The Humble Gourmand

In a world where people have re-appropriated the production of household goods (Hey, I make my own bread! Cheese! Beer!), why do we still rely on major coffee roasters for our coffee? There are many, many options for coffee, from the international (Lavazza) to the national (Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks) to the regional (Counter Culture, Intelligentsia, Stumptown) to the local (fill in your local roaster here). The regional guys have a pretty good business – many do direct trade (working directly with coffee growers and collectives and often paying a better-than-fair-trade price) and offer beans from the coffee-growing regions of the world.

Completely disregarding all of this availability, I have chosen a different route. You can too. Just buy yourself a small coffee roaster (I use the iRoast2, $180) and some green coffee beans (online at Sweet Maria’s [http://www.sweetmarias.com/] or Seven Bridges Organic [http://www.breworganic.com/], or if you’re lucky, at your local Ethiopian grocer), and you’re ready to roast.

Roasting is quite the experience for the senses – smells, sights, sounds, and ultimately tastes. Coffee beans are originally brown-green, and smell like freshly-cut hay, or maybe tomato soup. Start to roast them and they go through a multitude of smells, from grass, to mulch, to rubber, to almonds, to corn tortillas, to chips and salsa, to popcorn, and ultimately, to coffee (maybe I’m insane, but I smell those things. That is, if you stop roasting in time – or else it will smell like burning, and you will have yourself French roast. (The French roasted their low-quality coffee beans dark so that they didn’t have to taste the bean, just the roast. If you’re roasting yourself, buy good beans and don’t overdo them!)

As the beans roast they expand and crack, with an audible popping sound, and they go from green to yellow to tan to brown. Wait a good 24 hours for the freshly-roasted beans to mature a little, and then brew some up in a French press or a Chemex. You’ll thank yourself, and you’ll never buy Starbucks again. I hope.

Postscript:
Yes, you’re probably right, and I’m probably being silly. Why would a person want to roast his own coffee (or grow his own garlic, or make his own ketchup) when it’s much easier and more time-effective to buy things at a store?

It’s a good question, and one I haven’t been able to completely answer myself. Is it because I think I make better ketchup than Heinz, which has been doing it for decades? Is it because I don’t want to support local garlic farmers? Or perhaps because I travel directly to coffee plantations, wasting fossil fuels by the planeload in order to get my freshly picked green coffee beans? Well, not the latter two, at least. I do think my ketchup is damn fine, though.

Why has DIY become such a trend? What kinds of things do you like to make yourself?

1. Alison

   July 1 7:59 a.m. 1

   Sam, this is way too heavy for me at this early hour.

   However, I will pipe up to say that I'm thinking about trying to make my own yogurt on a fairly regular basis.

   Definitely would grow garlic, peppers, tomatoes, and herbs if I had my own yard. One day...

2. Bagz

   July 2 11:09 a.m. 2

   Why DIY? I dunno, maybe its the satisfaction of conquering a process which is usually reserved for machines. Or perhaps its the satisfaction of boasting to the food blogging community that you can indeed make your own Cheese Nips, and omg, yes, they are SO much better than store bought.

   As for me, I'm not avid DIYer, but its something to keep me busy until football season arrives. So, in the meantime, here's to preserving your own lemons and planting your own mint in the Van Ness South apartment landscaping.

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