Caffeinated Revelation

So I've been on a coffee drinking rampage, enjoying all these new and different coffees from a over the world thanks to places like Starbucks and Bay Area's own Peet's. I had a revelation walking my dogs with my wife on First St. in Benicia on Superbowl Sunday. (Missed the first half)

We passed by Duvall's Coffee Roasters and noticed they were open. So we decided to check it out. They had similar robust offerings to what you could find from Peets, like coffees from Sumatra, which I've been drinking a lot of lately. (Peet's Blue Batak is heavenly)

I met owner Marty Duvall and he was in the middle of roasting process. It was very interesting and educational. I saw his roaster in action, waiting for the popping sound, which is what similar to what popcorn does when you heat it up. What you're looking for is that first series of pops, and then the second series. What I discovered is that depending on how long you roast (which is indicated by the increasing darkness of the coffee bean) determines the complexity of the taste of the coffee is when it is brewed. He mentioned that he buys his green coffee (coffee that is unroasted) from Royal Coffee, a wholesale importer and distributor. Problem is that I'm not in need of 100+ lbs. bags of unroasted coffee, which will probably go stale before I go through it all. I ended up buying a 1lb bag each of the Sumatra and Tanzania Pea Berry already roasted.

I went home and did some research. Then it dawned on me. Homeroasting! Yes it is a little labor intensive (not that really) and it only gets as difficult (and/or expensive) as you make it. You can spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on all the expensive equipment you need, but you don't necessarilly have to. I stumbled upon a website and a local small business called Sweet Maria's. They're here in the East Bay, they sell green coffee from all over the world WAY below the cost of what you'd pay anywhere else. I just may have found myself a new hobby, and an affordable one at that. I have yet to try it out but the prospect of it seems really exciting. More to come...