I got a coffee bean roaster for Christmas 2 years ago and my world has changed for the better since then. It sounds so complex and difficult to roast your own beans, but I am going to show you how easy it really is.
First you need to buy a roaster. A home coffee roaster is like a glorified popcorn popper with a timer. Here is a link to the one I use: http://www.burmancoffee.com/equipment/freshroast_plus.coffee.roasterSR.html
Actually, I have the predecessor to these models and it works great.
Next you need to buy some green coffee beans. I like to try new beans all the time and I use these companies: http://www.burmancoffee.com/, http://www.breworganic.com/
Now that you have to beans and equipment and beans, here's how easy it is:
Put the raw beans into the roaster.
Set the timer for how long you want to roast the beans.
The beans have a distinct "cracking" sound while they roast. This indicates the different levels of roast. The more cracks, the darker the roast. If the roaster starts smoking, you have reached espresso roast!
Here's one pound of raw beans. I roasted these fairly dark but not espresso-dark.
After cooling, I put them in a air-tight container and brew them the next day.
This whole process takes about 6 minutes. I usually roast the beans in my garage because there is too much smoke to roast in the house. Here is my "roasting station":
Simple, easy....worth it!
An added benefit of roasting in the garage is that my car's air circulation system has a faint coffee odor. Not too shabby.
