I have a love-hate relationship with money and my finances. I could terribly (or impressively, depends how you view it) be frugal at one point and awfully extravagant at another. I TRY my best to be mindful and reasonable, but my emotions could become overwhelming sometimes and that's when desire/indulgence wins over rationality.
When I am penny-pinching (or when I am broke haha), I consequently become more creative, innovative, and resourceful—a fact that amuses me a lot! One of the ideas that came about one of my tingbits (ting-bitay) seasons was my decision to buy coffee beans directly from the source and roast them on my own. (Back story: I currently work for an American Real Estate group so I have to be up all night to get lucky lol and need coffee most of the time to survive.)
Fortunately, our all-around superwoman, the lovely Auntie Lourdy, is from Impasug-ong, Bukidnon. She lives near a coffee plantation. I asked her to bring me raw coffee beans one day. She was surprised at first but she has gotten used to my weirdness by then that she obliged anyway.
The beans I got were smaller than usual because they were affected by the last El Niño. I asked for Arabica beans but Auntie Lourdy was only able to score Robusta beans. Nonetheless, I was still very excited to roast them! But I ended up roasting them almost a month later. The delay was partly because of my anxiety. I didn't want to screw up although I was around 70% confident that I could wing it. Gotta thank YouTube University for my coffeeducation! lol
One day, I decided to JUST DO IT. It was around 3 AM when I roasted a small batch of beans. My first roast. HUHU ❤
I was supposed to have it ground at the market but I couldn't wait for the sun to rise and the day to unfold, so I said YOLO, and ground the roasted beans using our... blender. I know. I know. That's a big no-no for coffee roasters (or so I've learned/heard/read). But whatever! The blender did the job anyway.
I set aside the coffee chaff (the dried layer that peels off the husk when you roast) because they can be used as compost.
I let my family try it the moment they woke up. Everybody liked it. My mom is ambivalent though because she claims that it made her head ache.
When my sisters' classmates slept over, they made iced coffee and liked it. I have yet to let my other friends try. I love it myself (and I am my worst critic!). Recently I've been brewing small batches and freezing them to make kori kohi. I'll probably take a short barista course soon to expand what little knowledge I have of coffee.
I'll be roasting my third batch soon. Planning to make it a larger batch because the jar was emptied faster than I had expected.
Cost for 1 kg of coffee beans = P100. Just imagine—a hundred bucks is a laughable amount at almost every popular chain. The difference is astounding. Don't you think so too?
