Roasting Ethiopian Coffee

I was really running low on green coffee beans for roasting. It always seems whatever I have left is because I was not really into that particular bean. My left over coffee bean was Brazilian. I cannot even remember the region or anything about the coffee. It was better than any coffee from Starbucks-just not my favorite. It tasted weird. What I truly love about home coffee roasting is the ability to try out so many different coffee beans and roast styles. Since I roast my coffee in small 3 oz. batches, I can do lots of experiments.

When I was surfing the web this morning, I put in my order to Sweet Maria's and ordered some favorites-Colombian, Kenyan, and Ethiopian. I managed to swing by the warehouse and pick them up too. I was not into waiting 2 more days to have them delivered.

I fired up my Original Poppery Coffee Roaster and roasted the beans just a tad past the first crack. I don't like burned coffee.This is how Sweet Maria's describes this coffee. "The dry fragrance is mouth-watering in its sweetness, citrusy, with a light brown sugar scent. Adding hot water, the wet aromatic is piquant and delicately spiced with a fennel cookie sweetness and lemony bright fruit. The cup has a lemon cookie brightness that dances on the palate. There is that sugary, confectionery sweetness mentioned before, accented with citrus and a touch of spice. The body is clear and light, which suits the high tonal range of the cup well. I recommend light roasts here to compliment the bright cup, and not to overshadow the flavors I mention with a veil of darker roast taste."

I am cupping this coffee tomorrow morning! I know you die hard roaster heads, the rules say to wait 24 hours. Screw that!

Here is the final product: City Plus Roast Ethiopia Wet-Process Bonko! I love that name!


Just remember this. The roaster cost me $3 from a thrift store. The coffee cost me $5.40 a pound. I could buy a roaster every week and throw the stupid thing out and still be ahead of the game considering that crappy coffee is sold for $14 per pound!

Dollars per pound have no correlation with the quality of the coffee. Take that with a grain of salt. You can find dollar store priced coffee online. Stay away from that. You know what I mean-just because a particular coffee has a high price tag does not mean that it is high quality.