A couple of years ago, I got a Whirley Pop popcorn popper and a few pounds of green coffee beans, and I started roasting coffee. I'd roast a half pound at a time, one pound per week, and my wife and I were the primary consumers. I experimented with different roast profiles. We learned what we like: lightly roasted coffees with distinct flavor profiles and no bitterness. Then my trusty "roaster" st
arted having troubles--I wore it out. Around the same time, my mom suggested I start selling my home roasts at the local farmers' market. To shorten the story a bit, I ended up with the ability to roast more coffee at one time, a bunch of other equipment I never imagined owning, and now I'm sharing my coffees with a growing audience. Our beans are never roasted beyond medium--I want to taste the bean, not the roast. Roast any bean to French or Italian and they'll all taste the same. Roast a bean on the lighter side and yes, it will taste like coffee, but you might also taste hints of fruit, spice, sweetness, wine.... You may be surprised. My favorite comment, from a woman trying my Colombian for the first time at the farmer's market: "Mmmm, this is good. I can drink this without cream or sugar, and I am a heavy cream and sugar kind of person." THAT is what I want people to experience with my coffees: flavor.
