Bean there, done that: Home-roasting coffee an old-fashioned thrill for java junkies

by Jane Dornbusch
Wednesday, February 26, 2003

Those who bake their own bread, brew their own beer or even make their own salad dressing know the satisfaction of enjoying fresher foods through self-reliance. But if you really want to impress friends and family, try tackling a whole new frontier: roasting your own coffee.

Then again, if you're the do-it-yourself type, maybe you've already discovered this latest foodie hobby. "It comes out much better than store-bought coffee. It's night and day," says Gregory Carty of Brockton, who also makes his own beef jerky. Back in January, Carty read an article about home-roasting and decided to give it a whirl. He had stopped drinking coffee at that point; the high price of a cup of joe, he says, ``was a big factor." For better or worse, the results of his home-roasting experiments, he says, have "made me a coffee drinker again."

More...