Uploaded March 2016 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
OK I believe this the best method I've found to roast coffee beans in a popcorn popper. To be honest, my most respected coffee mentor Martin Diedrich of Kean Coffee told me he did not care for the results from a popcorn popper. At first try I could see why and this forced me to wonder what could be wrong. So I played and agreed just blasting it through at the 4 to 8 minutes it took was perhaps cooking the coffee beans too fast. So here I slowed it way down to about two to three times slower than anything I've seen online. And because there's much more time between the different stages, I find you can control the exact roast you want far better. The biggest plus, at least with the beans I've used thus far, is I find I get a more rounded and aromatic roast that's "sweeter" than when I just let the popper cook straight through in that very rapid blast. So until I decide what other methods and devises I want to play with, I think this is as good as I'm going to get with a hot air popper. Also note that I generally make 3 kinds of coffee drinks; espresso, French press, and cold brew. So I use this 18 to 20 minute roast; ground fine for espresso, and quite coarse for French press and cold brew. Have fun and good luck and if you want to see the steps of how I came up this method see our Roasting Coffee at Home 1 & 2. I'd love to hear whether or not this improved your home coffee roasting! Thanks!
OK I believe this the best method I've found to roast coffee beans in a popcorn popper. To be honest, my most respected coffee mentor Martin Diedrich of Kean Coffee told me he did not care for the results from a popcorn popper. At first try I could see why and this forced me to wonder what could be wrong. So I played and agreed just blasting it through at the 4 to 8 minutes it took was perhaps cooking the coffee beans too fast. So here I slowed it way down to about two to three times slower than anything I've seen online. And because there's much more time between the different stages, I find you can control the exact roast you want far better. The biggest plus, at least with the beans I've used thus far, is I find I get a more rounded and aromatic roast that's "sweeter" than when I just let the popper cook straight through in that very rapid blast. So until I decide what other methods and devises I want to play with, I think this is as good as I'm going to get with a hot air popper. Also note that I generally make 3 kinds of coffee drinks; espresso, French press, and cold brew. So I use this 18 to 20 minute roast; ground fine for espresso, and quite coarse for French press and cold brew. Have fun and good luck and if you want to see the steps of how I came up this method see our Roasting Coffee at Home 1 & 2. I'd love to hear whether or not this improved your home coffee roasting! Thanks!
