Cigar Weekly

mike toro · 11-17-2006, 04:54 PM

Thanks to sevenmag’s alert here in "I'll Drink to That!" I picked up a $9.99 special at Walgreens – the Kitchen Gourmet Hot Air Popcorn Maker. No, I did not send in the $3 rebate.

This was my first try at home roasting and I relied heavily on Edward’s Popper Roasting Tips. I brought two different beans through the roasting process to a complete burn as he recommends. But because this is a first time, I don’t know if it will be a review of the machine as much as a review of my fledgling technique.

Batch One:

I mistakenly used about 125 grams, Sweet Maria’s Columbia Excelso 13556
Ambient temperature: 75.2 at 60 percent humidity

1:50 first visible browning
First Crack: (2:13) 2:50 to ?
3:45 overflowing with beans
Second Crack: ( ? ) 4:27 to 5:30 (5:45)
4:27, at the start of the second crack, started smoking
Extremely oily at 5:45
Even roast throughout
Fully burnt and very smoky when I stopped at 8:00

As you can see, there was no pause between the first crack (loud, like popcorn) and the second crack (a fizz like rice crispees) – the former morphed into the latter. The final result was a dry, black, charred bean.

Batch Two:

100 grams, Sweet Maria’s Sumatra Iskandar Triple-Pick
Ambient temperature: 75.2 at 60 percent humidity
Hot machine: batch started about 10 minutes after end of Batch One

1:53 one loud single crack
First (popping) Crack: (2:23) 3:04 to 3:26 (3:40)
Second (sizzling) Crack: (4:06) 4:16 to 5:50 (6:20)

I stirred the beans at 1:41 and again around 3 and 5 minutes. There was a clear pause between the first and second crack. I stopped the roast at 10:15 though there was only a small amount of smoke. Nothing like the first batch, which moved me to put a fan in the window. The beans, which I assumed were charcoal, have a glossy, beautiful oily sheen, but are indeed very black.

I cooled both batches on the deck in a metal colander, stirring with a wooden spoon.

What I learned: half a cup isn’t 50 grams, which I thought going in, hence the overloaded popper. The popper runs VERY hot. At the end of Batch Two the plastic hood was lightly warped from the heat. Eventually I’ll toss it and incorporate a tin can cover with mesh chafe catcher.

Saturday I’m going at it again, this time using about 50 grams, aiming for a solid, drinkable, light French Roast. Any insight, observations, thoughts, comments, tips, advice, insults, slanders or dance routines are encouraged.

11-17-2006, 04:54 PM	#1
mike toro Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 674	Kitchen Gourmet popper as coffee roaster Thanks to sevenmag’s alert here in "I'll Drink to That!" I picked up a $9.99 special at Walgreens – the Kitchen Gourmet Hot Air Popcorn Maker. No, I did not send in the $3 rebate. This was my first try at home roasting and I relied heavily on Edward’s Popper Roasting Tips. I brought two different beans through the roasting process to a complete burn as he recommends. But because this is a first time, I don’t know if it will be a review of the machine as much as a review of my fledgling technique. Batch One: I mistakenly used about 125 grams, Sweet Maria’s Columbia Excelso 13556 Ambient temperature: 75.2 at 60 percent humidity 1:50 first visible browning First Crack: (2:13) 2:50 to ? 3:45 overflowing with beans Second Crack: ( ? ) 4:27 to 5:30 (5:45) 4:27, at the start of the second crack, started smoking Extremely oily at 5:45 Even roast throughout Fully burnt and very smoky when I stopped at 8:00 As you can see, there was no pause between the first crack (loud, like popcorn) and the second crack (a fizz like rice crispees) – the former morphed into the latter. The final result was a dry, black, charred bean. Batch Two: 100 grams, Sweet Maria’s Sumatra Iskandar Triple-Pick Ambient temperature: 75.2 at 60 percent humidity Hot machine: batch started about 10 minutes after end of Batch One 1:53 one loud single crack First (popping) Crack: (2:23) 3:04 to 3:26 (3:40) Second (sizzling) Crack: (4:06) 4:16 to 5:50 (6:20) I stirred the beans at 1:41 and again around 3 and 5 minutes. There was a clear pause between the first and second crack. I stopped the roast at 10:15 though there was only a small amount of smoke. Nothing like the first batch, which moved me to put a fan in the window. The beans, which I assumed were charcoal, have a glossy, beautiful oily sheen, but are indeed very black. I cooled both batches on the deck in a metal colander, stirring with a wooden spoon. What I learned: half a cup isn’t 50 grams, which I thought going in, hence the overloaded popper. The popper runs VERY hot. At the end of Batch Two the plastic hood was lightly warped from the heat. Eventually I’ll toss it and incorporate a tin can cover with mesh chafe catcher. Saturday I’m going at it again, this time using about 50 grams, aiming for a solid, drinkable, light French Roast. Any insight, observations, thoughts, comments, tips, advice, insults, slanders or dance routines are encouraged.