From Green to Mean, a Coffee Bean Roasting Adventure
Our story begins in the wilds of northern Vermont. It is a brisk fall day and the morning sun beams down on a girl in her pajamas lounging blithely on a step stool in her backyard - heat gun in one hand and a bowl full of green coffee beans in the other...
Slowly she stirs as the beans begin to brown and expand, the water in them boiling, steaming, growing...
Oh the agony! The smoke thickens as she stirs faster and the glow of the red heat shines off the steel of the bowl. Finally, their exterior pushed to the limit by the turmoil within, the beans break open. First crack has been achieved and their end approaches...
And then, as suddenly as it began, it's over. The beans crack one last time and take their rest. In a day's time they will make the ultimate sacrifice as they dive into the boiling abyss and their essence is wrenched from them. Ahhh. The perfect cup of coffee is born.
I would show you exactly what all this caffeine does to my heart on my muscle man model but he's still in his box. Luckily, Scott wasn't as lazy as I am. Take a gander at his blog. Picture blood coursing through the veins with no regular pulse.
9 comments:
It's like coffee porn.
One more thing. What's up with the big metal bird?
Coffee porn... I like it. I see a new genre emerging.
The sculpture is "Timmy the Tire Bird" as my sister and I aptly named him in Chicago this summer. He's a good friend and an even better stand for blazing hot bowls of roasting beans. He also holds a mean flower pot in season.
Is that a canoe in the first picture? Do you really have a canoe in your backyard? How amazingly cool. Are you allowed to take said canoe (if it is a canoe, of course) onto the lake?
It most definitely is a canoe. I have custody of it for the year and I most certainly can take it on the lake. I have a very good track record of using beer to bribe friends to paddle me around so I can look for all the wildlife without having to worry about steering. Not a bad gig, huh?
What kind of beer?
I've been homebrewing, so lately it's been India Pale Ale. Earlier this summer I didn't have a batch going, so they usually were baited with either Otter Creek White Sail or a mix pack of Magic Hat (both available at the gas station near my house. Classy.)
My next batch will be more of a red ale, and I'm hoping it's a good one so I can get them to pull me around on ice skates once the pond freezes over. Perhaps I should investigate making my own hard cider...
So, how many beers do you get per canoe trip? We're a bit more budget-conscious now, and I have to plan our next trip to VT accordingly.
The standard is six beers per person and I usually have one person in the front to steer and one in the back to paddle like a maniac while I sit in the middle. I've also exchanged canoe trips for such things as:
- roasted coffee (which I already owe you - sorry!)
- multi-course meals
- sewing and mending (which I would do for friends anyway but they don't know that)
- building and soldering
- rides to and from the mechanic and airport
If the previous are not of interest I'm sure we can wheel and deal. I do love a canoe ride...
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