Home Roasting Coffee in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

I recently started roasting my own coffee.  It is a very simple process, actually, and takes less than 30 minutes start to finish.  I roast  to just before the seconf crack, a blonder roast that many, and to my tastes, this produces a superior smooth cup of cofee.  Here is how I do it.

Ingredients & Tools:

2 cups Green Coffee Beans - approximately 3/4 of a pound

1 large cast iron Dutch Oven - I use a 10 qt lodge, others use a skillet.  A Dutch Oven contains the mess that the crackings make, that the skillet just can't.

1 whisk

1 Colander

1 gallon zip lock bag - or other air tight container.

Directions:

Heat your Dutch oven over medium high heat - I set my gas burner at level 6.

Once the pot is hot, pur in your two cups of beans and start whisking.  Don't stop whisking.

At about 4 minutes you will start to see a little brown on some of the beans, and a little of the roasting aroma.  Turn on your exhaust fan at this point.

At 8 minutes many more beans will be brown, there will be more aroma, and you will start to see the chaff among the beans.

At 12 minutes there will be pretty consistant medium browning of the beans, a good roasting aroma, lots of chaff, and maybe the first sounds of cracking.

At 16 minutes the first cracking should be getting in full swing and the beans starting to turn darker brown.  

At this point it becomes a matter of personal taste.  Soon the beans will start to seriously darken, and the second cracking take place - at about 20 minutes

I usually stop around 18 minutes, as I like the flavor of that roast.  You can go on past the second crack to a very deeply browned Aspresso roast, if you like.

No mater what roast you like, when it gets there, dump the hot beans into a collander, and keep whisking.

Now the whisking is cooling the beans, and breaking off the chaff, which then goes through the collander holes to whatever surface is below - I prefer a sink for easy cleanup.

Keep whisking for 5 to 7, or more, minutes, or until the beans cool to be able to toush them.

At that point, I dump them in a zip lock bag, press out as much air as I can, seal it, and let the beans sit on the counter.

Beans should rest, and are best, at least 12 hours, and probably 24 hours, after roasting.

Hear is a video I took of my most recent roasting.