Roasting on an Air Popper

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WARNING! The following is all at your own risk. Popcorn poppers were not intended to be used as coffee roasters. Don't blame me if you ruin your popper, electrocute yourself, burn down your house, or piss off your SO and get divorced.

That being said, it's a lot of fun! Using popcorn poppers to roast is cheap and easy, but you don't have a lot of control. If you get the bug, there are several websites showing modifications that can be made to your popper, as well as a variety of cheap home roasters that you can buy or build. If you have any questions, I highly recommend going to Google and searching the alt.coffee archive.

You don't really have any control on an air popper, but it's way easier than roasting on a big roaster. And it's a lot of fun!

I previously wrote: "I don't think it's possible to do a dark roast on a popper without stewing all the flavor out." My opinion has changed; the second popper I tried, a West Bend Poppery, I don't think would have any problem producing a fast dark roast. Mind you, I think that a few fast dark roasts would probably end up burning out or melting the popper.

It's very unlikely that it'll burst into flame, but if it does, pull out the plug, toss it into the sink, and douse it with water. Note the "pull out the plug" as the first step. It sounds silly to have to say, but when you accidentally start a small fire in your kitchen, there's a slight tendency to panic. Afterwards, of course, throw out that popper and get another one.

Also, if you try to get it hot enough to do a good dark roast (by, say, blocking the air flow out) you could potentially melt it or burn it out. And you want to let it cool down between roasts, or you can burn it out.


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