“I make serious coffee – so strong it wakes up the neighbors.” – Author unknown
One of my fondest childhood memories is of an uncle, Tiyo Ding, fetching me and my older brother from our house in Tugatog, Malabon and taking us to his home in Malinta, Bulacan. Tiyo Ding was our favorite uncle, and judging from the time he spent with us, we were his favorite nephews as well.
On one such visit to his home, he brought my brother and me to the dirty kitchen at the back and told us he was going to make some money. Thinking there was a secret machine there that printed money, we went excitedly – only to find nothing but a large frying pan sitting on a bed of firewood.
Tiyo Ding proceeded to fill the pan with what looked like green seeds, and then started mixing it up with a ladle. It took him a long time to do it, but he finally ended up with dark brown beans that he allowed to cool. He then ground it all up and packed them in small plastic sachets, and when he was done he held one in the air and said, “Ayan, pera na.” He had just made packets of ground coffee, which he was going to sell to small stores.
I remember that episode fondly because I have only recently begun roasting my own coffee beans for our household consumption. The first time my wife and I tried it we failed miserably because I was simply trying to remember what Tiyo Ding did, and since it was such a long time ago I couldn’t recall all the steps he had taken. We set the fire too low, and we ended up with half-roasted beans after more than an hour of cooking.
Last February, however, fellow journalist Bobby Timonera of Iligan City came to our house here in Davao City and taught me and my wife how to roast properly. As it turned out, the process is really simple: just place the unroasted beans in a pot over medium heat and stir constantly with an egg whisk. After about 10 minutes the beans turn brown, and a few minutes more you hear the first “pops” or cracks – the same sound that popcorn makes. This will go on for a while, and then things quiet down.
A few minutes later and you hear the second “pops” – but the sound is faster and a little higher in pitch. When this happens you can wait a while for light or medium roast or longer for darker roast. Once you’re done place the whole batch in a colander and continue mixing to cool it. Bobby prefers placing it over a fan for faster cooling, but be warned: this can get messy as the chaff flies all over the place.
The whole process takes about 20 minutes, and you end up with a stiff right arm and a batch of the freshest coffee you’ve ever had. It’s not particularly elegant: the color is almost always uneven, and in fact it doesn’t smell like coffee yet. But let it sit for a day or two to reach its peak flavor, and then grind up some and make yourself the best coffee you’ve ever had. You’ll never return to pre-roasted coffee beans ever again.
Photo credit: Coffee Beans by Lyncis (cc) Creative commons
Random Posts:
The funny thing about coffee, what muggles would refer to as “strong” coffee are the dark-roasted ones. It may taste stronger, but there’s actually less caffeine the darker you roast.
then i’m good when it comes to caffeine… i like darker roasts because they’re good for cappuccino, which is what dadai and i have every day
i can’t wait for August then!!!! hope to find you some unroasted beans here