Today, I am featuring a super-easy handmade gift that is particularly close to my heart. My husband and I are devout coffee lovers. We love all sorts of coffee- particularly dark roasts! In fact, it is difficult to find a roast dark enough for us in coffee shops. We love the earthy, deep flavor of the darker roasts.
Coffee makes a great gift for coffee-loving men like my husband. Kick it up a notch by roasting your own coffee! You don’t need any special equipment and it is easy to customize the roast with add-ins, such as coconut, flavored syrups, and other flavor infusions. But, if you want to keep it even more simple, a plain roast also comes out great! Here is a DIY home-roasted coffee tutorial that even the most novice chef can use!
DIY Home Roasted Coffee
Ingredients and Supplies
- Green coffee beans (I used Sumatra)
- Cast iron or stainless steel pan with a lid
- Metal colander
- Metal spoon
- Oven mitts
- Mason jar or other storage container
- Cute ribbon to make it festive
Step 1: Oven Roast the Beans
I researched how to make coffee without a grinder, and I read that a two-stage roast process was best for preventing the coffee from burning and becoming too bitter. Spread your beans in a single layer in a large skillet. You will use the same pan to oven roast as stove roast, so make sure your pan is both stove and oven safe.
I roasted the beans in an uncovered cast iron skillet for about 30 minutes.
Step 2: Stove Roast the Beans
Cover the hot pan with a lid and move it to the stove. Set the heat to about medium-high. Shake the pan constantly as if you were making popcorn. You will listen for the cracking sound just like when making popcorn. Now, the time you cook the beans on the stove will vary. It took about 15 minutes of cook time on my stove until I was satisfied with the color of the beans.
You can roast your beans from a light brown to a dark brown, which will change the flavor somewhat. My husband and I like the darker flavor, so I tried to cook the beans until they were a dark brown, but not burned. A lighter brown will produce a milder flavor. The coolest thing about roasting your own beans is that you can adjust the color to your liking!
Step 3: Remove the Chaff
Transfer your beans to a metal colander. Take the colander outside. Use the metal spoon to move the beans around and remove the chaff. I used a combination of shaking and stirring to eliminate the chaff.
Step 4: Flavor and Store the Beans
According to coffee experts, allowing the beans to “rest” for a small amount of time before serving produces an ideal flavor. If you want to add other flavors, coat the beans with the flavoring after they cool and then shake them up a bit to evenly distribute the flavoring. Your beans can rest for about one day to a week to optimize flavor.
Step 5: Make it Festive
I stored our beans in a mason jar and kept it simple by tying it up with a bright red bow. You can do whatever you like to make the gift cute and festive!
So, how did it taste? It was delicious! The coffee itself was a slightly lighter color than I am used to from commercial coffees, but it had none of the strange bitter aftertaste that many commercial coffees have.
I didn't even know you could buy green coffee beans! That's pretty cool!
You can! I got mine off of Amazon. They have a lot of different bean types to choose from.
Very cool! I didn't even know you could do this at home!
That does sound good! I bet it would be a GREAT gift for an elementary or junior high school aged kid to help make for dad too!
This is a great gift idea for guys!!!
You just gave me a great idea for a Christmas present for my Dad. He loves coffee and this would be a great present to give him. Thanks for sharing!!
Glad I could help!
Roasting coffee is a great affordable gift. you can buy coffee and other gifts for coffee lovers at my site.
madbeanscofffee.com
I didn't even know you could roast your own coffee- totally thought that was something only professionals could do, LOL! Great idea! Thanks so much for linking up at Found & Foraged tonight, so great to have you! (ps, your profile picture is sooo gorgeous). xo, Laura
Great idea 🙂 thanks for sharing at Creative Mondays
I think this is the first post I have read about hand made gifts for guys this season, making it about our awesome men! Love it #turnituptuesday #pinned
This is beautiful, thanks for sharing a little bit of your world!
I guess I am off to Amazon to find my own green coffee beans…
found this on Treasure Box Tuesdays
Forget the guy! I'm gonna try this for me!!! We love coffee around here. Thanks for sharing at Oh My Heartsie Girls WW. 🙂
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
I am a coffee addict. Love it. It never occurred to roast my own but I am anxious to try. Thank you for joining us at #purebloglove. We enjoy having you every Thursday night at 8PM, EST through Sunday night. ~Cydnee
I am ALWAYS looking ideas like this. Thank you so much for posting this!
Sounds like a great gift idea! What temperature do you roast the beans on in the oven?
it depends on how dark you like your roast… for a lighter roast around 200 degreees for a darker roast 300-350 🙂
Of all the great DIY tips I’ve seen over the years, I’ve never thought of home roasting. What a great idea! I have a couple serious coffee fans in the family and this would make a great gift. Bet the house smells good while doing it too. 🙂