Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia

A title without a name

What’s home roasting? Rarely do we hear this title yet this activity has permeated and impacted so much of our coffee cultures.

In one sense, home roasting is very much like home brewing. It’s a hobby done at your convenience, using an easy-to-set-up home machine or manual tools, usually to satisfy personal curiosity and sense of adventure. Without the pressure of having to sell the roasted beans, the home roaster has freedom to explore their own interests in various origin beans.

But home roasting isn’t a recent phenomenon; an impact of the third wave culture. Home roasting isn’t just available to those already familiar with the coffee world; who understand origin, processing, tasting notes, and is a good brewer.

In reality, coffee cultures have long begun before the first wave and home roasting is very much an integral part in developing the vibrant local coffee cultures, as both a community activity and a small business venture.

In this edition, we will meet home roasters in Indonesia who pursue home roasting for various goals. We’ll see how this activity evolves over centuries, beginning in the colonial era where home roasters will mix coffee with corn or starch, to the post third wave era where home roasting becomes a mean to understand origins.

We’ll meet home roasters-turn-small business owner-turn-activist, traditional home roasters, and those who simply love home roasting for the distinctive freshness of the final goods.

… to be continued