Roasting Tips, Methods, Equipment, and Pictures from our users!

John S from Woodland Hills CA shared his unique roasting method and also his ingenuity when he needed to roast some coffee when his power was out for a week!

From John;

“My first coffee roaster is still in use, a West Bend Poppery 2.  At first, I could use it mostly on warm days, because otherwise, it struggled to achieve second crack.  I acquired a second roaster, a Presto Pop Lite, and found that I could use it in combination with the my first roaster.  My method is to begin a batch with the Poppery 2, it swirls the beans around and gently roasts them through the first crack.  I then transfer them to the Pop Lite.  The action then becomes quite intense and hot since they are blown directly from the bottom.  This enables them to quickly reach second crack.  I transfer them to a cooling setup (a basket in front of a fan) when the popping gets good and snappy and the beans are just beginning to get oily looking.  By the time they cool, most, but not all glow with a dark, oily sheen.

The above method took months to perfect and now I’ve stuck with it for many years.  I discovered an original “The Poppery” machine at a thrift shop, and it does a great job from start to finish (more amperage than the Poppery 2), but I prefer my method, honed by years of experience.  Two batches will supply me for half a week and then I get to do it again.  I always look forward to roasting somehow.  Perhaps it’s become a form of meditation – don’t really know.

The latest innovation, shown in the photograph, is the addition of an exhaust hose.  In combination with an exhaust fan, the setup keeps my shop surprisingly clear of smoke.  I’ll have to come up with a more formal setup since I’m about to put my woodworking machinery into use.  But, for now it all works just fine!

The second photo shows the method I had to innovate when I lost power for a week.  An old camp fire popcorn popper worked just fine.  Took a lot of patience, though.”