Murphy, tried to make an appearance during coffee roasting, but we sent him packing.

When prolonged use began to melt the cover on the hot air popper, we simply removed it. When the beans unexpectedly swelled to twice their size and began to overflow, we chased down the escapees and kept the rest in place with a metal sieve. After that it was just a matter of cleaning up the chaff that floated about the room. No smoke. No fire. No burnt fingers.

The closest we came to disaster was my math. When Carolyn said it might take an hour and a half, she was calculating the total time required if roasting a pound in small batches. Our popper holds 1/2 cup or about 1/4 pound. Good thing I didn’t set the timer and walk away. Here’s what transpired:

• Three minutes: Beans turned a light caramel gold.
• Ten minutes: Beans had a St Tropez tan.
• Fifteen: Medium roast fans are happy.
• Twenty: Dark and shining with oil — just the way we like it.

Sort of.

Turns out once you cool the beans, you need to let them “mature” for two to five days. We settled on three.

While we were pleased with the results, we weren’t bowled over. To be fair, we used Columbia Supremo, one of the less expensive beans. Now that we know how our “roaster” works, the next step is to roast all six varieties and do a tasting. Early in the morning. On a weekend end. When we’ll have time to recover from the caffeine overload.

A final word of warning for those who plan on having their popper multitask. Fugetabout it. Not only will roasting beans in your popper void the warranty, the oil from the beans will permeate your machine, giving movie night an odd flavour. Make your choice and live with it. Otherwise you’re just issuing Murphy an invitation. And he seldom refuses an offer.

Photo by WMFerrer, printed under a Creative Commons License