Home Brew

Well it's official, this weekend I joined the ranks of those who roast their own coffee beans. You say you've never heard of such a thing! Well, I hadn't either until a couple of months ago. And then I met Brett Mason.

Brett is a coffee connoisseur. I have always enjoyed a good cup of coffee - Java Creek and Coffeesmiths are my favorite local establishments. Jason turned Sharon and I on to Caribou coffee six months ago and we were excited to learn that we could purchase it at Sams Club locally. Little did I know that I would soon be learning to custom roast my own beans.

Brett has been roasting coffee for some time. I enjoyed some of his coffee so much that my family decided to give me a "starter kit" for Christmas. With Brett's help they selected four kinds of green coffee beans - Honduras Fabio Cabullero, Brazil Fazenda, Java Djampit, and Costa Rica La Candelita.

But the key piece of equipment for any home roaster is the West Bend Poppery II hot air popcorn popper. Believe it or not, we still had one stored away in our basement! Who knows why it hadn't been donated to Goodwill years ago. But by good fortune it found it's way under our tree this Christmas and is now being put back into service. This is taking "regifting" to a whole new level!

With Brett's help I roasted my first batch of beans this weekend. I learned about the different kinds of roast, divits, bean color, chaff, and the second crack. But as much as I enjoyed roasting the beans, I still enjoy drinking coffee even more. I had my first cup of home roasted Java Djampit this morning and it was wonderful!

Home roasted and brewed coffee - one of life's simple pleasures! It's a great way to start the day.