Gorilla Roasting (210902)
Channel: Reluctant Roboticist
Date: 18/09/2021

#CoffeeRoasting #Coffee

Today I'm at Masanobu shrine up in the mountains of Sakaki-machI where I just finished roasting coffee. I'd like to explain a reason that I have never electrified my coffee roasting setup. 

I have thermocouples and other things attached, but essentially my roasting technique is in a pan and I can do it on a camp stove without any electricity. There's nothing to plug in. I am monitoring temperatures, but I'm using a laptop that has a battery, so I can go anywhere.

There have been many temptations over the last six years as I've been roasting coffee to complicate this thing and to add new features and automation. For example, it's quite the rage right now to roast with convection, like an air popcorn popper, but you need electricity for that. One of my litmus tests is no electricity. Another temptation is to have a motor stir the beans. I could hook the motor up to a battery, but that would probably tempt me to use electricity, so I prefer to stir with a whisk by myself. Moreover, my thermocouple setup has the functionality to support what's called PID, which is to use the computer to adjust the heat so that you get a nice perfect curve of your roast. It also might be nice to be able to just pour one's beans into a cool down tray and have it automatically rotate them and blow air on them. I have resisted all of these temptations so far. 

I have two adages. One is if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The second is no power, no problem.

This simple no-plug setup has really bailed me out in many instances. First, when there are power outages. In Japan we don't have very many power outages, but we actually received a notice about a two-hour power outage last week. Another instance when this has come in very useful is when I travel. In the US, I have an extra roasting pan so I can purchase some green beans locally and not miss roasting. A third instance when this has come in very useful is when it's too hot to roast. When it's 90 degrees Fahrenheit (over 30 degrees Celcius) in the kitchen at 4 or 5 a.m., it's time to climb up into the mountains and roast coffee here.

That's some reasoning about why I haven't succumbed to the temptations of electrifying and complicating my roasting apparatus more than it already is. 

In my surroundings in the mountains it's less gorillas that I have to worry about protecting myself from than it is wild boars and bears. Last year I met my first bear here, but it was a happy greeting and I'm still here and bear is still here from what I hear. One time I was roasting coffee up here in the mountains and a wild boar came charging down the hill. Fortunately I had located my table and set up out of the general path of egress, so I didn't have to use my hot beans as a weapon.

Thank you very much for watching my videos. As always, I love to hear what you have to say, your ideas for things I should handle in future videos. We'll look forward to seeing you in the next video.