Coffee cooking??

Nothing like a nice big pot of . . . roasted coffee?

The timer of my hot air coffee roaster failed. Instead of turning the roaster off when the coffee was done it roasted it right into charcoal. A cup of hot charcoal is not a good way to start the morning.

So it was back to the old way of roasting coffee. Lodge Cookware calls this little baby a deep skillet with cover. The cover can be used a shallow frying pan.


Green coffee beans were poured right into the hot skillet and covered. The beans were stirred occasionally. I like my coffee roasted a bit on the darker side, so I listen to the beans. There's the first crack, a popping sound a bit like popcorn. That means the coffee is roasted enough to make a light roast coffee. Later there's the second crack, a much softer popping noise that indicates it's about time to pull the coffee off the fire. The hot beans are then poured into a Pyrex pie pan to cool. When cool, I take the beans outside and blow the chaff off them.

It does put a bit of smoke in the house, but it's coffee smoke, so I don't mind.

By the way, in the first photo it's possible to see part of the copper coil that's wrapped around the stove pipe. I've written about my water heating experiments back in the spring. Now that I'm using the woodstove all the time I've a much better idea how it's working out.

The water from my well comes in at a temperature just above freezing. The woodstove is able to get the water to around 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit. If I want a really hot shower I'll switch the electric water tank heater coils on for 15 minutes or so and bring the temperature up to 120.

The kitchen woodstove provides, heat, cooking, water heating and even coffee roasting. It's truly the heart of the house.

-Sixbears