How do you roast your green coffee beans?  I am not looking for the procedure.  I’m not looking for what machine you use.  What I mean is, like, how much do you roast at a time, and how many different varieties of coffee do you roast at a given time?

For me, I usually roast about twice per week, sometimes only once per week.  I roast small quantities, usually 1/4 to 1/3 pound of any variety.  If it’s a coffee that I have a large stash of, then I will do up to a half pound on a single roast.

Why such small batches?  For a couple of reasons:

• I find it easier to control the roast process when I roast only a very small batch of beans.  If I get too big with the quantity, I end up with more of an uneven roast (some dark, even burned beans, and some light beans).  When I roast a small batch, I find that I can more evenly roast the beans.  I have heard the opposite of this from some other roasters, but this is my experience.
• When I roast very small batches, I can roast more varieties of beans for use at that time, giving me a good variety of what I can choose to drink each day.  If I roasted like one pound of 3 or 4 different beans, I could not use them up before they would start to go stale.

I personally go through about a pound of coffee per week.  I’ll use a bit more than that if my wife or one of my neices or nephews who is living with me has an occasional cup.  But, generally one pound per week will keep me in coffee whenever I want a cup.  Having a variety of beans available, which have been roasted, lets me choose something that sounds good.  If you are not a home roaster, you may not realize how different the taste of different beans is, but it is a huge difference.  Some beans taste like fruits.  Other beans taste earthy.  Some beans taste smokey or leathery.  So, by having 5 or 6 different beans all ready to drink, it’s like walking into a restaurant and choosing what kind of soft drink you want.  I mean, you get variety.

Right now, I have 6 different beans that are all ready to drink.  Roasted, rested and still fresh:

1. Barangay Bobok, Philippines.  This bean is a sort of middle of the road bean.  No special flavors to it, but kind of smooth.
2. Sulawesi.  I really like this bean.  Very earthy, my wife says it is “muddy” and I like it.
3. Rwanda Cup of Excellence.  This bean is sort of molasses/brown sugary.  Very nice.
4. Kenya Eegads.  Grapefruit to the max.
5. Ethiopia Yirgacheffe.  Citrus fruit and spice.
6. Mexico.  Nice cup with a bit of spiciness to it, maybe a bit of salt.

See, by having so many different beans available, I can choose what I feel like!  A couple of these beans are left over from last week’s roasting, 4 of them are recent within 2 to 3 days.  The ones from last week are almost gone now, which is good, because they will start to loose flavor soon.

How about you?  How many different roasted beans do you keep on hand to satisfy your coffee urges?