DIY: Roasting coffee beans

A few weeks ago I played in a trampoline dodge ball tournament. It was awesome as you can imagine with soft rubber balls flying, nailing people in the head, back, stomach, legs..all body parts counted. On top of the traditional dodge ball shenanigans, imagine a huge netted bouncy trampoline that could easily hold over 2 dozen people. It's every kid's (and adult's-let's be real) dream come true.

 Jump, throw, duck, laugh, cry... play ball!

After we took second place in the tourney and scored a case of beer, a small group of us went to a local pub and sat around a cozy outdoor fire pit. Two of my teammates had recently started roasting their own coffee beans and were talking about how easy it was. They were telling us that the unroasted beans ('the 'green beans'), are easy to buy and can be roasted in the oven on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes. The lack of bitterness was the major difference between home roasting and store bought roasted beans, oh duh and the freshness of roasting and grinding your own beans only as you need them. They roast once a week and freshly grind each morning for a delicious cup o joe. 

Below is a picture of the 'green beans,' simply meaning they are unroasted. As you see we roasted ours in a cast iron skillet, rather than in the oven on a cookie sheet. Unless you have a convection oven, your beans are at high risk for burning on the bottom and thus not roasting evenly. With the cast iron or "frying pan" method, you just need a skillet on medium to low heat. No oil or anything else needed but beans. In order to prevent burning and to ensure an evenly roasted bean, we stirred constantly stirred the beans around the pan. It only took about 10 minutes until they were dark in color (almost black), much like you would find whole beans at the store. They crack and pop and smell  when they are roasting; it's a fun process and again sooo easy. It is definitely well worth every extra step step in comparison to buying already roasted whole beans or buying ground coffee. Plus, as if you need another reason, plus the green beans that we bought were only $6.50 a pound! 

When life presents green beans, make em black and drink up!