the roastery is open

I got a hankerin' to roast my own coffee beans....I read online how it could be done with a popcorn air popper, so when Boy #1 brought one home from a thrift store, I went online and ordered some green beans. No, not the Jolly Green Giant kind, the Malawi Mzuzu Grade 1 kind.

After doing a little online research I discovered that roasters divide into two camps: The first camp tells me that any popper will do. The second camp tells me I'm likely to burn my house down. Ignoring the second (but larger) camp, I went into the garage and proceeded to fire up the walminator.

Much smoke (but no fire) later, I had enough beans for two small pots of coffee. I was a little concerned about over-roasting, and ended up with the first batch not quite dark enough. It's palatable coffee, somewhere between Peet's and Phillips 66.

I can certainly feel a quicker caffiene swooooosh than using preroasted beans. And of course, I'm going back out to do another batch right away in hopes of getting it right. Assuming I don't quit get that batch correct and I make a third batch, my pulse should be shooting for the moon by 8 or 8:30 pm. If I'm still blogging at 2 AM, you know why.