DIY roasted coffee beans (a bit of Heaven ;)

I read a Facebook post from Trim Healthy Mama on March 15, 2013 that had me jealous! Not only was it written with elegance, but she described an experience roasting green coffee beans and drinking the freshly ground cup of heaven the next morning. I quickly set out to see what all the fuss was about. I did enough research to figure out what to do and not too much to add more days to the shipping. I placed my order and sat.....oh I couldn't wait! A few days later my sampler box of green beans arrived, and it felt like Christmas! I opened my box, assembled my popcorn popper and refreshed my memory with the step by step YouTube video. Unfortunately, I quickly burnt my first handful of beans! My second batch was in an iron skillet and turned out just fine. It took twice as long as what I read, I stopped the roast a bit early for fear of burning them like the popcorn popper failure. Yet, even with screwing it up and not roasting them dark enough, I still managed to produce the most wonderful and yummy cups of coffee I've ever tasted. (I add just half n half, no sugar or flavors and enjoy it very, very much.) I look forward to a cup every morning and find myself making a cup or two throughout the day, too!

This morning I roasted a new batch and this time I did it in a good heat dispersing pan. I found that it roasted more evenly and quicker than in my iron skillet.

After just one week I think I am officially converted. I had a cup of 'really good' coffee in downtown Chicago a few days ago and would rate it mediocre after my new found love. Life is full of new things to try and learn, I never want to stop exploring!

Where I ordered my first 4 lbs. of green coffee sampler:

http://www.sweetmarias.com/sweetmarias/coffee/samplers/green-coffee-sampler.html?source=side

YouTube video teaching the popcorn popper method:

http://www.sweetmarias.com/airpop/airpopmethod.php

Home roasting basics:

http://www.sweetmarias.com/instructions.php