Carolyn Erickson

In the comments of my last post, Charmian asks how my husband roasts his own coffee. Thanks Charmian! I had no idea what I was going to post today.

First, I can tell you there is no need for dread. Roasting coffee probably won’t cost more than buying overpriced lattes at a coffee shop, and you’ll have better coffee. It also doesn’t require too much in the way of space.

I’ll have to interview my husband for the particulars (and he is particular) about where to get the best equipment, information, and coffee beans. (I hope to have links here on Monday.) But here’s a brief overview of the process:

My husband buys beans through a coffee-buying club, and owns a small roaster, which we set up in the garage. (In my opinion, you do not want the smoke and flying chaff inside your house!) After roasting, he cools the coffee in wire-mesh colanders and then puts it into non-airtight containers to let it breathe (or something). Then he transfers the beans to airtight containers, and we grind them fresh for every pot.

As I said in the comments, I highly recommend home-roasting as a hobby for husbands everywhere. (Mmm.)

Lest I give you the wrong impression, we do receive frequent shipments of green beans on our doorstep. And we have dropped quite a bit of cash into this hobby. But we’ve solved a problem in the process: once upon a time, none of us in the family knew what to give DH for birthdays and holidays. Now we do.

And it’s a gift that gives back.

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