Three days ago I received my latest shipment of green coffee from sweetmarias.com. Six pounds of various blends and straight lots. I was almost completely out of coffee, except for a little ground Starbucks we keep around for emergencies, so I started roasting right away. The first batch I did was the Puro Scuro blend. I’m not going to go into great detail trying to write details about the nuances of the coffee, you can check that out here:

Puro Scuro

I was very happy with this coffee. I roasted it probably between the first and second crack and it turned out very well, although I may go a little longer next time. It’s a good strong taste, with hints of various different flavors like chocolate as well as other flavors I couldn’t quite put my finger on. What ever it is, Sweet Maria’s did a great job with this blend.

I picked this blend randomly, just to try something different, but this already a favorite in our house. Just a note, as probably with all coffee, this tasted much better from a French Press and Aerobie, than from a drip coffee pot.

Now mind you, I’ve never done this before, but the internet has been a great resource and I found out some of the basics of roasting:

• Beans should be roasted somewhere in the neighborhood of 350-500 degrees
• Beans should not be left sitting in the pan. Keep them moving so they don’t burn.
• Decide ahead of time, what kind of roast you want, which will determine how long to roast them.
• Cool them down quickly since they’ll keep roasting after they’re off the fire.

So after 10 minutes of warming the skillet, I threw some beans in the pan (one even layer across the bottom of the pan) and got to work. Using my thermometer, I found that I wasn’t getting enough heat from the grill with an open lid, so I closed the lid for a minute or two, opened it up and stirred the beans, and closed it again.

I kept up this process for about 13 minutes, which was about 3 minutes after the first crack.

After the grill, I put them in a colander to cool and to get the remaining husks off.

Later that evening, I used the AeroPress to brew a couple cups of coffee and was really impressed how good the coffee was. Granted it’s not rocket science, but it was my first time, and I didn’t follow the first two guidelines I mentioned above while roasting.
I think next time, I’ll try roasting the beans a little longer and do it over the stove in a more temperature controlled environment. This was a good learning experience and I urge you to comment on the different ways you’ve roasted beans.

Green is good. And Green Kona beans are in my opinion a pleasure worth its weight in gold. During my previous foray into the world of green coffee bean roasting, I stumbled upon an excellent source for green coffee beans — Sweet Maria’s.

Many moons ago, during an idyllic trip to Maui, I had my first cup of Kona coffee. It was silky and smooth, and the perfect start to each day. With that in mind, I knew I just had to buy some green Kona beans, and not the blended stuff, the real deal.

So off I went to Sweet Maria’s to see what they had to offer. The information I found was abundant and a bit intimidating. Brightness, Flavor, Depth, Finish.. everything you wanted to know about beans but were afraid to ask. Sweet Maria’s offers an excellent page to learn about all of this and more in this excellent write up.

I ultimately chose beans from the Kowali Farm. According to Sweet Maria’s this coffee is grown on a 12 acre Kona farm, and has received frequent accolades as one of the top ten coffees in Kona. I also appreciated that Sweet Maria’s went on to indicated that the farm uses no pesticides and is 100% hand picked. The full review can be seen here.

So how was it?

As I filled the press with hot water, a bubbly crema like foam appears on the top, the smell was divine and I had the crazed look of Gollum from Lord of the Rings in my eye and could swear I heard “My precious…” in my head as I eyed the French Press.A select group of associates were gathered for the tasting. As we sat around the press, watching it, wondering what it would be like we I started to ramble about Sweet Maria’s and how much fun it was to roast these beans. At some point I was asked what this cost. One pound of these beans ran me $16.00 plus shipping, all told, it cost $22.00 — the most expensive pound of coffee I have purchased to date.

That being said, our expectations were quite high. After what seemed like ages, it was ready. I carefully pushed the plunger down and the grounds descended into the nether region of the press and poured the first cup…

I could see the exuded oils swirling on the surface of the cup. The aroma filled my senses and had a slight floral undertone. The coffee had a full, slightly sweet taste, it was not bitter in any sense of the word. It was naturally creamy, and to be quite honest tasted great on its own without the addition of any cream or sugar.

I would highly recommend this Kona. Sweet Maria’s review was spot on and I am really glad I gave this coffee a try. While expensive, its well worth the money.