Coffee!☕️☕️☕️☕️............. NW Cascade Wanderings

elizabethbit (78)in Boylikegirl Club • 3 days ago

This morning found me setting up to roast a pound of coffee for a friend. So after getting things ready, I poured in the green beans and began. I took 3 mini videos; one at the beginning, one in the middle and one towards the end of the roasting cycle.

This first one is just at the beginning of the cycle.

As you can see, the beans have a green cast to them. The roasters we use are ‘fluid bed’ meaning heated air is blown in from underneath and causes the beans to undulate in the air. As they ‘dance’ they are evenly heated commencing the roasting process.

This next one shows the beans at ‘first crack’.

First crack occurs as the beans are heated up. They make a sound similar to popcorn popping. Smoke begins to exit via the exhaust fans. The beans are no longer green and have a light brown color. The cycle continues on to the second crack.

The exhaust fans at this point are spewing forth, blue smoke, kind of like a 2 cycle engine does, except it’s rich in the smell of coffee! There is absolutely nothing like it! At about 11-12 minutes into the cycle, it stops heating the air and begins blowing non-heated air through the beans to cool them down. Right at second crack, they are around 400+ degrees!

Once cooled, the roaster turns off and it’s time to package the coffee and clean the roasters, and of course, enjoy the fresh roasted coffee in my drink of choice. 😎☕️☕️☕️

We’ve been roasting coffee since 2006 and since 2013 with this type of roaster. In the early years, we used hot air corn poppers, whirlybird popcorn poppers, and even a modified gas grill, to roast. It’s been an adventure and we are serious coffee snobs because of it, lol!

This afternoon, we headed up the hill for a quick hike. Here’s a couple pics from yesterday’s bay adventure. Enjoy!