green beans. I had a cup of Costa Rican while I was there to get my beans and it was delicious and priced well ($2.10 for a large). I picked up 1lb of Guatemalan for $8. Next stop was Value Village since all of those sites recommend old school popping machines and the only place to find them are thrift stores. I had no luck. Furthermore everyone in there was giving me the evil eye like I was out of my element. Not sure what thats about but... I guess I smell of rich mahogony and they knew that I am friends with Merlin Olsen or something. I went to the Superstore because I saw a popcorn machine there the other day. Another downer for me, none on the shelf. Trusty Wal-Mart hooked me up for $14.88. I got a Duraband machine, Model # WCP-800 (specs: 120Vac, 60Hz, 1200w).

Now that I got my beans and got my popcorn machine I'm ready to rock... Or so I thought.

Since this was my first go at roasting I didn't want to risk setting off the fire alarm and waking up the baby who had just gone to bed. I went outside on the back deck and setup shop near the bbq. At the time it was -12 feels like -21(weather network).

I used 1/2 cup of green beans. I put them in before I started the machine as per instructions mentioned above. I setup my ipod stopwatch to monitor the progress.

3 minutes go by, no first crack but starting to look 'cinnamon'.
5 minutes still no first crack - is the machine too loud?
9 minutes and I'm expecting to see my beans getting really dark... no way, still very light and no signs of first crack.
In total I left the thing going about 15 minutes before I called it quits and took the whole setup inside. The beans are light and don't look or smell too appealing. Still I will grind them and taste the coffee and post my results. I took a side by side picture with my end result compared to what I started with, I will post the picture tomorrow.

For now I am thinking I've got a few potential problems:
1. The temperature outside messed up the process by not allowing the machine to get hot enough.
2. Maybe the popcorn machine just is not capable of getting hot enough.
3. Maybe the beans are not good *looooooooooong shot*

I am going to give it another try tomorrow from inside. Results to follow.